Patent Reform: How do we cross the finish line?

Matthew Fawcett, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, NetApp, USA

Over the last several years, widespread abuse of patent litigation has imposed a severe tax on domestic and international companies. A disproportionate amount of this tax is born by high technology companies, including in the telecommunications sector. The primary culprits are non-producing entities (also known as “patent trolls”) who have successfully exploited a broken patent system to extort licensing fees from target companies. Patent troll activity has continued to rise in the U.S over the last decade. While high technology/telecom companies comprise less than a quarter of Fortune 100 companies, nearly 70% of all patent litigation falls within the high technology/telecom sector. Networking giant Cisco disclosed that it spends $40 million annually on the U.S. patent system – most of which funds defensive litigation. Other telecom heavy weights such as Verizon, AT&T, and Motorola are also involved in dozens of new patent litigations initiated by trolls.

Matthew Fawcett is NetApp’s senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary. Matt leads the worldwide legal team. Under his leadership, NetApp’s legal team has been recognized for many achievements, including the Best Legal Department of 2014 (Best Legal Departments 2014, Corporate Counsel, June 1, 2014), one of the most innovative departments (The 2013 IC-10: Inside the Legal Profession’s Top Innovators, Inside Counsel Magazine, August 30, 2013), and as a top GC (America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel, The National Law Journal, March 31, 2014). Matthew has advised leading technology companies on a variety of issues, including mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and litigation.

NetApp, Inc., formerly Network Appliance, Inc., is an American computer storage and data management company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It is a member of the NASDAQ-100. It was ranked on the Fortune 500 for the first time in 2012.