Verisk Joins Effort to Fight Patent Trolls

Mar 20, 2019 09:00 JST

Source: Verisk Analytics, Inc.

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Mar 20, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK), a leading data analytics provider, announced this week that it has joined the LOT Network, a nonprofit group dedicated to fighting patent abuse. The LOT Network has about 300 members, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, GM, Target, and Uber.

Verisk supports protecting groundbreaking and innovative intellectual property, which is essential for every industry and company. However, we are deeply concerned about patent litigation abuse for technology that is far from new or innovative.

The LOT Network was formed in response to abuse of the United States patent system. Patent trolls-called patent assertion entities or PAEs by LOT-buy patents or apply for patents for technology and processes that are often long-standing and commonly used and then aggressively litigate to generate revenue. LOT calculates patent trolls are responsible for 84 percent of high-tech patent litigation in the United States at a cost of around $80 billion per year.

Although recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have provided defenses that help weed out the worst offenders, Verisk is concerned about the rise of these methods as a business tactic in companies seeking to add a new source of revenue to enhance their bottom line.

Verisk has observed that companies are looking for a competitive advantage by obtaining patents for a small part of a critical workflow. Examples of this practice include incorporating into a patent math invented by Euclid around 300 B.C. simply because the process is now part of a computing system. Another example is using elements of architectural drawings, which have been widely used since the ninth century, in a patent for similar, clearly meritless reasons.

LOT calculates that more than 10,000 companies in the United States have been sued at least once by a patent troll. LOT's mission is to protect intellectual property while at the same time promoting innovation. For example, to help fuel and protect innovation, membership is free to eligible start-ups. To learn more about the LOT Network, visit Lotnet.com.

About Verisk

Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) is a leading data analytics provider serving customers in insurance, energy and specialized markets, and financial services. Using advanced technologies to collect and analyze billions of records, Verisk draws on unique data assets and deep domain expertise to provide first-to-market innovations that are integrated into customer workflows. Verisk offers predictive analytics and decision support solutions to customers in rating, underwriting, claims, catastrophe and weather risk, global risk analytics, natural resources intelligence, economic forecasting, and many other fields. Around the world, Verisk helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets.

Headquartered in Jersey City, N.J., Verisk operates in 30 countries and is a member of Standard & Poor's S&P 500(R) Index. In 2018, Forbes magazine named Verisk to its World's Best Employers list. For more information, please visit www.verisk.com.

Contact:

Investor Relations
Stacey Brodbar
Head of Investor Relations
Verisk
201-469-4327
stacey.brodbar@verisk.com

Media
Frank Lentini
Edelman (for Verisk)
212-704-4425
frank.lentini@edelman.com

###

This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Verisk Analytics Inc. via Globenewswire

Source: Verisk Analytics, Inc.