Patent Owners Trying to Use Native American Legal Rights as a Shield
The newest lawsuit seeking royalty payments from Apple is likely a first: a recently created plaintiff, MEC Resources LLC, is wholly owned by a Native American tribe.
Ars Technica reports that The MEC lawsuit appears to be using Native American legal rights to avoid having the U.S. Patent Office perform an “inter partes review” that could invalidate the patent.
Joe Mullen reports that MEC Resources is wholly owned by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.
And in another case, Allergan recently gave a set of valuable patents to the New York-based Regis Mohawk Tribe, explicitly to avoid having the USPO review their patents in inter partes review.
Read the Ars Technica article.