When Litigation—Not Making Actual Products—Is The Business Model​

For Americans of a certain age, the name “Maxell” is synonymous with the iconic “Blown-Away Guy” ad campaign. Maxell built its reputation making cassette tapes, batteries and other products people bought and used. Today, Maxell is known for something very different: weaponizing an aging patent portfolio against technologies consumers use every day.

Maxell has brought around ten cases against Samsung in the U.S., Europe and Japan, despite the fact that Maxell doesn’t make anything that competes with Samsung products.

The U.S. cases show how Maxell’s strategy works. In 2023 the company sued on seven patents in a Texas federal court popular with patent holders, seeking millions of dollars in damages. Before the case was over, Maxell filed a new complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC), demanding the exclusion of Samsung products from the U.S. for allegedly infringing six patents.

Read the full article on Forbes.