Bore evacuators being wrapped with composite material at the Watervliet Arsenal in October 2015. These lightweight bore evacuators came about recently due to Army researchers and will reduce the weight of the current 155mm evacuators by nearly 50 pe...
Metal Processor Sean Stephenson is working the winding machine on two bore evacuators in October 2015. Using this fiberglass method, versus steel, will reduce the evacuator weight by nearly 50 percent. Although 120mm tank barrels have used this pro...
WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (December 2015) -- The Watervliet Arsenal has always had external threats to its existence, from such antagonists as the British attacking from the Great Lakes in 1813 or, as Arsenal Commander Col. William Gibson warned in 1915, the threat of foreign spies.
But thanks to the Arsenal's heavy reliance on Army research for current and future work, today's threats are even more ambiguous, and they involve "trolls."
Yes, trolls.
These trolls aren't the cute little handheld toys of the 1960s that came with a goofy-looking face and wild hair. Today's trolls wear suits, work behind computers, and don't produce anything but trouble.
"Patent Trolls" have been widely written about by such news organizations as Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times as being responsible for nearly 90 percent of all patent litigation cases in recent years.
Research and development firms, even government-owned entities, are extremely vulnerable to patent trolls. Trolls often purchase patented-products or processes that have yet come to market but have future marketable potential. Other trolls initiate research when they learn about an ongoing study into a new technology, product, or process and then quickly apply for a patent saying that they had the idea first.
According to a 2013 report prepared by the President's Council of Economic Advisers, Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs, also known as "patent trolls") focus on aggressive litigation, using such tactics as: threatening to sue thousands of companies at once, without specific evidence of infringement against any of them; creating shell companies that make it difficult for defendants to know who is suing them; and asserting that their patents cover inventions not imagined at the time they were granted.
Armed with a library of patents and no manufacturing base, trolls essentially lie in wait to sue corporations or the government with little to no intent of ever manufacturing the product.
The fact that a lawsuit is initiated does not mean the troll has a valid claim to remuneration. But due to the high cost of going to court over the claim, many firms find that it is easier, as well as cheaper, to pay a small license fee to the troll than go to court. Just in one day in late November 2015, one eastern Texas court received about 200 patent infringement cases, most of which were initiated by troll companies.
Patent trolls are so dangerous to the American rights to intellectual property and economic growth that President Barack Obama and Congress have recently weighed in to shrink the playing field of patent trolls.
But why should the Arsenal be concerned about something as silly-named as trolls and their voluminous court cases?
Because Army research fuels Arsenal manufacturing operations. Just in the past five years, Army research has translated into millions of dollars of new work, such as lightweight bore evacuators and full-chrome barrels for the 155mm self-propelled howitzer system called Paladin.
If patent trolls were able to control any of the tools, processes, or parts of a production line by the way of patents, it may make Arsenal products more expensive or more difficult to manufacture.
Given that, why in the world would the Army patent anything? After all, it sounds counterintuitive for Army researchers to patent their good ideas because once an Army researcher patents a product or process, that patent is open to the public for review. In essence, once a product or process is patented, it then has the potential for commercial licensing. And so, some may question why the Army would allow any work on a weapon system to be patented.
But the answer may rest with the old adage, "We support the troops." By the Army offering new technology to the world, private industry may be better able to leverage that product design in an effort to make Soldiers more survivable or lethal on the battlefield. In essence, private industry, as well as academia, may team with Army mechanical engineers and scientists to make a product or weapon system better for Soldiers.
Although Army researchers may not be too worried by what a troll may do, suffice it to say that when members of Congress and the White House come together on a common issue, it may be time to alert the Arsenal's security office to be on the lookout for trolls.
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The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, continuously active
arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. It celebrated its 200th anniversary on July 14, 2013. It is a subordinate command to the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command at Warren, Mich., and the Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Today's Arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark had revenue in fiscal year 2015 that exceeded $138 million and provided an annual economic benefit to New York of nearly $100 million.
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