NEW YORK, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Finjan
Holdings, Inc. (OTC MKT: FNJN) today announced a commitment to its
benchmark Licensing Best Practices to ensure candid, transparent
and consistent business practices for intellectual property (IP)
licensing. In conjunction with the publication of these best
practices and its own adherence to them, Finjan calls upon the IP
industry to adopt similar initiatives that support technological
advancements, investments in innovation, and continued job creation
while preserving a strong patent system.
"We understand that defining our core values early in our growth
will guide us as a newly public company on how we develop our
business relationships, differentiate our brand within the IP
licensing industry, and ultimately define our corporate ethos,"
said Finjan's President, Phil
Hartstein. "The Licensing Best Practices are our commitment
to lead and influence greater ethical practices, and enable
innovation in the IP industry going forward."
For more than two centuries, technological advancements have
rapidly reshaped our lives, and IP has incentivized an innovative
spirit by driving our modern knowledge economy and providing
benefits for those who discover useful and non-obvious inventions
that enhance and protect our society. Moreover, patents play a
critical role in bolstering the nation's economy and creating jobs.
In 2010, patents supported 40 million jobs (27.7% of all jobs in
the U.S.) and IP-intensive industries accounted for $5.06 trillion in value added (34.8% of U.S.
GDP), according to the Innovation Alliance.
Within the various areas that patents positively affect American
business and society, there is an opportunity to encourage
continued innovation by clearly defining a set of guidelines to
provide both transparency and liquidity in the thriving IP
licensing industry and to serve as a platform to promote greater
ethical practices going forward.
As such, Finjan, a pioneer and leader in cybersecurity with a
history of licensing its patents and technology to major software
and technology companies around the world, has developed seven
Licensing Best Practices based on the company's core values in an
effort to encourage meaningful discussion and drive real change in
the licensing practices of all entities that license but do not
directly practice their respective patents. Finjan's two recent
management hires, VP of IP Licensing, Ivan Chaperot, and VP of
Legal Operations, Julie Mar-Spinola,
will lead the charge as Finjan ingrains these practices into the
core of the company's mission.
"The IP industry is maturing fast, yet there is still wide a
disparity in licensing practices. By promoting the values we stand
by and championing these Licensing Best Practices, we encourage
collaborative behaviors that will allow the IP industry to better
support the broad dissemination of technological advancements,
which in turn reward investments in innovation and create jobs,"
said Finjan's VP of IP Licensing, Ivan Chaperot. "We have
formalized how we conduct business in licensing not only at a
professional level, but also at a personal one by embodying our
core values which include candor and integrity."
Moreover, Finjan is committed to engaging companies, academic
institutions, government agencies, industry organizations, and
other IP influencers to adopt and support these or similar best
practices.
"In championing efforts to ensure instillation of these
standards, we encourage all sectors to have open and candid
discussions about the real, not perceived, problems in the patent
licensing and litigation arenas," said Finjan's VP of Legal
Operations, Julie Mar-Spinola. "We
believe greater ethical practices and better innovation starts with
enterprise mandating a code of conduct, educating current and
up-and-coming individuals in the field on these standards, and
engaging the judiciary and government agencies to gain a better and
more accurate understating on the challenges and opportunities the
industry faces."
Finjan's Licensing Best Practices are to serve as a road map to
the industry and include seven actionable elements:
- Ensure focused licensing and enforcement programs pursuing the
provider of the patented technology and not its customers,
consumers or end users.
- Conduct reasonable diligence to determine a patent's
enforceability and use with respect to prospective licensees, and
make that information available to them.
- Respect procedural rights and judicial efficiency in the courts
and in the prosecution and protection of IP behind the
innovation.
- Be transparent with the intent in each discussion, and
articulate the cause and effect scenarios which would prompt a
shift in communication and an escalation of each discussion.
- Provide useful facts to prospective licensees and defendants to
foster productive business discussions early and often to aid in
informed decision-making.
- Offer fair value licenses or settlements based on legitimate
factors and considerations.
- Commit to keeping lines of communications open between the
patent owner and prospective licensee to preserve a path for the
parties to find an amicable solution or resolution for their
respective businesses.
Further details on the Finjan's Licensing Best Practices and its
commitment to achieve industry adoption are outlined in its
position paper at www.finjan.com.
ABOUT FINJAN:
Through our subsidiary, Finjan, Inc., we own a portfolio of
patents, related to software that proactively detects malicious
code and thereby protects end users from identity and data theft,
spyware, malware, phishing, trojans and other online threats.
Finjan's mission is to invest in innovation and encourage the
development of core intellectual property. Founded in 1997, Finjan
developed and patented technology that is capable of detecting
previously unknown and emerging threats on a real-time,
behavior-based, basis, in contrast to signature-based methods of
intercepting only known threats to computers, which were standard
in the online security industry during the 1990s.
Contact:
Media and Press Relations
Katie Hepler
MWW Group
Telephone: (212) 704-9727
Email: khepler@mww.com
Company Investor Relations
Joshua Weisbord
Finjan Holdings, Inc.
Telephone: (646) 568-3313
Email: joshua@finjan.com
SOURCE Finjan Holdings, Inc.