09-04.
Defensive patent aggregation
Pattern description
Defensive patent aggregation (DPA) is the practice of purchasing patents or patent rights to keep such patents out of the hands of entities that would assert them against operating companies. The opposite is offensive patent aggregation (OPA) which is the purchasing of patents in order to assert them against companies that would use the inventions protected by such patents (operating companies) and to grant licenses to these operating companies in return for licensing fees or royalties. OPA can be practiced by operating companies or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs)
Inventive problems
The company should expand its own production and marketing system in order to scale up production.
The company should not expand its own production and marketing system in order to reduce costs .