OneTrust, the market-defining leader for trust intelligence, today announced that it has joined LOT Network, the international, non-profit community of companies working together to protect themselves against litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs, also known as “patent trolls”). OneTrust joining the LOT (License on Transfer) Network’s community of 3,700+ companies, including eight of the world’s largest cloud providers, is intended to enable OneTrust to protect the interests of the Company against patent assertion entities.

The LOT Network community is committed to protecting members against costly and frivolous PAE litigation. Members agree that if a member’s patent asset falls into the hands of a PAE, other members are granted a license to that patent – rendering them immune to a PAE lawsuit using that patent. With the number of intellectual property rights cases initiated by patent trolls growing by 500% in the last decade¹, the average lawsuit costing $4 million to defend, and 87% of patent assets used in PAE lawsuits originating from operating companies², LOT Network’s coverage of 4 million patent assets globally provides broad protection and peace of mind to member companies.

With today’s news, OneTrust is adding over 300 patents and nearly 100 patent applications covering various technologies in the privacy management domain – including assessment automation, data mapping, and privacy rights automation – under the protection of LOT Network, shielding members of the LOT Network from assertion of those patents by PAEs and encouraging industry-wide open innovation. The patents covered by LOT Network represent a wide range of technologies, including AI, IoT, the Metaverse, and cloud computing, among others, and members – including Google, IBM, and Microsoft – hail from 56 countries across the globe.

“As a company whose mission revolves around prioritizing trust, it is important that we take this step to proactively protect ourselves and our business,” said Kim Rivera, Chief Legal & Business Affairs Officer at OneTrust. “Through our membership in LOT Network, we are joining a group of like-minded organizations that see strong value in protecting the traditional uses of patents, while fostering open innovation for today and the future. I hope our move inspires other companies to join LOT Network and help reduce the overall impact presented by patent troll litigation and assertions across all technology sectors.”

“The proliferation of PAE lawsuits costs companies millions annually in litigation expenses, with a real impact on business operations,” said Ken Seddon, CEO of LOT Network. “OneTrust’s decision to join LOT Network illustrates its commitment to protecting its business ecosystem and retaining resources to invest in real innovation.”

About OneTrust 

OneTrust enables every organization to transform siloed compliance initiatives into world-class, coordinated trust programs with the category-defining Trust Intelligence Platform ®. Customers use OneTrust to build and demonstrate trust, measure and manage risk, and go beyond compliance. As trust has emerged as the ultimate enabler for innovation, OneTrust delivers the intelligence and automation organizations need to meet critical program goals across data privacy, responsible AI, security, ethics, and ESG. www.onetrust.com

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¹ 25 Patent Litigation Statistics - High-Profile Feuds about Intellectual Property (legaljobs.io, 2023)

² LOT Network Report 2021 (LOT Network, 2021)