As Data Centers Multiply, Patent Holders See Opportunity

Director Dan Block spoke to Law360 on the large increase of data centers across the U.S. that have attracted patent infringement lawsuits for technologies used in the facilities.

For patent owners deciding whether to go after the data center facilities or the companies operating them, Block said, “It’s a lot better to go after the end users because then you can … get full recoveries from each of them, as opposed to negotiating with the middlemen that would then be negotiating for all of their customers.”

Block also noted the complexity of data center supply chains when determining who to file against, “It’s kind of hard to figure out who all the vendors are in this space, and because of the supply chain being so complex, you don’t want to hit one vendor and then find out that you can’t get infringement because they’re not using all the parts that you need for your infringement claim.”