In what is likely a first of its kind settlement, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, who is commonly referred to as a patent troll, has reportedly agreed to “cease its patent enforcement campaign” in Minnesota. The agreement also reportedly restricts future assertion of MPHJ’s patents by any future entity as MPHJ agreed that it would not assign the asserted patents to any third-party unless the acquiring party agrees to be bound by terms of the settlement.

The settlement was allegedly initiated following an investigation into a large number of similar letters from MPHJ which were sent to businesses in Minnesota threatening patent infringement. The letters allegedly were not based on any investigation of the businesses’ activities and lacked specifics regarding the infringement claim. Not surprisingly, the letters did offer to resolve the asserted claims in exchange for modest monetary payments. You may have even received on of these letters yourself, or know of someone who did, as the letters claimed that the MPHJ patents covered the use of a scanner or copier for scanning a document for attachment to an e-mail and sought a fee of around $1,000 per employee.

The recent acts by the Minnesota Attorney General may reflect a new and growing trend in combating patent trolls, whereby the states, in their role of protecting consumers, steps in to fight off patent trolls who are over-asserting their patent rights, rather than attack the patent on the merits. This of course would be bad news for patent trolls, who often seek to leverage the prospects of being forced to defend a lawsuit in order to obtain a quick and modest settlement without reaching the merits of the case. Recently, in a similar attempt to combat patent trolls, New Hampshire launched similar investigations into the activities of MPHJ and Vermont passed the first law seeking to provide defendants who are sued by alleged patent trolls with stronger remedies.