Law360, New York ( March 20, 2015, 10:16 AM EDT) -- Companies in the automotive industry face patent litigation on a regular basis. A frequent target of nonpracticing entities, both car manufacturers and suppliers frequently get dragged into federal district court where the balance of hardships weighs heavily against the auto companies. Specifically, auto companies can spend millions of dollars defending themselves while the NPE-plaintiff, who's only assets include the patent rights (typically purchased from a third party), spends very little. To combat this inequality, the America Invents Act created new administrative review procedures, including inter partes review, that cost significantly less than litigation and focus solely on the validity of the patent. Very quickly, auto companies have turned to these new procedures to combat unwarranted patent infringement claims. In addition, some companies appear to combat the patent rights of their competitors using these new procedures. This article discusses examples where companies and suppliers utilize these procedures to combat NPE allegations, details the fight at the patent office between two competitors, and examines some of the pros and cons for these new procedures....