4 ms·

Most people don't realize how bad the patent troll situation is. You can be hit by patent trolls for operating a boring online store with nothing more sophistic

by arbuge 14y ago

Most people don't realize how bad the patent troll situation is. You can be hit by patent trolls for operating a boring online store with nothing more sophisticated than a shopping cart. Happens all the time. Here's just one example: http://www.plainsite.org/flashlight/case.html?id=1888562 http://www.plainsite.org/flashlight/case.html?id=1888562 At least some of those defendants ended up settling and paying off that particular troll by the way. Petmeds is a public company and mentioned that in one of its 10K filings. ps. my understanding is that many/most trolls demand non-disclosures from companies they settle with, which would explain why you don't hear more from the victim companies getting mugged by these crooks.

lnanek2 14y ago
Haha, yeah. It's always pretty funny when in a room with successful app developers and seeing how many have been hit with litigious welcome packages for having an upgrade [to pro version] button like myself, or other trivial feature in their app. It's like a coming of age marker for app developers. Once you get successful enough to look like you have money, you are going to get a welcome package. A lot of devs won't even say what specifically since the settlements forbid it.
- javajosh 14y ago
  Of course, this practice of settling and signing an NDA needs to end. I think there's room for a company of lawyers that does nothing but fight patent trolls very publicly- perhaps with a solid dose of anti-patent lobbying on the side. The key question, of course, is whether such a service could be priced reasonably - clearly the age of $500/hr lawyers doing bespoke work to respond to computer-generated paperwork is not really working out so well. I suppose whether such a company would fly hinges on whether or not there are lawyers willing to work for ordinary salaries. The interesting thing here is that if this company is technologically savvy then I'd imagine that a great deal of the litigation effort could be automated, again yielding good cost savings. As a programmer and a concerned citizen I would jump at the chance to start and/or work for a company like this.
  - sseveran 14y ago
    What you really need is a number of top tier IP lawyers.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - rayiner 14y ago
    If I were putting together something like this, I'd hire a bunch of competent but relatively inexperienced lawyers starting at $35k/year in a place like Iowa or North Dakota. Spend six months training them to quickly bat down truely meritless suits, and to recognize when they get something possibly meritorious that needs to be kicked up the chain. It would be quite doable at those prices, and is indeed more or less the model used for e.g. run of the mill insurance work. I think you still need changes in the law to make it easier to distinguish meritorious from unmeritorious litigation. Getting rid of things like the presumption of validity, raising the bar for novelty and obviousness, etc, would all make it easier to handle each case cheaply.
    - javajosh 14y ago
      I'd hire a bunch of competent but relatively inexperienced lawyers starting at $35k/year That was my initial thought, too, although I was thinking more like 80k. At that rate you could attract idealistic, smart lawyers. At 35k you're attracting desperate lawyers. Also, the place to setup shop would be SF proper. That is where the customers are, and for any business, especially one like this, customers are most important. That said, from what I've read the trolls do a lot of business out of East Texas, so that would make sense too. The interesting thing about this business is that it's intended to be a stopgap measure until the law changes. That is, if it is very successful it will go away. Also, to avoid becoming the enemy (from what I've read IV sells "patent insurance" - basically protection money against IV) I'd make it as transparent as allowed by statute, and a non-profit.
s353 14y ago
But of course before 1991-1992, there were no online catalogs. It was an entirely novel idea brought to us by Charles E. Hill. If not for Mr. Hill, there could be no eBay, no PetMeds, no online shopping as we know it.
zemanel 14y ago
Someone should do a CrunchBase + Wikileaks web app for patent trolls. PatentCrunchTrollLeaks.com? :-)

by arbuge 14y ago

lnanek2 14y ago

Haha, yeah. It's always pretty funny when in a room with successful app developers and seeing how many have been hit with litigious welcome packages for having an upgrade [to pro version] button like myself, or other trivial feature in their app. It's like a coming of age marker for app developers. Once you get successful enough to look like you have money, you are going to get a welcome package. A lot of devs won't even say what specifically since the settlements forbid it.

javajosh 14y ago
Of course, this practice of settling and signing an NDA needs to end. I think there's room for a company of lawyers that does nothing but fight patent trolls very publicly- perhaps with a solid dose of anti-patent lobbying on the side. The key question, of course, is whether such a service could be priced reasonably - clearly the age of $500/hr lawyers doing bespoke work to respond to computer-generated paperwork is not really working out so well. I suppose whether such a company would fly hinges on whether or not there are lawyers willing to work for ordinary salaries. The interesting thing here is that if this company is technologically savvy then I'd imagine that a great deal of the litigation effort could be automated, again yielding good cost savings. As a programmer and a concerned citizen I would jump at the chance to start and/or work for a company like this.
- sseveran 14y ago
  What you really need is a number of top tier IP lawyers.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- rayiner 14y ago
  If I were putting together something like this, I'd hire a bunch of competent but relatively inexperienced lawyers starting at $35k/year in a place like Iowa or North Dakota. Spend six months training them to quickly bat down truely meritless suits, and to recognize when they get something possibly meritorious that needs to be kicked up the chain. It would be quite doable at those prices, and is indeed more or less the model used for e.g. run of the mill insurance work. I think you still need changes in the law to make it easier to distinguish meritorious from unmeritorious litigation. Getting rid of things like the presumption of validity, raising the bar for novelty and obviousness, etc, would all make it easier to handle each case cheaply.
  - javajosh 14y ago
    I'd hire a bunch of competent but relatively inexperienced lawyers starting at $35k/year That was my initial thought, too, although I was thinking more like 80k. At that rate you could attract idealistic, smart lawyers. At 35k you're attracting desperate lawyers. Also, the place to setup shop would be SF proper. That is where the customers are, and for any business, especially one like this, customers are most important. That said, from what I've read the trolls do a lot of business out of East Texas, so that would make sense too. The interesting thing about this business is that it's intended to be a stopgap measure until the law changes. That is, if it is very successful it will go away. Also, to avoid becoming the enemy (from what I've read IV sells "patent insurance" - basically protection money against IV) I'd make it as transparent as allowed by statute, and a non-profit.

s353 14y ago

But of course before 1991-1992, there were no online catalogs. It was an entirely novel idea brought to us by Charles E. Hill. If not for Mr. Hill, there could be no eBay, no PetMeds, no online shopping as we know it.

zemanel 14y ago

Someone should do a CrunchBase + Wikileaks web app for patent trolls. PatentCrunchTrollLeaks.com? :-)