17 ms·

It seems unfair somehow that our whole industry benefits from Newegg individually taking on the risk and expense of bringing a patent to litigation and appeal.

It seems unfair somehow that our whole industry benefits from Newegg individually taking on the risk and expense of bringing a patent to litigation and appeal. Maybe more patents would be challenged if there were more cooperative efforts to bust bad patents.

NoPiece 14y ago
I agree. Next time you buy something, and have a choice between Newegg who fought and put themselves at risk, and Amazon who took the easy way out, you know who deserves your money.
- thaumaturgy 14y ago
  Yep. I quit ordering from Newegg years ago because of a customer service issue. We order an unholy pile of stuff from Amazon all the time. I think it's time to start ordering from Newegg again.
  - thoughtpalette 14y ago
    They've definitively stepped up their customer service.
  - nfriedly 14y ago
    I'm in about the same boat, only it's been more like 3-4 years. Newegg is about to get more business from me.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
javajosh 14y ago
OTOH NewEgg gets some serious glory. And I am going to personally make sure that that glory turns into dollars for them.
rohamg 14y ago
Dont worry about that: developing a reputation for aggressively fighting patent trolls has the effect of dissuading trolls from targeting newegg in the first place. Trolls are likely to target others for a quick settlement rather than risk losing their golden goose at trial (as happened here).
- alex_c 14y ago
  And this long-term view is, I suspect, how NewEgg justifies the short-term risk of losing a trial. Never negotiate with terrorists.
  - eksith 14y ago
    Isn't it odd that this is exactly what patent trolls have become? How many people (especially small company owners) are living in teror of being sued, or have already been sued, for being in violation of completely asinine patents? They've all pretty much been reduced to "X on a computer" or "X over a network" with "X" being ideas that are in many cases decades old and if patented, long since those patents have expired. I guess this is what we get with patent office incompetence and rubber-stamp-happy inspectors. The patent office a little while ago asked for "feedback" on the software patent issue. I had a good chuckle.
  - lubujackson 14y ago
    SOYLENT TERRORISM IS CORPORATE PEOPLE!
    - pjscott 14y ago
      If you think "Don't negotiate with terrorists" is just overdramatizing, then you've misread. It's actually a reference to an interesting bit of theory about deterrence. A country which has a history of negotiating with terrorists will tend to get more terrorists making demands of them. Conversely, a country which steadfastly refuses to ever negotiate, even when this hurts them, will not get as many terrorist demands. This kind of reasoning also applies to border skirmishes, contract disputes, and patent trolls.
- 14y ago
csense 14y ago
Maybe we should set up a tradition of patent-busting bounties. I.e. when Victoria's Secret gets hit with $10 million a year in royalties (or whatever the number was), they can say "We're not going to fight these patents in court, but if somebody else fights them and wins, so we don't have to pay that $10 million/year royalty anymore, we'll give them a one-time $3 million payment." Victoria's Secret has an incentive to post a bounty under these terms, because having that promise available can only improve the chance that someone else will take it on. And they only have to pay out the reward when Newegg wins -- which means setting up the bounty didn't cost them money, it saved them money (assuming the reward was what made the difference between Newegg fighting and rolling over). This way, each business can settle or fight depending on their specific circumstances, but the companies that choose to settle can still encourage others to fight.
- mark-r 14y ago
  Great idea, but the lawyers would shoot it down immediately (if they haven't already). The terms of a settlement would just have a clause preventing them from offering such a bounty.
  - AnthonyMouse 14y ago
    So just do it ahead of time. As soon as the troll approaches you, before you so much as sign an NDA, immediately set up an independent trust with the money in it which will give it to whoever invalidates the troll's patents, and if the patents expire without being invalidated the money plus interest goes back to the company. Do this immediately, for every troll, by every company. It could put a pretty good sized dent in the problem.
    - queensnake 14y ago
      .. so then as part of the settlement, the trolls says 'and withdraw your bounty'. Same thing.
      - AnthonyMouse 14y ago

NoPiece 14y ago

I agree. Next time you buy something, and have a choice between Newegg who fought and put themselves at risk, and Amazon who took the easy way out, you know who deserves your money.

thaumaturgy 14y ago
Yep. I quit ordering from Newegg years ago because of a customer service issue. We order an unholy pile of stuff from Amazon all the time. I think it's time to start ordering from Newegg again.
- thoughtpalette 14y ago
  They've definitively stepped up their customer service.
- nfriedly 14y ago
  I'm in about the same boat, only it's been more like 3-4 years. Newegg is about to get more business from me.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

javajosh 14y ago

OTOH NewEgg gets some serious glory. And I am going to personally make sure that that glory turns into dollars for them.

rohamg 14y ago

Dont worry about that: developing a reputation for aggressively fighting patent trolls has the effect of dissuading trolls from targeting newegg in the first place. Trolls are likely to target others for a quick settlement rather than risk losing their golden goose at trial (as happened here).

alex_c 14y ago
And this long-term view is, I suspect, how NewEgg justifies the short-term risk of losing a trial. Never negotiate with terrorists.
- eksith 14y ago
  Isn't it odd that this is exactly what patent trolls have become? How many people (especially small company owners) are living in teror of being sued, or have already been sued, for being in violation of completely asinine patents? They've all pretty much been reduced to "X on a computer" or "X over a network" with "X" being ideas that are in many cases decades old and if patented, long since those patents have expired. I guess this is what we get with patent office incompetence and rubber-stamp-happy inspectors. The patent office a little while ago asked for "feedback" on the software patent issue. I had a good chuckle.
- lubujackson 14y ago
  SOYLENT TERRORISM IS CORPORATE PEOPLE!
  - pjscott 14y ago
    If you think "Don't negotiate with terrorists" is just overdramatizing, then you've misread. It's actually a reference to an interesting bit of theory about deterrence. A country which has a history of negotiating with terrorists will tend to get more terrorists making demands of them. Conversely, a country which steadfastly refuses to ever negotiate, even when this hurts them, will not get as many terrorist demands. This kind of reasoning also applies to border skirmishes, contract disputes, and patent trolls.
14y ago

csense 14y ago

Maybe we should set up a tradition of patent-busting bounties. I.e. when Victoria's Secret gets hit with $10 million a year in royalties (or whatever the number was), they can say "We're not going to fight these patents in court, but if somebody else fights them and wins, so we don't have to pay that $10 million/year royalty anymore, we'll give them a one-time $3 million payment." Victoria's Secret has an incentive to post a bounty under these terms, because having that promise available can only improve the chance that someone else will take it on. And they only have to pay out the reward when Newegg wins -- which means setting up the bounty didn't cost them money, it saved them money (assuming the reward was what made the difference between Newegg fighting and rolling over). This way, each business can settle or fight depending on their specific circumstances, but the companies that choose to settle can still encourage others to fight.

mark-r 14y ago
Great idea, but the lawyers would shoot it down immediately (if they haven't already). The terms of a settlement would just have a clause preventing them from offering such a bounty.
- AnthonyMouse 14y ago
  So just do it ahead of time. As soon as the troll approaches you, before you so much as sign an NDA, immediately set up an independent trust with the money in it which will give it to whoever invalidates the troll's patents, and if the patents expire without being invalidated the money plus interest goes back to the company. Do this immediately, for every troll, by every company. It could put a pretty good sized dent in the problem.
  - queensnake 14y ago
    .. so then as part of the settlement, the trolls says 'and withdraw your bounty'. Same thing.
    - AnthonyMouse 14y ago