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Such a depressing situation. I shudder to think of such a letter arriving to my small (tiny) business. And yet I know it could happen any time. There's simply n
by zmmmmm 13y ago
Such a depressing situation. I shudder to think of such a letter arriving to my small (tiny) business. And yet I know it could happen any time. There's simply no way for me to avoid it - I can't possibly anticipate what bogus patent might be thrown at me, it may even be nothing to do with my business. It would probably be game over, shut down, years of hard work down the drain. And even then, I worry that they would sue for damages from past sales, so I may still be screwed.
How do others deal with this risk? Just ignore it and hope for the best? Is it still statistically low enough chance that that is a reasonable thing to do? Incorporate and protect assets so if you are sued you can at least back out without personal financial devastation?
- kintamanimatt 13y agoYou should be incorporating anyway. It's a very cheap form of personal liability insurance.
- genwin 13y agoBeware, IANAL. Yes, incorporate. Then, if the business isn't worth much and it's just you, ignore any patent trolls. In the unlikely event any take you to court, don't show up or otherwise waste your money on the suit, and if they win then continue to ignore them. In the worst case you go out of business and start another business with the same technology.
- kintamanimatt 13y agoIgnoring a properly filed lawsuit is pretty much the dumbest thing you can do. If they win by default (which is what happens if you ignore it) they can still successfully come after assets.
- genwin 13y agoIt's not the dumbest thing you can do when acting on it costs more. They cannot come after your personal assets in the case I described, and the business is not worth much. They are smart enough to not spend more money than they can seize in assets, so it's unlikely to happen.
- Grovara123 13y agoNo - it is the dumbest thing you can do. They can win by default... you lose... you don't get to be 're-heard'
- genwin 13y agoYes, you lose, but less than you'd lose if you fight it.
- kintamanimatt 13y agoAre you sure you're a lawyer, as you've claimed elsewhere? I have strong doubts given the way you debate and write. As a lawyer you should know that (at least in the US) relief from a default judgment is available. Such relief requires a showing of good cause, but the standard for "good cause" doesn't appear to be especially high.
- Grovara123 13y agoa lawyer and owner of a tech patent - not a troll- http://patents.justia.com/inventor/peter-a-groverman http://patents.justia.com/inventor/peter-a-groverman
- robryan 13y agoSo, you invented rewards points in 2012....
- kinsho 13y agoAnd so you are one of them. You're asking software developers like us to cut deals with people like you in order to avoid litigation.
- VexXtreme 13y agoIt seems to me that the only reason you frequent HN is to find any potential startups that might be using a system remotely resembling what you described in your patent, so that you could sue them. Pathetic.
- droidist2 13y agoYou could go with an LLC instead of incorporating. There's less paperwork involved.