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Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

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Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#141

Post by belter »

dt3ft wrote: post #127

Why are we calling these "patent trolls"? They use the system we all built (or the one we tolerate) and pursue profits as per the "rules of the game". Instead of fighting this one case at a time, shouldn't we be organizing and pushing for the "rules of the game" to be changed and get this over with once and for all? By the way, I strongly believe that software patents should not exist.

We call them patent trolls because they follow the rules of the game but behave unethically.

I have seen US companies convince employees to move to another state. Real reason was dismissal laws were more convenient for the company. After a 3 to 4 months they closed their offices. So all within the rules of the game, but unethical. Or the "hire to fire" practices. Within the rules of the game also...

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#142

Post by hiidrew »

Not sure of your age but I'm acquaintances with an individual that was in a similar situation when he was 22. Met in-person and dressed as scrappy as possbile, like a broke college student that doesn't care about their appearance. Ended up settling for $1,000 and exiting with a sale to Ford

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#143

Post by meowface »

Andrew_Russell wrote: post #44

I am an IP litigator, and I have dealt with patent trolls repeatedly. I have taken these kinds of cases pro bono in the past for small companies (including through the EFF attorney referral list, https://www.eff.org/pages/legal-assistance ), and I know that others have as well. There are definitely low-cost and pro bono (free) options out there for very small businesses. The EFF attorney referral list is a good place…

Thank you for your service.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#144

Post by mtnGoat »

when this happened to me, they didn't send the letter certified and misspelled my name on the letter(which gave away who sold my info to them). Thus, by my reckoning, i never got the letter and was unaware, though i did know they were suing many others. Lucky for me one of those others prevailed in court and crushed the troll. Sadly the suit almost bankrupted the company that won, but in the end they proved they wont take crap from trolls.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#145

Post by throwawayboise »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #128
jabo wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t law firms avoid taking on competing companies as clients to avoid any form of conflict of interest?

Yes, this is a key difference between the US "law firm" system and the UK barrister "chambers" system. The first is focused on profits (and survival). The second seeks to reduce the inherent commercial conflict of interest during difficult cases.

I think most law firms would represent competing companies in separate cases. Conflict of interest is more representing multiple parties in the same case or issue.

E.g. I once had a lawyer review a severance agreement before I signed it, since it had non-compete language in it. He had to be sure that his firm didn't already have a relationship with the employer.

If there's no common interest in the case, lawyers are expected to be able to maintain confidentiality. Same as an accountant who might have two competing businesses as clients.

But, IANAL.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#146

Post by oh_sigh »

shmerl wrote: post #112
major505 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious. Can you counter sue a company like that? Since they do affect productive companies, that must be some law against that...

You'd think it should be a law against racketeering (something like RICO). Some tried to use that against patent trolls, but it didn't work.

As long as the patent is valid there is nothing racketeering about it.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#148

Post by foobarbazetc »

belter wrote: post #104
foobarbazetc wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawyers, like any other profession, are 95% incompetent. Finding the 5% that are competent is harder than it looks. And the hourly rate and/or physical location of said lawyer bares no correlation to competence level. And once you find that person they usually get scooped up and become GC for some VC funded startup or whatever because word travels.

Agree. The same applies by the way, to International Tax Advisers and specially if you are doing business across several countries in EU. I paid 200 to 300 dollars per hour for International Tax Consultants, that were unable to understand the most common cross country tax scenarios, like "triangular taxation". At the same time, very cheap and experienced "regular accountants" provided, clear, concise and correct advi…

Yeah, funnily enough my experience is based on international tax advice.

No one actually knows anything about this, save for like 3 people world wide for each country pair.

Lawyers will happily bill you for incorrect advice because their liability is limited to the amount invoiced. But you can end up with massive tax bills based on that bad advice.

You can do better by reading the law and tax treaties yourself, then getting someone to verify your interpretation.

Law is just code for humans.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#149

Post by foobarbazetc »

jacobkg wrote: post #123
foobarbazetc wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawyers, like any other profession, are 95% incompetent. Finding the 5% that are competent is harder than it looks. And the hourly rate and/or physical location of said lawyer bares no correlation to competence level. And once you find that person they usually get scooped up and become GC for some VC funded startup or whatever because word travels.

In my experience physicians are not 95% incompetent. Is there something inherently different about law from medicine? Or is more like how 95% of physicians couldn’t help you with a specific problem because it’s outside their specialty?

As someone who went through a tonne of so-called medical experts for a chronic condition I can say that, based on my experience, most people involved in medicine are incompetent. lol.

You just have to bounce around until you hit someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.

Re: Ask HN: I was hit with a patent troll lawsuit, how do I deal with it?

#150

Post by dathinab »

Buttons840 wrote: post #135
dathinab wrote: post #129

Hm this is basically on the level of patenting pulling your wallet out of your green pocket to pay for a coffee at a street food shop. Or cutting wood with a knife to then use it to build a chair. I.e. while you need the result of the first part to do the second part, how you do the first part and how you do the second part are completely unrelated. Honestly given the large degree of economical damage such patent tro…

How about requiring a jury of "peers" who actually know the first thing about the subject matter when these things do go to court.

That is also a good idea, but I would prefer if patent trolls don't even try to go to court.

Sadly with many countries law system even if you are in the right they opponent still can drive you to ruine before they lose.

So the penalties (for trolling company and lawyer) must be to a point that they won't want to risk abusing the patent system.

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