51–60 of 73 posts
Google is taking a leaf out of the Mafia playbook here. Classy. Nice start-up you have there. Would be a shame if one of these pesky trolls sued you. But if you join our organization as a partner you will be protected.
Patent law needs reform. If you analyze the life of important inventors and innovators of the 20th century, there has always been some patent pain involved that is not in the interest of the "greater good". The reason America didn't have a significant air force for WW1 compared to other powers was in part due to the legal battles between Wright and Curtiss. The government intervened in the patent driven battle so pla…
I can't even recall a single time when patents have helped 'the little guy'. The only case that I can think of offhand involve manufacturers holding out until the patent expires, even if it is a decrease in public safety. I think the most simple, and best, reform for /patents/ is elimination. While I'm on the subject, returning to the 15 year copyright and 15 more IF you pay a lot to renew sounds like a good starting…
I have no idea why you have a problem with trademarks. Why should a small family business be paying increasing fees to continue to operate as "Sanford and Son"? Or do you think I should be able to call my product "Heinz Ketchup" because they have had the name long enough?
Patent law needs reform. If you analyze the life of important inventors and innovators of the 20th century, there has always been some patent pain involved that is not in the interest of the "greater good". The reason America didn't have a significant air force for WW1 compared to other powers was in part due to the legal battles between Wright and Curtiss. The government intervened in the patent driven battle so pla…
I can't even recall a single time when patents have helped 'the little guy'. The only case that I can think of offhand involve manufacturers holding out until the patent expires, even if it is a decrease in public safety. I think the most simple, and best, reform for /patents/ is elimination. While I'm on the subject, returning to the 15 year copyright and 15 more IF you pay a lot to renew sounds like a good starting…
So now I can blatantly disregard, copy, and infringe upon on any patents I want while building my startup, simply by paying the price of giving a small amount of equity to Google?
Google is taking a leaf out of the Mafia playbook here. Classy. Nice start-up you have there. Would be a shame if one of these pesky trolls sued you. But if you join our organization as a partner you will be protected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would provide the largest deterrent, since the lion's share of today's suits are without merit Doesn't this depend on what "without merit" means? It seems unlikely they are "without merit" in the legal sense, since then they would be thrown out at the first hearing. If you mean they are from patent trolls aka non-practicing entities, then it seems wrong too. I see coverage of tens of cases by NPEs per year, but…
Ars Technica reported last year that in 2015 over two thirds of patent lawsuits were filed by trolls and that of all patent lawsuits, 44% were filed in the Eastern District of Texas (where few others than trolls would be filing suits). The report says that although the numbers are up, the trolls' business might be down. Ars: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/despite-law-chan... Original statistic: https://w…
The total number of cases seems to line up between the two reports (5700 in 2015, not including PTAB).
But only 2281 cases involving NPEs were decided between 1996 and 2015[1]. If 66% are filed by NPEs, then this should be much more. Unless the vast majority are dropped I guess?
[1] https://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/ass..., page 16
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are several ways of reaching a distributed consensus about that, like proof of stake. It is also conceivable that it would be in the fund's interest to defend all lawsuits. That would provide the largest deterrent, since the lion's share of today's suits are without merit, and the cost of defense would be considered the operating cost of the fund. What the trolls exploit is the assymetry between a defendant wit…
That would provide the largest deterrent, since the lion's share of today's suits are without merit Doesn't this depend on what "without merit" means? It seems unlikely they are "without merit" in the legal sense, since then they would be thrown out at the first hearing. If you mean they are from patent trolls aka non-practicing entities, then it seems wrong too. I see coverage of tens of cases by NPEs per year, but…
In all patent troll cases I've seen, a patent exists, and the defendant is actually infringing the patent. So there is some merit to the lawsuit.
The problem is that the "inventions" in the patents:
* are not novel, or
* are not non-obvious, or
* have not been described in sufficient detail to replicate without further research, or
* a combination of all of the above for various claims in the patent.
so the patent should never have been issued in the first place. But invalidating the patent in court is a tedious and expensive process. You need many expert witnesses debating what is novel, what is non-obvious, and what is sufficiently detailed, it's not something a judge can decide in 10 minutes.
Patent law needs reform. If you analyze the life of important inventors and innovators of the 20th century, there has always been some patent pain involved that is not in the interest of the "greater good". The reason America didn't have a significant air force for WW1 compared to other powers was in part due to the legal battles between Wright and Curtiss. The government intervened in the patent driven battle so pla…
I can't even recall a single time when patents have helped 'the little guy'. The only case that I can think of offhand involve manufacturers holding out until the patent expires, even if it is a decrease in public safety. I think the most simple, and best, reform for /patents/ is elimination. While I'm on the subject, returning to the 15 year copyright and 15 more IF you pay a lot to renew sounds like a good starting…
But that's in 'the real world' and not software, which is an even more ridiculous situation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ars Technica reported last year that in 2015 over two thirds of patent lawsuits were filed by trolls and that of all patent lawsuits, 44% were filed in the Eastern District of Texas (where few others than trolls would be filing suits). The report says that although the numbers are up, the trolls' business might be down. Ars: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/despite-law-chan... Original statistic: https://w…
This is strange. The total number of cases seems to line up between the two reports (5700 in 2015, not including PTAB). But only 2281 cases involving NPEs were decided between 1996 and 2015[1]. If 66% are filed by NPEs, then this should be much more. Unless the vast majority are dropped I guess? [1] https://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/ass... , page 16