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How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

arstechnica.com

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Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#51

Post by eksith »

alex_c wrote: post #44
rohamg wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

And this long-term view is, I suspect, how NewEgg justifies the short-term risk of losing a trial. Never negotiate with terrorists.

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.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#52

Post by dangoldin »

bentoner wrote: post #20

The company won't hire law firms that take on patent troll cases, and its top lawyer, Lee Cheng, is vocal about his view that others should take the same approach. Is there a site somewhere listing which firms represent patent trolls?

I'm curious about this as well. If major companies started doing this it would strike a big blow to patent trolls.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#53

Post by eksith »

illumin8 wrote: post #47
Whitespace wrote: post #29

It seems that almost all patent troll cases are tried in the East District of Texas because that district had strongly favored plaintiffs. I'm then curious: if a US company refused to do business with Texas citizens -- citing an inhospitable litigation environment or some such -- could they still be brought to court in EDTX? Continuing the thought experiment, what if companies continued to do business but added a sur…

It's a US district court, as in Federal court, so no, you can't just choose not to show up if you are filed against. Unless, of course, you don't want to do business in the US, or have any assets here.

I'm reminded of the time Amazon stopped its associates program with Connecticut and Colorado. Granted, that was over taxes, but I can see how it will still cause enough of a fuss to make people look at this more closely.

Most people have no concept of software patents, until a company they know or do business with is suddenly affected. So a boycott or even a threatened boycott with Texas may get a lot of attention.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#54

Post by thoughtpalette »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #46
NoPiece wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

They've definitively stepped up their customer service.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#55

Post by eksith »

bentoner wrote: post #20

The company won't hire law firms that take on patent troll cases, and its top lawyer, Lee Cheng, is vocal about his view that others should take the same approach. Is there a site somewhere listing which firms represent patent trolls?

If there is a site, it will need to keep changing almost weekly. Trolls are notorious for closing up shop and starting new companies with new names and hiding behind subsidiaries. Likewise legal offices that work with them are very tight-lipped.

It's the software litigation equivalent of defending terrorists after all.

If a name is sold to another company and the index hadn't been updated, the new company and name will be at risk for misdirected rage.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#56

Post by Tyrant505 »

pg wrote: post #23

These were Open Market's patents? OM tried to get us to license one of them in about 1997. They didn't try very hard though. I told the OM guy who called me that I thought the patent was invalid, and he said "ok" and then asked if we were hiring.

Haha that was a pretty epic fail..

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#57

Post by hkmurakami »

eksith wrote: post #53
illumin8 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a US district court, as in Federal court, so no, you can't just choose not to show up if you are filed against. Unless, of course, you don't want to do business in the US, or have any assets here.

I'm reminded of the time Amazon stopped its associates program with Connecticut and Colorado. Granted, that was over taxes, but I can see how it will still cause enough of a fuss to make people look at this more closely. Most people have no concept of software patents, until a company they know or do business with is suddenly affected. So a boycott or even a threatened boycott with Texas may get a lot of attention.

My California account was temporarily stopped as well.

Re: How Newegg crushed the “shopping cart” patent and saved online retail

#59

Post by unreal37 »

rohamg wrote: post #41
NelsonMinar wrote: post #8

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.

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).

Newegg is saving themselves millions of $ a year from being a patent-troll nightmare. I suspect many patent trolls try to avoid them, especially after this.
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