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Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

blog.newegg.com

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Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#31

Post by vermontdevil »

masklinn wrote: post #21
emirozer wrote: post #3

Please excuse my ignorance on this topic. - Why is this happening in the first place? - Who is this entity that grants a loose patent? - Why isn't this entity being interrogated ?

> Why is this happening in the first place? Because US patent laws and practices allow for it > Who is this entity that grants a loose patent? The United States Patents and Trademark Office. > Why isn't this entity being interrogated ? Because there would be very little point. One part of the issue is patent laws themselves, the other part is that the USPTO is taken to task for both overly lengthy examinations[0] and…

Good points.

Don't forget the Court in Eastern Texas which is a popular place for patent lawsuits. Popular because the court is friendly to patent trolls due to the revenue the court generates. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_f...

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#32

Post by 88e282102ae2e5b »

mcherm wrote: post #14

I really appreciate Newegg's approach here -- one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Newegg is performing an (expensive) community service. How should I be supporting them (other than making them my "first place to check" for electronics shopping)?

Really though, their approach is to be known as the company that won't settle and isn't worth suing. Eventually, patent trolls will just avoid them.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#33

Post by JustSomeNobody »

88e282102ae2e5b wrote: post #32
mcherm wrote: post #14

I really appreciate Newegg's approach here -- one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Newegg is performing an (expensive) community service. How should I be supporting them (other than making them my "first place to check" for electronics shopping)?

Really though, their approach is to be known as the company that won't settle and isn't worth suing. Eventually, patent trolls will just avoid them.

I don't know about that. I've read plenty of articles on Ars about how incompetent the lawyers for the trolls are.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#34

Post by marcosdumay »

rimantas wrote: post #12
yenda wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another well known patent troll is Apple, patenting your hands movements and phone shape since 1984. Allowing the marketing industry to replace the hardware industry product after product.

Apple does release products, you might want to check the definition of the patent troll.

Well, last time I checked, "patent troll" wasn't on the dictionary.

But let's all accept the definition that says that big corporations can do everything they want, while small inventors (yes, they exist) must concede unilaterally of any rights. No way there's a better definition around.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#35

Post by Lawtonfogle »

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #25
mcherm wrote: post #14

I really appreciate Newegg's approach here -- one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Newegg is performing an (expensive) community service. How should I be supporting them (other than making them my "first place to check" for electronics shopping)?

> one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Is the underlying reason for this strategy the low costs of settlement, or the extremely high costs of lawsuits? What if the value of a patent really is only a few thousand dollars? Note that this very tactic is used by big companies to avoid licensing valid and useful patents…

The legal system is not equally available to all entities. That it is the center of how we enforce our rights and hold others to their duties is a major problem. Even if we could fix it in the case of patents, we still have major issues within other civil and criminal courts. I do not know the solution or even have any half baked ideas on it, but I do think the first step to any solution is for us, as a society, to realize that the legal system is largely pay to win and not a justice system.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#36

Post by ikeboy »

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #25
mcherm wrote: post #14

I really appreciate Newegg's approach here -- one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Newegg is performing an (expensive) community service. How should I be supporting them (other than making them my "first place to check" for electronics shopping)?

> one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Is the underlying reason for this strategy the low costs of settlement, or the extremely high costs of lawsuits? What if the value of a patent really is only a few thousand dollars? Note that this very tactic is used by big companies to avoid licensing valid and useful patents…

If you know you have a valid case (you aren't a troll), how hard would it be in practice to find someone to front the money for a lawsuit? Or for that matter, could you go to the competition and sell your patent? That is, say Apple's infringing on my patent; will Samsung buy the patent from me for a fair price and then sue Apple?

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#37

Post by ExpiredLink »

dvdcxn wrote: post #29
philipov wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it serves the political interest of "I need more money"

I think this is what the poster you replied to is implying.

Microsoft, Google, Oracle, IBM, ... they could have solved the problem long ago. They didn't.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#38

Post by a3n »

marcosdumay wrote: post #34
rimantas wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple does release products, you might want to check the definition of the patent troll.

Well, last time I checked, "patent troll" wasn't on the dictionary. But let's all accept the definition that says that big corporations can do everything they want, while small inventors (yes, they exist) must concede unilaterally of any rights. No way there's a better definition around.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=NPE+patent&t=lm

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#39

Post by akshatpradhan »

88e282102ae2e5b wrote: post #32
mcherm wrote: post #14

I really appreciate Newegg's approach here -- one of the main reasons that patent trolling is so successful is that the cost of settling is smaller even than the cost of winning a suit. Newegg is performing an (expensive) community service. How should I be supporting them (other than making them my "first place to check" for electronics shopping)?

Really though, their approach is to be known as the company that won't settle and isn't worth suing. Eventually, patent trolls will just avoid them.

This is actually a very important observation. The entire modus operandi of patent trolls is to go after the weak. Let's not kid ourselves when suggesting incompetent lawyers can't gain competence.

Re: Newegg vs. Patent Trolls: When We Win, You Win

#40

Post by smeyer »

pjc50 wrote: post #20
emirozer wrote: post #3

Please excuse my ignorance on this topic. - Why is this happening in the first place? - Who is this entity that grants a loose patent? - Why isn't this entity being interrogated ?

USPTO is the patent granting entity. They perform essentially two checks: - does the patent have the right structure? (A series of progressively refined claims) - is the patent sufficiently different from all other patents? What they don't do is check for actual originality, because that's extremely hard in a technical field. That part of the process has to be tested in court. Software really proceeds too fast for th…

>the process of using a computer ... to do something is a physical process and therefore patentable.

You have to be careful not to run afoul of Alice[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_Int%27...

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