Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
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Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
1–10 of 77 posts
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#2"Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls."
That quote astonished me, I never really knew the extent of the problem.
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#3I'm curious, has anyone ever seen a software patent novel enough that it could be considered a "non-obvious" solution to the problem that the inventor is trying to attack?
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#4I'm curious, has anyone ever seen a software patent novel enough that it could be considered a "non-obvious" solution to the problem that the inventor is trying to attack?
Sure. Cryptography is littered with them.
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#5> They pick on startups because undercapitalized small companies cannot afford to be ideological. When faced with the prospect of extensive legal fees and a huge distraction, they do the pragmatic thing - they settle.
Patent trolling reminds me of a game of chicken. I wonder whether chicken strategies have been tried to combat it.
For example, if the start-up could position themselves so that it is profitable for them to defend themselves if they are sued by a patent troll, and the trolls were aware of this (and rational), the trolls may be scared to litigate. This could be in the form of "insurance" that pays out when the company successfully defends itself against a patent claim. Ideally, the fact that the company is insured would thwart off trolls, so the premiums could be lower than what companies currently pay out in settlements.
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#6Though perhaps there's a selection bias at work? Maybe 'competing' venture funds are doing more thorough IP due diligence?
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#7I would really like to see something along the lines of a TED talk in which the presenter stands up, spends a couple of minutes demonstrating some kind of really interesting new technology -- something that could really help people, either in their lives or in their jobs -- and then the presenter would pause for a moment and say, "...but none of you are going to get to use this", and continue the talk but on the subject of patents.
I don't think people really understand the extent of the problem. I think they need to see exactly the damage that's being done before there will be any energy put into fixing it.
I do think that patents hold a valuable place in certain areas of research and development, but there are also areas in which patents are crippling development.
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#8I'm curious, has anyone ever seen a software patent novel enough that it could be considered a "non-obvious" solution to the problem that the inventor is trying to attack?
I'm sure that some of the patents I hold would be obvious to many people here. Just sayin'
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#9I'm curious, has anyone ever seen a software patent novel enough that it could be considered a "non-obvious" solution to the problem that the inventor is trying to attack?
Various data compression patents seem reasonable to this untrained eye - MP3 & LZW compression come to mind. Of course the duration of software patents is ridiculous, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.
#10"Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls." That quote astonished me, I never really knew the extent of the problem.
Depends on what the meaning of "is" is, actually.
What falls into the category "under attack"? threat of litigation? actual litigation? in process of settling? having settled?