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I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

royvanrijn.com

1–10 of 31 posts

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#3
It's a real travesty that law suits cost money. It basically ensures the one with the deepest pockets has the largest chance of winning. I would love to see a country that doesn't allow commercial lawyers for lawsuits. But instead both parties get a randomly assigned lawyer from the state. The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money which they get back if the case is deemed non-ridiculous.

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#4
> The two example patent numbers that I sent you are U.S. patents, but each of these patents has also been filed as patent applications in the Netherlands. Also, as I’m sure you are aware, your blogpost may be viewed internationally. As a result, you may contribute to someone infringing our patents in any part of the world.

This seems like a gross misunderstanding of patent- and IP-law. I can't know this, but I strongly doubt those patents would be valid anywhere in Europe.

Furthermore, releasing source code and information on an algorithm that someone claims is protected in US would still be akin to explaining an already published patent. Any information he shares beyond what is in the patent is, obviously, not protected. Further still, when patents are granted all information contained in the patent application becomes public domain. This is actually at the core of patent law.

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#5

It's a real travesty that law suits cost money. It basically ensures the one with the deepest pockets has the largest chance of winning. I would love to see a country that doesn't allow commercial lawyers for lawsuits. But instead both parties get a randomly assigned lawyer from the state. The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money which they get back if the case is deemed non-ridiculous.

> It's a real travesty that law suits cost money

> The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money

How much thought have you given to this?

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#7
Part 2: https://www.royvanrijn.com/blog/2010/11/patent-infrigement-p... TL;DR:

> I’m sorry, but I can’t comply.

> Good luck.

The follow up around 2016: https://twitter.com/royvanrijn/status/788436253532426241

> Nothing happened, never heard from them again...

I couldn't find the code anywhere on his Github profile, so not sure if he actually took the step to publish the code.

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#8

Part 2: https://www.royvanrijn.com/blog/2010/11/patent-infrigement-p... TL;DR: > I’m sorry, but I can’t comply. > Good luck. The follow up around 2016: https://twitter.com/royvanrijn/status/788436253532426241 > Nothing happened, never heard from them again... I couldn't find the code anywhere on his Github profile, so not sure if he actually took the step to publish the code.

It would be nice if there were actual consequences for making empty legal threats like this.

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#9
post #5

It's a real travesty that law suits cost money. It basically ensures the one with the deepest pockets has the largest chance of winning. I would love to see a country that doesn't allow commercial lawyers for lawsuits. But instead both parties get a randomly assigned lawyer from the state. The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money which they get back if the case is deemed non-ridiculous.

> It's a real travesty that law suits cost money > The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money How much thought have you given to this?

It really depends on the country and the matter; I was part in several civil and criminal (as victim) cases where I self-represented myself, zero cost, so far I won every single time. The same cases in US would have costed me 6-digit numbers or more in lawyer fees, it is a lot more difficult to self-represent there.

Re: I received a patent infringement email for my weekend project (2010)

#10

It's a real travesty that law suits cost money. It basically ensures the one with the deepest pockets has the largest chance of winning. I would love to see a country that doesn't allow commercial lawyers for lawsuits. But instead both parties get a randomly assigned lawyer from the state. The party that is suing also has to pay a sum of money which they get back if the case is deemed non-ridiculous.

this isn't that far off from how some european systems work.

for example, in the UK[0], if you lose a lawsuit, you have to pay not only your attorney's fees, but the other party's attorneys fees. It gets very expensive. As a result, some percentage of valid claims are not filed because the losing party cannot bear the risk of losing.

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_rule_(attorney%27s_fee...

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