I'm repeating myself, but in every single one of these patent trolling cases: Name. And. Shame. Eileen Shapiro. The headline should be: "FindTheBest destroys 'matchmaking' patent, pushes RICO case against patent troll Eileen Shapiro." (I'm assuming she's not the only one involved, but they've got her name in there.) Don't let these people hide behind the names of their patent companies. Let them become famous for the…
FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
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Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#12I'm repeating myself, but in every single one of these patent trolling cases: Name. And. Shame. Eileen Shapiro. The headline should be: "FindTheBest destroys 'matchmaking' patent, pushes RICO case against patent troll Eileen Shapiro." (I'm assuming she's not the only one involved, but they've got her name in there.) Don't let these people hide behind the names of their patent companies. Let them become famous for the…
Name. And. Shame. I wish some enterprising young kids in the tech community could work out a technical or collective solution to the problem of patent trolls. They would be asking for punishment, to be sure. But I bet there are some really cool things that can be done here. * One naive idea: a subscription-based nonprofit that pools legal expenses and member patent portfolios and fights defensive cases on behalf of s…
Patent portfolios don't work against trolls that don't have any business other than patent extortion.
> Another naive idea: publish information about patent cases underway in areas of the world that fall outside of the jurisdiction of a court imposing an injunction.
The court records are already public. It's the cases that settle that you never hear about, because the trolls demand that you sign an NDA. I don't know that publishing in a different country gets you out of the NDA.
What we really need is to start a PAC to abolish software patents and have everyone contribute money to it, and provide them with lots of "ammunition" (i.e. thousands of testimonials from startup founders explaining how the patent system is ruining everything) to bring to Congress to get this fixed. Note that this isn't the EFF -- they do good work, but they're litigators, not lobbyists. This is a situation where what we really need are lobbyists to push to get the law changed, and grass roots lobbying by individuals to the same end.
Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#13 > "There is no inventive idea here," she wrote in her order.
> "Having two or more parties input preference data is not inventive.
> Matchmakers have been doing this for millennia... It is merely a
> mathematical manifestation of the underlying process behind matchmaking:
> determining good matches."
A judge that uses the "computer algorithms == maths", and uses it to shut down a shitty patent? Awesome! I wish there were more judges like Judge Denise Colt. Well done.Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#14I'm repeating myself, but in every single one of these patent trolling cases: Name. And. Shame. Eileen Shapiro. The headline should be: "FindTheBest destroys 'matchmaking' patent, pushes RICO case against patent troll Eileen Shapiro." (I'm assuming she's not the only one involved, but they've got her name in there.) Don't let these people hide behind the names of their patent companies. Let them become famous for the…
Every time I look up one of USPTO workers involved, their online profiles (FB, etc.) show how utterly unqualified they are to be involved in the patent process.
Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#15I'm repeating myself, but in every single one of these patent trolling cases: Name. And. Shame. Eileen Shapiro. The headline should be: "FindTheBest destroys 'matchmaking' patent, pushes RICO case against patent troll Eileen Shapiro." (I'm assuming she's not the only one involved, but they've got her name in there.) Don't let these people hide behind the names of their patent companies. Let them become famous for the…
I agree with naming and shaming the trolls, but I also believe in naming and shaming the people who approve these patents. Every time I look up one of USPTO workers involved, their online profiles (FB, etc.) show how utterly unqualified they are to be involved in the patent process.
Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#16FindTheBest's founder was formerly founder/CEO of DoubleClick. I'm not sure going after someone with a VC background and a 10-figure exit to Google was very wise.
Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#17http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Luck-Practical-ebook/dp/...
EDIT: *books http://www.amazon.com/Fad-Surfing-In-The-Boardroom/dp/020144...
Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#18Re: FindTheBest destroys “matchmaking” patent, pushes RICO case against troll
#19So what? Right now the USPTO is approving hundreds of other useless patents of marginal value and expects the courts to figure out their validity. Without reform these wins are just morale boosters and nothing else.
But if the story is "the courts are clogged with frivolous patent suits because the USPTO isn't doing its damned job", there is no debate.
People don't like to think. They want someone else to do the thinking for them. If a debate has no tribal affiliation, the two sides both seem to have an argument, and there's no authoritative answer, people throw up their hands and say "well, it's complicated". Change the story so that the courts can be that authority, and people will just take their answer as read.
So the issue stops being "are patent trolls a problem?" and becomes "how do we fix patent trolling?"