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Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

unionsquareventures.com

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Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#21

Post by lliiffee »

alain94040 wrote: post #17
dangoldin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting idea for a company! An company that insures against patent lawsuits. It would have be staffed by lawyers who know whether there are any possible patent violations but it might work. As you said, the fact that you are even insured by this company may already signal to the troll to back off.

Nice idea but it doesn't work because when I sue you with a bogus patent troll, you can't make money out of it. All you can do is make the lawsuit go away and lose as little money as possible. So it's a win-lose scenario. So there is no insurance possible. The best lawyers in your hypothetical insurance company, at best could convince the judge that you are not infringing. But it won't make you any money. So there is…

The good guys pay me money for insurance, I promise to release my team of ruthless lawyers on anyone that sue them, the patent trolls see my scary lawyers and don't sue. Doesn't that work?

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#22

Post by argv_empty »

tptacek wrote: post #4
kschrader wrote: post #3

I'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.

Except then you're patenting math.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#23

Post by daniel-cussen »

alain94040 wrote: post #17
dangoldin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting idea for a company! An company that insures against patent lawsuits. It would have be staffed by lawyers who know whether there are any possible patent violations but it might work. As you said, the fact that you are even insured by this company may already signal to the troll to back off.

Nice idea but it doesn't work because when I sue you with a bogus patent troll, you can't make money out of it. All you can do is make the lawsuit go away and lose as little money as possible. So it's a win-lose scenario. So there is no insurance possible. The best lawyers in your hypothetical insurance company, at best could convince the judge that you are not infringing. But it won't make you any money. So there is…

In order for a bogus patent troll to sue, that troll would have to have the patent. It wouldn't be so bogus.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#24

Post by tptacek »

argv_empty wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Cryptography is littered with them.

Except then you're patenting math.

Not true at all. Cryptography Research has patented most of the implementation techniques required to do hardware crypto without being susceptible to differential power analysis (btw: that? My favorite business model ever!). That was almost pure systems research.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#26

Post by schammy »

alain94040 wrote: post #17
dangoldin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting idea for a company! An company that insures against patent lawsuits. It would have be staffed by lawyers who know whether there are any possible patent violations but it might work. As you said, the fact that you are even insured by this company may already signal to the troll to back off.

Nice idea but it doesn't work because when I sue you with a bogus patent troll, you can't make money out of it. All you can do is make the lawsuit go away and lose as little money as possible. So it's a win-lose scenario. So there is no insurance possible. The best lawyers in your hypothetical insurance company, at best could convince the judge that you are not infringing. But it won't make you any money. So there is…

That doesn't make any sense. You think an insurance company makes money when you wreck your car? No. Yet there are thousands of them in business. They make money by making the premiums of the insurance cost more than what they have to pay to fix people's cars. This patent insurance would work the same way.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#27

Post by akadien »

zaphar wrote: post #14
thaumaturgy wrote: post #7

I 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 subj…

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. I hear people say this but they never give an example. Can you name an area of research and development where patents hold a valuable position? I myself have trouble coming up with any and I'm curious what others think.

Rodent detention devices.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#28

Post by Psyonic »

tptacek wrote: post #24
argv_empty wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except then you're patenting math.

Not true at all. Cryptography Research has patented most of the implementation techniques required to do hardware crypto without being susceptible to differential power analysis (btw: that? My favorite business model ever!). That was almost pure systems research.

What is the business model associated with differential power analysis? Why is it your favorite?

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#29

Post by tptacek »

Psyonic wrote: post #28
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true at all. Cryptography Research has patented most of the implementation techniques required to do hardware crypto without being susceptible to differential power analysis (btw: that? My favorite business model ever!). That was almost pure systems research.

What is the business model associated with differential power analysis? Why is it your favorite?

They discovered a horrible, systemic vulnerability and then patented most of the effective defenses for it. It's pure evil genius.

Re: Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls.

#30

Post by tedunangst »

argv_empty wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Cryptography is littered with them.

Except then you're patenting math.

Something as arcane as DES is not a "natural law". Crypto algorithms aren't pre-existing (show me a naturally occuring physical process that can be described by a crypto alogrithm), they're not obvious to even experts in the field, and people spend a lot of time trying to get them right. That's the very definition of patentable.

[I know DES isn't patented, and there's plenty of good reasons why you don't want a patented crypto algorithm, but I think they certainly qualify.]

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