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Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

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Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#31

Post by AnimalMuppet »

zerostar07 wrote: post #22

Can american patent trolls equally easy bully companies outside the US?

IANAL, but no (if I understand correctly). Companies outside the US (all the way outside, with no US footprint) are subject to the laws of their own land. You could sue them in US court, and never collect a dime. You could sue them in their own courts, have the lawsuits be subject to the laws of their land, have to spend a lot more money on lawyers... and still (probably) never collect a dime.

If they have an office in the US, though, you can sue the US division in US court.

If they have no office but some sales in the US, I'm a little less clear on...

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#32

Post by apthnz »

devit wrote: post #30

Looks like software patents can actually benefit society in some cases.

Not sure I follow - I think you're saying the way the patent is worded means the game dev is protected, but if there was no patent at all there would be nothing to attack them with in the first place?

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#33

Post by AnimalMuppet »

viraptor wrote: post #29
chapill wrote: post #27

This is hating the player, not the game. The only way to win is not to play. Relocate to a country with no software patents. I hear Estonia is great. Do all your filing online. Be a remote working foreign contractor for your own company :P

If you're still selling to the US, I don't think this would protect you. Your product can be banned anyway.

Your product could be banned, but the sue-er would never collect any money. So, if the sue-er is a patent troll, why would they bother? They don't care about banning competition. They'd burn a lot of money on lawyers for zero income. That's not a fight that they want to pick.

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#35

Post by teej »

sli wrote: post #4

Pretty obvious patent trolling if they're only going for this rather smalltime developer and none of the high profile F2P game developers and big time game developers releasing AAA games with a premium currency.

Yep. I imagine if they went after Supercell that Apple or Google might get involved, at which point a tiny patent troll would get destroyed.

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#36

Post by [deleted] »

Kelbit wrote: post #8
jannotti wrote: post #2

Trying to find other companies under the same threat is a great approach. In a similar situation, this allowed my company to fight a patent troll and share costs, so we didn't cave under the, "It'll cost us this much in legal fees anyway" argument.

While it doesn't help in this case (since there is already a looming legal threat from an NPE), you can buy patent troll insurance now: https://www.rpxcorp.com/ . This covers your legal fees in the event of litigation, which can scare off a patent troll who just wants a hit-and-run settlement.

[deleted]

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#37

Post by teej »

swarnie_ wrote: post #34
devit wrote: post #30

Looks like software patents can actually benefit society in some cases.

How did you arrive at that conclusion after reading the linked statement?

I assumed it was a snarky shot at in app purchases for games.

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#38

Post by mchannon »

zerostar07 wrote: post #22

Can american patent trolls equally easy bully companies outside the US?

Probably not. US Patents are the cheapest patents to get.

If, say, a German company infringed on a US Patent by selling to a customer in France, that would be completely legal, unless the US Patentholder also had a French patent, which is often not the case. They'd have to prosecute in French court as well, which, given the size of France's market vs. the US, would be Pyrrhic (with a capital P) at best.

The calculus for being a patent troll requires a bizarre confluence of factors (size of market, expense of litigation, certainty of litigation, cost of patents, venue procedures) that are likely to limit the phenomenon to the US.

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#39

Post by ericd »

chapill wrote: post #27

This is hating the player, not the game. The only way to win is not to play. Relocate to a country with no software patents. I hear Estonia is great. Do all your filing online. Be a remote working foreign contractor for your own company :P

Moving to Estonia just to avoid software patent trolls is an extreme case of letting the tail wag the dog.

Re: Patent trolls are shaking us down for selling “rubies” in our game

#40

Post by wooly_bully »

apthnz wrote: post #32
devit wrote: post #30

Looks like software patents can actually benefit society in some cases.

Not sure I follow - I think you're saying the way the patent is worded means the game dev is protected, but if there was no patent at all there would be nothing to attack them with in the first place?

They're taking a jab at in-app purchases.
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