31–40 of 60 posts
Indeed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> One naive idea: a subscription-based nonprofit that pools legal expenses and member patent portfolios and fights defensive cases on behalf of startups and small businesses. The more such companies that join, the more formidable its portfolio would become. 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…
As for "ammunition", look up the Berkeley Patent Survey [1]. The only damning thing you'll find in there, though, is that entrepreneurs in software on average don't think they present a competitive advantage, so "only" 60% of software startups file for patents. And it's typically because investors ask for them.
Edit: I misremembered... It's actually only 25% of all software startups in the survey, but 67% of VC-backed startups.
1. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1429049
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…
Love the judge's comment here: > "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…
A good portion of such patents could've been banned with the new bill against patent trolls, if only companies like Microsoft and IBM wouldn't have lobbied so hard against such reform.
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…
I'm guessing the kind of people who would become patent trolls are unlikely to be deterred significantly by seeing their names in print. I don't think they're particularly proud of their reputation to begin with if they resort to this way of making money.
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…
Not enough people care about this issue that your strategy would work. Plus the fact that they probably earn huge amounts of money that, to them, would more than compensate for their bad reputation. Fighting and winning court cases seems like a much more productive strategy, though it is not something we can all engage in. Also, as a matter of principle I don't think HNs title policy should be violated in order to sp…
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…
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.
Doesn't that reflect more on whoever hired them?
I've also heard that the patent office doesn't care about the quality of patents so much as (1) processing applications cheaply and (2) not getting sued for denying questionable applications. Which again would reflect on the top-level people rather than on the individual patent examiners constrained by those policies.
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…
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/newegg-on-trial-m...
What a sensible judge they had. Perhaps noting that the rest of the world most certainly does not allow patents of quite this type might focus a few minds. This parasitic business opportunity (trolling) might be costing US its innovation lead...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm guessing the kind of people who would become patent trolls are unlikely to be deterred significantly by seeing their names in print. I don't think they're particularly proud of their reputation to begin with if they resort to this way of making money.
In Shapiro's case I don't think that's necessarily true. "She’s a former MIT professor, a venture consultant for the Hillcrest Group, and a published author for the Harvard Business Review." ( http://pandodaily.com/2013/07/26/how-to-slaughter-a-patent-t... )