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Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

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Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#361

Post by gozur88 »

peeters wrote: post #169
readams wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of the litigation which is of course how insurance works. They key with the patent system is that you have to pay millions to defend yourself, but it's exceptionally rare to be able to recover attorney's fees even if you win. So in the end it's a choice between capitulating and paying some amount (and perhaps unleashing more trolls in the future) or wasting million…

> The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of the litigation which is of course how insurance works. The key with the patent system is that you have to pay millions to defend yourself, but it's exceptionally rare to be able to recover attorney's fees even if you win. If enough people buy insurance to make sure that the patent trolls never win, then there's no money to be made and the lawyers stop suing. S…

Yes. Their business model relies on the fact most people will settle if the offer is about the same cost as a successful defense or less. If they actually had to litigate all these cases they could never make money.

My impression is they'd rather not go to court, since there's always a chance they could have their patent busted.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#363

Post by rwhitman »

Yet another example of the consumer software industry being completely impotent when it comes to defending itself.

Patent trolls file these frivolous lawsuits because they make millions and suffer zero consequences for their actions. Why? Because there is no industry trade group representing the software industry with any sort of teeth. They know software developers have money, and they know software developers are absurdly weak when it comes to defending themselves. Software developers are easy prey.

Other than the EFF who is out there to represent us with any measure of real leverage over the legal process? Who is out there with the muscle to make patent trolls and software unfriendly lawmakers have second thoughts when targeting developers?

With no lobbies or trade associations with any sort of power out there representing consumer software, anyone with even minor influence over government can simply walk all over software developers, again and again and again. The consumer software industry has enormous amounts of cash at it's disposal, surely a few cash rich companies can pool enough resources together to kick off a trade association worthy of punching back, hard

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#364

Post by rwhitman »

comboy wrote: post #5

Couldn't Google offer defense in such cases for its users? Every case is the same so it shouldn't even be that expensive (I guess, IANAL), and it would discourage future cases because the troll would know he will have to fight against Google.

Or at least they could join with some other companies to pool money towards a software trade association with real teeth that we can rely on to represent our industry's interests when it's under attack like this.

It's appalling how limp this business is when it comes to demonstrating political muscle

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#365

Post by arcticfox »

jitix wrote: post #350

Somehow this all seems illegal. I'm not that familiar with the US law so can somebody explain if the defendant can claim that the judge has a conflict of interest and is not fit to handle the case because his son profits from it?

Well it's very unlikely the judge directly works his son's cases due to that obvious conflict. Rather, the judge works a random set of cases brought in East Texas and works them favorably for trolls. So many troll cases get brought in that district, hoping for this judge or other friendly judges.

It's obviously rotten but that one-step removed corruption is probably not explicitly codified as wrong anywhere. Hopefully the legal system finds a way to root it out.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#366

Post by dancablam »

rwhitman wrote: post #363

Yet another example of the consumer software industry being completely impotent when it comes to defending itself. Patent trolls file these frivolous lawsuits because they make millions and suffer zero consequences for their actions. Why? Because there is no industry trade group representing the software industry with any sort of teeth. They know software developers have money, and they know software developers are a…

Somebody needs to create a FUPA for anti-patent trolling

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#367

Post by markdown »

taf2 wrote: post #313
Steko wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this fundamentally different from our beloved SV startups organizing themselves as Delaware C-Corps?

For starters, most people incorporate in delware whether they are in SV or not. It's just a better place for taxes. This is available to anyone who wants to incorporate. Does not require you are in the know or have a relationship with a judge...

Not really true anymore. I believe Wyoming is better for taxes these days. It's more about there being a good body of relevant established case law in Delaware.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#368

Post by stephengillie »

bluejekyll wrote: post #338
corndoge wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Web does not and will never have the same quality of experience as a native application.

Do you use slack? Is that a "web" app or "native"? I think the lines are blurring.

I use the Slack web app, but others heavily prefer the "native" aka "fat" client. The fat client isn't much more than a wrapper for the web, but both are more than just an interface for the API, which can be a bit laggy.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#370

Post by floatalong »

As angry as this video makes me, I'd point out that we've been making some progress in the fight against trolls. Yes, they're still a problem, but some things that have weakened them:

The Supreme Court's ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank, which dealt a fatal blow to a lot of software patents out there (especially the awful, vague and overly broad patents that trolls love so much). The Supreme Court reaffirmed that merely "adding a generic computer to perform generic computer functions" does not make an otherwise abstract idea patentable. [0] This ruling helps get rid of cases earlier. While it doesn't kill off patent litigation, it makes it easier for us to fight low-quality assertions. More importantly, this puts a tougher filter for prosecution of new patent applications, the vast majority of which are dumb and overly broad.

Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, which are rather expensive (average $278,000) [1], but are much cheaper than litigation. Third parties can use IPRs to challenge patent claims (patentability) based on prior art patents and publications. In the case of Austin Meyer's patent defense, many of the patent claims were invalidated through this kind of proceeding, and petitioned by a consortium (Distinctive Developments, Ltd., Electronic Arts Inc., Gameloft S.E., Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd., Laminar Research LLC, Mojang AB and Square Enix, Inc.). [2]

Heightened pleading standards. Before December 2015, it used to be that trolls could sue dozens of companies with cookie-cutter complaints, citing no real facts, and put on pressure for settlements by threatening lengthy and costly discovery proceedings. But thanks to decisions in Iqbal/Twombly, complaints must plead facts and recite aspects of the accused product that are alleged to infringe. This butchers the spam lawsuit tactic, and the day before this went into effect, trolls filed a one day record for new suits. [3] Shameful, yes, but it's helped clarify standards governing motions to dismiss.

[0] https://www.eff.org/files/2014/06/19/alice-corp._v._cls-bank...

[1] https://www.rpxcorp.com/2015/07/02/iprs-reality-amid-the-pyr...

[2] search patent number 6857067 and document 37 at https://ptabtrials.uspto.gov

[3] http://fortune.com/2015/12/02/patent-lawsuit-record/

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