41–50 of 51 posts
> The dueling teams of lawyers have spent millions creating elaborate presentations Did the lawyers spend millions, or did they bill millions?
Probably spent millions in getting expert testimonials. Those aren't cheap. Of course they turned around to bill the clients for the work with cost plus.
> Apple, Argosy Publishing, Blockbuster, Citigroup, eBay, Frito-Lay, JP Morgan Chase, New Frontier Media, Office Depot, Perot Systems, Playboy Enterprises International, Rent-A-Center, Sun Microsystems (bought by Oracle while this litigation was underway), and Texas Instruments. ^^ The list of companies who settled with Eloas before the patent was ruled invalid. A part of me wishes companies had a legal obligation to…
> Apple, Argosy Publishing, Blockbuster, Citigroup, eBay, Frito-Lay, JP Morgan Chase, New Frontier Media, Office Depot, Perot Systems, Playboy Enterprises International, Rent-A-Center, Sun Microsystems (bought by Oracle while this litigation was underway), and Texas Instruments. ^^ The list of companies who settled with Eloas before the patent was ruled invalid. A part of me wishes companies had a legal obligation to…
Can the companies that settled ask for their money back?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can the companies that settled ask for their money back?
Most likely not. They buy the licence to indemnify themselves, like insurance. But when you don't use your insurance you don't get the money back.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most likely not. They buy the licence to indemnify themselves, like insurance. But when you don't use your insurance you don't get the money back.
It's closer to a protection racket than insurance in this case, isn't it?
Public corporations tend to go with option 2 even though they know 75% of it is bullshit. They have to list any outstanding lawsuits as liabilities every quarter. Investors ask lots of questions about these liabilities. Expenses are cheaper than liabilities so it's better to turn those liabilities into relatively, small expenses than potentially large liabilities.
Small private companies also go for option 2. Cheaper to pay them off than be billed $200/hour for a lawyer and the court fees.
Personally, I think it's crazy that some court in Texas even gets a chance at deciding a case with a reach like this. Heck, they were talking about basically shutting down the web or turning it into yet another "you have to pay big bucks to participate" medium of which we definitely have enough already.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> -The subject matter is likely to be mostly to totally outside of a person's technical depth and factual experience. (Here I try and think if someone asked me to decide some question related to something like advanced particle physics, chemistry, or the tax code). Not just "likely"; anyone who had such experience would get kicked off the jury. Nobody on Hacker News will ever get to serve as a juror on a patent trial…
And yet if someone is "biased" against murder, they will let you be a witness in a murder trial. Love the legal system.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> -The subject matter is likely to be mostly to totally outside of a person's technical depth and factual experience. (Here I try and think if someone asked me to decide some question related to something like advanced particle physics, chemistry, or the tax code). Not just "likely"; anyone who had such experience would get kicked off the jury. Nobody on Hacker News will ever get to serve as a juror on a patent trial…
I think it's worth noting that as a nation we have chosen to be "biased" in favor of patents. A patent is presumptively valid. To find a patent invalid a jury's standard is "clear and convincing evidence." By contrast the standard for infringement is "a preponderance of the evidence."
One of the easiest potential fixes to the US patent system would just remove the no longer warranted presumption of validity from patents.
Personally, I think it's crazy that some court in Texas even gets a chance at deciding a case with a reach like this. Heck, they were talking about basically shutting down the web or turning it into yet another "you have to pay big bucks to participate" medium of which we definitely have enough already.