U.S. Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Patent Trolls

Anonymous Coward writes "Forbes is reporting that the Supreme Court has just limited the power of patent trolls to obtain permanent injunctions against infringers as a matter of course. The court has ruled that the principles of equity apply, meaning that a court considering slapping an injunction on the infringer must consider how much damage is really being done ... which in the case of EBay's Buy It Now feature, isn't much, since the company that owns this so-called patent only has it for the purposes of suing other people." From the article: "The high court's decision deals a blow to patent trolls, which are notorious for using the threat of permanent injunction to extort hefty fees in licensing negotiations as well as huge settlements from companies they have accused of infringing. Often, those settlements can be far greater than the value of the infringing technology: Recall the $612.5 million that Canada's Research in Motion forked over to patent-holding company NTP to avoid the shutting down of its popular BlackBerry service."

Comments

Re:Which is kind of funny since...

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

I'm not sure what you mean - but if you're saying Creative was another "Patent Troll", then I don't think you're correct.

Patent troll companies generally do not produce technology, just sit on patent portfolios. While Creative's suit has no merit, Creative have been selling mp3 players for far longer then Apple has (they even bought out a 'nano' branded model first!).

Oh - and there's another big patent threat to the iPod out there - the click wheel patent... and the company who owns that patent produces real (if crap) technology products too.

Re:Clarity in reporting please.

[espinafre]

"What do you call 1000 trolls buried up to their necks in sand?"
"A good start."


You got it wrong.

"What do you call 1000 lawyers buried up to their necks in sand?"
"Not enough sand."