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Investment Companies Backing Patent Trolls

Posted by kdawson on from the arms-merchants-in-the-patent-wars dept.

greenbird sends us to Forbes for an account of billions in investments flowing to US patent troll companies. One example is DeepNines, who is suing McAfee over a patent that covers combining an IDS and firewall in a single device. The patent was filed on May 17, 2000 and issued on June 6, 2006. No prior art for that, no siree. DeepNines is funded by "an $8 million zero-coupon note to Altitude Capital Partners, a New York City private equity firm, promising in return a cut of any winnings stemming from the lawsuit. The payout is based on a formula that grants Altitude a percentage that decreases with a bigger award."

5 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. LOL PATENTS RULE LOL by LOL+PATENTS+RULE+LOL · · Score: 2, Funny

    LOL PATENTS RULE LOL

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    LOL I AM A PATENT TROLL LOL
    1. Re:LOL PATENTS RULE LOL by Joey+Patterson · · Score: 0, Funny

      How many investment companies are backing you?

  2. MOD THE PATENT TROLL DOWN!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    MOD THE PATENT TROLL DOWN!!!

  3. Silly companies... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...you don't feed trolls, you mod them down!

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    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  4. Lovely by iminplaya · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm surprised this hasn't become a Vegas sporting event. It's got to be better than off track betting. I can see the old farts waiting in the Kino lounge for three years for verdict, while the guards are carrying out the cadavers of those who couldn't hold out. What a country!

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    What?