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Patent Troll Attacks Cable, Digital TV Standards
DavidGarganta writes "A patent troll firm in suburban Philadelphia, Rembrandt IP Management, is trying to force large cable operators and major broadcasters to pay substantial license fees on the transmission of digital TV signals and Internet services. The firm is apparently trying to get 0.5% of all revenues from services that supposedly infringe on the patents. The targeted companies include ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter and Cablevision. According to MultiChannel News, Rembrandt's assault is especially aggressive, even for a patent troll: 'It is attacking two key technology standards used by the cable and broadcast industries, CableLabs' DOCSIS and the Advanced Television Systems Committee's digital-TV spec. "If they're successful, this could affect everything from the cost of cable service to the price of TVs," said the attorney close to the litigation, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.'"
Not sure if you are joking, but for anyone who is wondering what a patent troll is, it is a company that makes money simply by suing other companies for patent infringement. This is different from a company like Microsoft, that creates and sells other products, and is therefore stuck in a mutually-assured-destruction situation that prevents them from suing others for key patents. The problem with patent trolls is that they add absolutely nothing to society; most don't even invent the patented idea, they just buy it from someone else.
Palm trees and 8
A patent troll is a company that just comes up with patents and whenever another company "infringes" on their many patents they sue them. Usually these patent trolls have no other business other then suing companies to make a profit. Think of SCO, only with patents.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
The targeted companies include ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter and Cablevision.
In their careers section they have the following description.
http://www.rembrandtip.com/careers.html
"
Analyze markets and companies to assess IP commercialization opportunities
Develop and model business cases and royalty analysis for specific licensing opportunities or industries
Perform competitive analysis breakdown and strategic direction of leading industry companies
Supporting analysis for new business opportunities around targeted patent acquisitions
"
Give me a freaken break! This company goes out looks at what are up and coming industries. Then it "creates" ideas and patents the heck out of them so that they can license and throttle an up and coming industry.
This is not even funny. Imagine coming up with some really cool idea, but to have it patented away from you. This is how industries are broken. Part of the problem with this is that lawyers can sue without restrictions. Lawyers can go fishing in the industry. They can patent, sue and see what sticks.
To make that go away, you can do the following:
1) Make lawyers work pro-bono (as they do in many countries). That is they can only charge so much.
2) Make lawyers pay if the lawsuit fails. For example, if say somebody brought up a lawsuit where they wanted 50 billion say, "if you loose you need to come up with say 1%". That way you can still sue, but you better have a good case. Otherwise it is going to cost you quite a bit.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Here's a paper on this, which goes into great detail on the role of patent dealers in the market from an economic and policy point of view.
patent trolls ARE providing a service. By purchasing patents, these patent trolls provide a market for patents which puts money in the hands of small time inventors, who don't have the resources to commercialize their inventions
You are outright "WRONG".
Patent TROLLS do not provide the service of "commercializing" patents. Patent trolls put no more money in the hands of inventors because they buy up patents that have, already proven technological worth because they are already included in technology. That's the TROLL's leverage. If the patent didn't already have proven or provable worth, the TROLL wouldn't have ever have been interested in the patent. Your fantasy that TROLLS help inventors commercialize anything is just that: a *fantasy*. Get over it.
The problem is *both* the patent system, AND those who abuse the system (TROLLS and those who use patents to put other companies out-of-business).
It's one thing to award a patent as a reward for inventing something and to give the inventor a reasonable time to obtain compensation for their ingenuity. It's patent abuse to use them for most other purposes.
Stop claiming patent and copyright bogosity protects or rewards "the little guy", the garage inventor or a garage band. It's the corporations and trolls who benefit -- and they benefit WAY too much.
Sorry if my tone is harsh, but abusive corporations need to be STOPPED. At the very least, they need to have their "personhood" status revoked. Inventors & creators should be rewarded to encourage them to continue in order to benefit society -- that's was the entire point of exclusive licenses (patents and copyrights). They've gone way beyond that intent, to the point that entire artificial markets have been created solely to manage these non-physical, "Intellectual Properties". It is a drain on society, benefiting society very little, but hurting society forever into the future by limiting, draining and destroying resources that could have been used to benefit society in NEW ways, rather than by researching new ways to extract money from older patents and copyrights.
No one of this generation really cares because they'll all be dead, but all the resources we waste in pointless legal wrangling and warring will end up costing humanity dearly in future decades and centuries. It's all so much a waste!