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Halliburton Applies For Patent-Trolling Patent
An anonymous reader writes "Halliburton, the company many folks know as Dick Cheney's previous employer, has apparently taken an interest in methods of patent trolling. In fact, according to Techdirt, the company has applied for a patent on patent trolling. Specifically, it's applied for a patent on the process of finding a company that protected an invention via trade secret, figuring out what that secret is, patenting it ... and then suing the original company. Hopefully, the patent office rejects this patent, because I somehow doubt that Halliburton is trying to get the patent as a way to block others from patent trolling."
This is hilarious on SOOO many levels. I don't even know who to root for in this story! Help me Slashdot, should I go for Hallburton, the Patent Office, the trolls?
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
No, they can't do this because it violates MY patent on patenting patent trolling!
Nonperiodic Central Trajectory
...I would think that the very act of finding "prior art" (the very fact they found an invention) as described in this system would invalidate any patent attempt of the trade-secret...
and sue the guy above me.
Go go frivolous patents to make the process even more difficult for non-corporate inventors!
"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
I'm reminded of something that happened to me a few years ago in a Circuit City or Sears or someplace. I was looking for a radar detector for my car. The salesman was trying to upsell and said "You know, cops can detect radar detectors now, so you should get this upgrade with a radar-detector detector." I said, "Why do I want a radar-detector detector? Obviously I want a radar-detector-detector detector." The salesguy did not appreciate my point. I ended up just buying my original level of detection.
Nonperiodic Central Trajectory
The methods of figuring out trade secrets are almost always illegal, and can be sued over.
So basically halliburton is trying to patent being a dick... I think there's some prior art for that...
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
I'd disagree about the "not obvious" part.
I recall a LOT of posts here on Slashdot about "well I'm patenting patent trolling" or words to that effect every time a patent troll story comes up. Unfortunately I cannot find any at the moment.
This is a silly business-methods patent application that will certainly be rejected by the PTO after Bilski. And no, a trade secret certainly does not qualify as prior art in the US. Nor should it.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
from what I understand, it now works like this?:
Halliburton: We're suing you for violating our patent.
Random_company: How can that be your patent! We've had that as company trade secret for -
Halliburton (interrupts): and now we're suing you for discovering our patent troll, which could only be done by violating our patent on the discovery process for patent trolling.
It is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork.
" figuring out what that secret is, patenting it... and then suing the original company." This is what patent lawyers have been doing always.
Wouldn't it be nice to see a principled opinion for a change? An opposition to a bad idea regardless of who is proposing it and why?
I mean, if it were, uhm, the Red Cross, or the ACLU, or a some cooperative, trying to patent patent-trolling, we'd have no problems right? Because they would only use it for The Greater Good and would never sell it — not even if they went bankrupt and had to liquidate all their property (including the "imaginary" kind)?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Actually, I'm not sure what else it could be used for. A patent on patent trolling can only be used against other patent trolls. If Halliburton wanted to be a patent troll, they wouldn't need a patent to do it. Besides, patent trolls typically don't have any other source of income that can be threatened by their "business", so Halliburton wouldn't really qualify.
Looks like someone's stab at a defensive patent to me.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
"Hopefully, the patent office rejects this patent, because I somehow doubt that Halliburton is trying to get the patent as a way to block others from patent trolling."
It's in the USPTO's best interest to grant this patent because their revenue is largely driven by trolls patenting prior art and mechanisms/methods which are obvious to those skilled in the trade/art/science.
Take DAC (digital analog converters) for example: radio was there, then someone came along and said "Zomg! I'm gonna patent using a DAC to send voice over the radio waves using digital" and "ZOMG! I'm gonna use a DAC to send ethernet over the radio!" and so forth. The DAC is a physical implementation and ought to have been given a patent, but the uses for which DACs are implemented are obvious to anyone skilled in the trade and ought to not be granted patents.
But, if the USPTO rejects such patents, where is their job security? Or, if their jobs would still be secure, why, not rubber stamping a patent would require actual WORK. They can't have that now, can they? Just rubber stamp the patent application and let the courts sort it out, letting the little guys go bankrupt in the process.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I'm going to patent getting a patent on patent trolling.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Shit! I'd been patent trolling like this for years, but it was a trade secret... now Halliburton's suing me!
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
This whole concept just made my head do something funny inside.
If the company being targeted by this method has documented their trade secret, even if only internally, they can instantly shut down any infringement litigation by producing said documentation.
Of course, this "outs" their trade secret, but that's not usually fatally crippling.
Hopefully my new patent to patent the patent application process will be approved first, so I can sue Halliburton for applying for a patent with my patented process of submitting a patent application to the Patent Office. Otherwise, I can sign a deal with Halliburton to work both ends of the issue - I will sue any new patents when they are submitted, and Halliburton can clean out any patents already granted! IT CANNOT FAIL.
This sounds like a process that could be done mentally, meaning it involves no technology of any kind. Just recently these types of patents were ruled to be unpatentable, so my guess is this is not a patentable process /IANAL
OK, so "it's applied for a patent on the process of finding a company that protected an invention via trade secret, figuring out what that secret is, patenting it... and then suing the original company"
IANAL, but does not the original invention invalidate the subsequent patent, as 'prior art'?
This idea was invented by Shampoo!
Well, IANAL, and in /. tradition I didn't RTFA, but what's the point of applying for patents in cases where you specifically know there's already prior art?
That's a rhetorical question - I don't even want to know the answer.
Yo Dawg, i heard you like trolling patents, so i patented trolling patents so you can troll while you troll
PRIOR ART!?
Yeah "previous" sure.
btw - I have a radar detector that is undetectable by the 'detector detectors', but you'd really have to be insane to try your luck anywhere that the radar detectors are illegal in the first place. For me it only helps if you can't turn it off and take it down in time when you are crossing lines of various jurisdictions.
...I would think that the very act of finding "prior art" (the very fact they found an invention) as described in this system would invalidate any patent attempt of the trade-secret...
Not if the prior art was secret - only public information counts.
One of the main objective of the patent system is to encourage publication of inventions through patents. This both protect the inventor's economic interest for a limited time, and makes it riskier to keep inventions secret.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Although patents normally go to the first inventor under a first-to-file system, an inventor who keeps the information secret or just does not publish generally loses the right to the patent and also does not establish prior art. Without prior art, a later inventor can get a valid patent on the same invention and then apply it against earlier inventor(s). All this is easily prevented simply by recognizing the invention and applying for a patent, or by publishing details of how to practice the invention, thus creating prior art.
Emphasis mine.
We've discovered what "step 2: ???" is.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
This isn't patent trolling... this takes it to a whole new level. I suggest the term "patent griefing".
No comment.
Somehow that reminded me of the good old:
Wouldn't the sentence "I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign" have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Years ago I patented the process of getting a patent and you all owe me money. Pay up!
In light of the election results, Halliburton has decided to go "legit". In today's episode the part of Moe Greene will be played by the USPTO.
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
Corporations are legal fictions intended to serve the public goood. Things just arn't working out between us, and so we're revoking your corporate charter and selling off all your physical assets and placing your intellectual property into the public domain. kthnxbai
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
I have patented the concept of patents and will soon be suing the Patent Office and everyone who holds a patent. You will all be hearing from my lawyer.
the secret ingredient is... COUGH SYRUP.
When you get to the level of paranoia where you want this, perhaps I could interest you in my radar-detector-detector-detector-detector-detector-detector-detector-detector-detector detector.
It consists of a black box with a little red light, which always blinks to indicate that you're always being watched.
Because Haliburton is related to Bush and Republicans... even though IBM or some other company announced a similar thing a few weeks ago...
Halliburton, you magnificient bastard! Making patent trolls pay you license fees for violating your patent trolling patent? I revel in your sheer self-referential evilness. My hat is off to you. That takes huge balls — I think I saw one of them chasing Indy in a Peruvian temple.
This sounds oddly familiar to the "Blackmail acquisition and Assertion by a (Mob-member) First Party Against a Second Party" application I recently saw:
Methods for a first party to acquire and assert blackmail against a second party are disclosed. The methods include obtaining secret and potentially damaging information on a second party. The methods further include writing a notification to specified second party. The notification is written to cover the potentially damaging information on said second party. The methods sometimes explicitly include offering a payment structure to the second party in exchange for nondisclosure of the potentially damaging information. The methods further include threats to forward such notification to other third parties in the event of the second party rejecting the payment structure before mentioned. The methods sometimes includes further demands and subsequent threats for non compliance from the second party. The methods sometimes include negotiating an alternative means of compensation when the primary payment structure is undesirable or otherwise impossible.
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
Someone needs to go back in time and patent this idea? Then they could sue Halliburton. Of course, it would be too tempting to patent other things as well and then sue the inventors.
(This idea mostly stolen from Douglas Adams)
This filing is in violation of my patent that covers the process of protecting your intellectual property by applying for a patent.
The patent involves patenting things previously protected by trade secret, right? Wouldn't that mean conscious concealment of prior art is required?
Get off my launchpad!
I might be wrong, but it seems like they are trying to patent corporate theft.
You are correct. Fundamental to the grant of a valid patent is the question of inventorship and ownership. Only the inventor or someone who has had the rights to the invention transferred to it (by employment or assignment) can legitimately apply and have a VALID patent granted to them. The articel about Halliburton is incorrect and utter nonsense.
Conscious concealment? I thought it was the USPTO's responsibility to determine whether prior art existed. If they don't find something, it's not like you concealed it.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
I sure wish folks would make it a little clearer when submitting articles that it's from "The Onion".
I love their stuff but it helps with blood pressure if you know it's an Onion article beforehand.
Belthize
Wait ... this *isn't* and Onion piece ... oh good lord.
Just to maybe save you some time, this advertising strategy won't work all that well here, as the moderation system will quickly hide your posts for most users.
Besides, do you really want to spend your life being a shithead?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
I see great opportunities for agressively monetizing valuable core intellectual property that hasn't yet realised its full potential with an agressive view to the bottom line.
I am excited to say that I am undertaking research to pro-actively leverage the demand for capitalization in this high-value venture.
In other words: "This sounds like a great racket. Where can I get a piece of the action?"
Halliburton, finding more ways to make your money ours since 1978.
Actually, that may be the real reason they're doing this. Essentially, the company is forced to do one of two things, a) capitulate and pay Halliburton to use their own invention, or b) reveal to the world what the secret of their invention is, thereby devaluing it completely, and allowing Halliburton to use it to do whatever they want, since it's not patented.
Think of it in these terms: Coca Cola and KFC have survived and thrived because they have managed to keep their formulae secret. If Halliburton came along and patented the exact formula for Coke, it would essentially negate a hundred years of trade secret protection, and Coke's only option would be to give up, since even if they paid, anyone else would now be able to completely replicate their drink, and it would no longer be covered by Trade Secret protection.
Even suing the company for violating Trade Secrets would be tantamount to admitting that the formula is correct, thus devaluing it.
I'm not sure what Halliburton gets out of patenting the idea of doing these things though, unless...
If Halliburton has a number of trade secrets and they fear that other companies are going to find out what they are and patent them, this could be a form of protection, although it seems pointless for the reasons above, once something is no longer secret, it loses value quickly. Maybe this is a way for them to extract some money from people who expose their trade secrets.
Didn't IBM already patent this? Though I guess this is a different, but related area.
welcome our patent-trolling patent-trolling overlords.
"Specifically, it would be applied for a patent on patenting on the process of finding a company that protected an invention via trade secret, figuring out what that secret is, patenting it ... and then suing the original company"
lets just nuke ourselves.
what ... the.... fuck.
It can't be done mentally. To make sure of that, they included the magic words "with a computer". Truly their lawyers are more cunning than a fox with a PhD in cunning from Oxford University.
since even if they paid, anyone else would now be able to completely replicate their drink, and it would no longer be covered by Trade Secret protection.
Don't be so sure. It is sort of an open secret that the secret "ingredient X" that makes up less than 1% of the Coca Cola formula is actually spent Coca leaves or, more precisely, the crushed leaves of the Coca plant (the same as used to manufacture cocaine) after the active cocaine alkaloids have been removed. These spent leaves are used to create the flavoring extract that is used in the present Coca Cola formula. However, even if this became official public knowledge the DEA has special agreements with the Coca Cola corporation and the pharmaceutical company (Stephen Company, Maywood New Jersey) licensed to perform the extraction. So even if you read the patent and wanted to duplicate Coke you could not legally import the ingredients required or even the finished drink since it would still contain trace amounts of cocaine (the Coca Cola company is presumably exempt under their special existing agreements with the DEA). The Coca Cola trade marks would still be in place also, so you could not call your product "Coca Cola" either.
Does this mean I can not troll on Slashdot?
This is hilarious on SOOO many levels. I don't even know who to root for in this story! Help me Slashdot, should I go for Hallburton, the Patent Office, the trolls?
Apple, of course!
Q: What do you call a person of short stature who rides a horse and plays CDs on the radio?
A: A compact compact disk disk jockey jockey!
The patent involves patenting things previously protected by trade secret, right? Wouldn't that mean conscious concealment of prior art is required?
No.
Some company does 'X'. How they does 'X' is a trade secret. You figure out a way to also do 'X'. You patent "a method to do 'X'". That some company does 'X' may very well be prior art, but there's no reason for you to conceal it. No one outside of some company knows how they do 'X' so no one is going to step forward to challenge your method of doing 'X'.
And that's the key. This patent is not for collecting license fees. This patent is for busting trade secrets. Some company wants to challenge your patent on a method to do 'X'? Then they'll have to reveal their method of doing 'X'.
Remember, 1) you don't patent 'X'. You patent a method of doing 'X'. And 2) the only thing you learn about patents from reading /. is that almost everyone who posts to /. regarding patents has no frigging clue what they are talking about.
They should patent being a meta-asshole.
They found out that this was a certain company's trade secret. So now Hal patenting it in order to be a patent troll and collect license fees
A rare case... but I gotta root for Hal on this one.
I hope they refuse to license the patent, forbid anyone else to do it, pursue other users of this technique with full vigor, and refrain from otherwise utilizing the patented method.
Hopefully: reasonable patent reform occurs before it expires in 20 years.
lapcfixer - sounds like a service to the laptop dancing industry. Presumably its an important service but I dunno if its really nice company.
If you have access to a national surveillance network, corporate espionage is easy!
Its trolls trolling trolls. Ya'll republicans postin in a troll thread.
What about the inherent flaw in the process? The method they are trying to patent is invalid, as every patent it would generate would have prior art clearly demonstrated.
I claim copyright infringement. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234629&cid=19114749
I thought Corporate Espionage was illegal?
And now the big Hevil is going to patent the entire methodology of Corporate Espionage?
WTF
This is just another attempt of Halliburton to cover up the fact that Dick Chenney is a cyborg. He has probably shot someone else and they are misdirecting us away from their new model The Obama 2008