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Patent Troll Says Anyone Using Wi-Fi Infringes
akahige sends this excerpt from an article at TechDirt:
"The Patent Examiner blog has the incredible story of Innovatio IP, a patent troll that recently acquired a portfolio of patents that its lawyers (what, you think there are any employees?) appear to believe cover pretty much any Wi-Fi implementation. They've been suing coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants and hotels first — including Caribou Coffee, Cosi, Panera Bread Co, certain Marriotts, Best Westerns, Comfort Inns and more. ... The lawyer representing the company, Matthew McAndrews, seems to imply that the company believes the patents cover everyone who has a home Wi-Fi setup, but they don't plan to go after such folks right now, for 'strategic' reasons."
So, I guess amateur radio operators have been infringing since, what... the early 1900's? Voice is just data, right..?
--- no sig to see here... move along.
At some point its just cheaper to pay someone to take a hit out on a troll like this. Maybe invite him out on your new yacht and have a little accident...
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Kill them with fire.
Ok. This is classic patent trolling. They aren't going after the Wi-Fi manufacturers who have the resources to possibly fight this in court but rather going against the little people. There's an obvious fix for this. Force people to sue the companies that make potentially infringing technologies rather than the people who buy them until there's a precedent with the company that the tech is infringing. Unfortunately, with the grab-bag of junk that is America Invents now done, everyone is going to avoid serious patent reform for another decade. So this isn't getting fixed for a while. Then we'll probably get some other terrible mix of good and bad stuff in some new law and the whole process will repeat itself. Good for the lawyers. Not very good for everyone else.
They could not recoup their losses going after home users the way they can with business users.
What losses?
I'm sure part of their strategy is to target small companies and attempt to bully them in paying a few grand to "license" the technology. I would imagine that these guys know this case will be thrown out once a defendant with resources goes to court. I'm not going to claim to be a patent expert, but I do know a couple of things: 1) The patent has to be actively protected. So if it was filed in the 90s and not enforced until today, from my understanding they essentially forfeit the right to later lay claims to the patent. 2) If it is known to "someone skilled in the art of" as the next logical step, then the patent is null. I obviously have no clue what all of those patents exactly cover, but I'm going to run that with prior art in wireless transmission in radio and television that there is a precedent that data transmission via an industry standard would be a next logical step. These asshats need to be nuked with a low orbit ion cannon.
"The page linked to by this summary did not explain why the patent trolls are going after the users of WiFi devices, rather than vendors."
actually it did:
"The company is demanding a one-time lump sum licensing payment between $2,300 and $5,000 from each of the several hundred defendants targeted in its lawsuits, McAndrews said. Some of the defendants have already settled, he added."
"In casting such a wide net, Innovatio (it means “innovation” in Latin, McAndrews said) displays a new approach in patent enforcement. In a field where patent-holding companies often demand six- or seven-figure dollar amounts for damages, five-figure settlements are considered basement-low. By demanding a few thousand dollars, Innovatio ensures that, for many small business owners, taking up a legal defense won’t make financial sense."
They are suing when they can pursue action cheaper than the defendant can defend. If the patent were strong they'd go after big money, but the big money will fight and since the patent is weak, they will instead play spam.
Also, by suing a large number of people in diverse locations and jurisdictions they will make it difficult for defendants to defend collectively and economically.
Think of all the Jobs Being Created by the Job Creator Class, isn't it lovely?
....Just by being themselves.
I've never been a fan of government regulation because they also tend to over-reach and worse, they strip people of liberty. However, every single business regulation can be traced back to someone, or group of someones, who obnoxiously pushed enough people to the edge. We had robber-baron railroad operators. That brought the common-carrier regulations. We had dangerous work conditions and awful long (non-voluntary) work hours. Along came labor regulations and OSHA. A lake burned in the midwest and that gave us the God-forsaken EPA.
These guys are no different. The patent trolls will continue to make public asses of themselves to the point where eventually, some politician will say "ENOUGH!" and give them the spanking they deserve. Sadly, I don't see how the private sector can do anything about it on it's own. It's not like we can just take our business elsewhere.
So while I sigh when I read about the new troll of the week on /., I also look forward to the day when they reap the real fruit of their "labor". Unfortunately, there will likely be unintended consequences that harm innocent people and businesses in the process, as regulation always does.
Hat Guy is in it for the movie rights.
If the first guy is found choked to death on his severed genitals (the old Mafia punishment for snitches) it might give others pause.
While I'm not advocating such things, let's not forget that in the early 1900s gangs were NECESSARY because there was no justice to be had from a flawlessly corrupt government. For anyone to get leverage they had to mob up. Union membership could get you murdered, so the unions had to make friends with the Mob to get a "system" on their side. As the elites squeeze out the people, organized "crime" will be the only way for some of them to get a modicum of power.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."