Patent Troll Targeting Users of Scanners; Wants $1000/Employee

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Patent Troll Targeting Users of Scanners; Wants $1000/Employee

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 2, 2013 @08:38AM from the scan-middle-finger-and-hit-send dept.

New submitter earlzdotnet writes "A new patent troll is in town, this time targeting the users of technology, rather than the creators. They appear to hold a process patent for 'scanning a document and then emailing it.' They are targeting small businesses in a variety of locations and usually want somewhere between $900 to $1200 per employee for 'infringement' of their patent. As with most patent trolls, they go by a number of shell companies, but the original company name appears to be Project Paperless LLC. Joel Spolsky said in a tweet that 'This is organized crime, plain and simple...' I tend to agree with him. When will something be done about this legal mafia?"

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Huh?? by ZorinLynx · 2013-01-02 08:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

How does this hold any legal water at all? Isn't the manufacturer of a product liable for patent infringements, not the end user?
1. Re:Huh?? by maxwell+demon · 2013-01-02 08:48 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It's a process patent, according to the summary. I'd say it's the end user who does the process of scanning, then sending the scanned page by email.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
2. Re:Huh?? by DJ+Jones · 2013-01-02 08:52 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Yes, except in this case, the patent office allowed someone to patent a process and not an invention so general legal logic goes out the window right there.
  
  That and those fines appear to fall just beneath what it would cost to get a patent lawyer to fight the charge so on a pure revenue basis, it's cheaper to pay the ransom.
3. Re:Huh?? by CastrTroy · 2013-01-02 08:53 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Sorry, but this patent is stupid. This is basically sending an attachment in an email. And the patent is on where the attachment originated from (the scanner). How this is not obvious to anybody who has ever sent an email with an attachment is quite beyond me.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
4. Re:Huh?? by mug+funky · 2013-01-02 09:10 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  legal precedent: arkell v pressdram
5. Re:Huh?? by cheater512 · 2013-01-02 09:13 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Err....what general legal logic?
6. Re:Huh?? by Nidi62 · 2013-01-02 10:14 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  As a responsible citizen, it's up to you to ensure that whatever you do doesn't violate any patents.
  Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
  Enjoy!
  Sorry, I already patented a method by which an individual analyzes manual physical processes to ascertain any potential conflict with applicable licenseable material.
  
  --
  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
35 USC section 271 - Infringement by L.+J.+Beauregard · 2013-01-02 08:54 · Score: 5, Informative

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent.

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1. Re:35 USC section 271 - Infringement by Scarletdown · 2013-01-02 12:35 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Just as I thought. It's not the legal mafia that is at fault here. It's the intellectual property system that is the law of the land.
  The fault is shared equally with both our imaginary property system AND the sociopathic assholes who choose to abuse it like this.
  
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  This space unintentionally left blank.
I was browsing the web and I found... by Phics · 2013-01-02 08:55 · Score: 5, Informative

...this.

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There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
Process Patents by Damastus+the+WizLiz · 2013-01-02 08:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Has anyone patented the process of sueing people for violations of patents? If not someone better get on it quickly. Millions of dollars in settlements are being lost every minute now.

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I often have trouble remembering which way is out of bed in the morning.
Jokes on them. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 08:56 · Score: 5, Funny

I don't e-mail people my scans, I upload them to Megaupload and send them the link.
Foolproof.
1. Re:Jokes on them. by crypticedge · 2013-01-02 09:14 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Dare I say, woosh?
Who Owns Project Paperless LLC? by cultiv8 · 2013-01-02 09:03 · Score: 4, Informative

According to http://stop-project-paperless.com/project-paperless-llc, these guys: http://www.hkw-law.com./

Public records indicate that each of the partners in the law firm of Hill, Kertscher, & Wharton are either managers, members, or organizers in one or more of the shell companies which in turn appear to have a stake in Project Paperless, LLC.

--
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
Online world carries over into the real world by jandrese · 2013-01-02 09:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

Her study of startups targeted by patent trolls found that when confronted with a patent demand, 22 percent ignored it entirely. Compare that with the 35 percent that decided to fight back and 18 percent that folded. Ignoring the demand was the cheapest option ($3,000 on average) versus fighting in court, which was the most expensive ($870,000 on average).
So the best way to deal with trolls in the real world is the same as the online world: simply ignore them. If they want to sue you, then make them go through all the expense and trouble of making the case--most of the time they won't even bother. These are basically old timey protection rackets. They're trying to put the minimum amount of effort in to get the biggest return. They might try to make an example of a company or two, but it probably won't be you.

--

I read the internet for the articles.
When will something be done about this legal mafia by rudy_wayne · 2013-01-02 09:09 · Score: 5, Insightful

When will something be done about this legal mafia?
Nothing will ever be done because every major company is playing the game.
Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM . . . . . every big company with deep pockets has been hit by patent trolls. So why don't they all get together and use their considerable lobbying power to demand that congress change the law? Why? Because they don't really want the law changed. They want to be able to whack somebody with a patent lawsuit when it suits them.
Bogus patents are the new nuclear weapons. Everyone knows they are bad and destructive, they serve no useful purpose and should be eliminated. But nobody is willing to actually do that because some day they might need a weapon to use against a competitor. That's the new business model. Litigation instead of competition.
Prior Art by Jason+Levine · 2013-01-02 09:18 · Score: 3, Informative

The patents were filed beginning in 1997. Does anyone know if scanners from 1996 were able to scan in a document, launch an e-mail application, and attach said document to the e-mail? A quick Google Groups search did uncover a "photo scanning service" that promised to scan your photo and send it to you via e-mail. https://groups.google.com/group/nyc.singles/browse_thread/thread/6b8e902ec9996435/a1a550f3f5398a27?hl=en&q=scan+attach+to+e-mail#a1a550f3f5398a27
Also, for reference (and since people might not read the article), here are links to the patents in question:
http://www.google.com/patents/US6185590
http://www.google.com/patents/US6771381
http://www.google.com/patents/US7477410
http://www.google.com/patents/US7986426

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1. Re:Prior Art by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-01-02 09:40 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Does anyone know if scanners from 1996 were able to scan in a document, launch an e-mail application, and attach said document to the e-mail?
  Yes, Paperport from Visoneer was one. The Mac version was AppleScriptable and people regularly did things like transfer scanned images into e-mails, Filemaker databases, etc.
  aside: the term TFS is looking for is "Legal Plunder". Bastiat coined it in 1850 in The Law, and it was then an existing problem, so don't expect a quick resolution so long as the same power structures remain in place (people hate to admit that they're the ones with the role of being fleeced).
  
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Re:first post! by jamstar7 · 2013-01-02 09:32 · Score: 3, Insightful

Just 100 dollars? :D
He's European. They use the '.' where we Americans would use a ','.

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Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.