First Government Lawsuit Against a Patent Troll

walterbyrd writes "Late last year, a vigorous and secretive patent troll began sending out thousands of letters to small businesses all around the country, insisting that they owed between $900 and $1,200 per worker just for using scanners. The brazen patent-trolling scheme, carried out by a company called MPHJ technologies and dozens of shell companies with six-letter names, has caught the attention of politicians. MPHJ and its principals may have gone too far. They're now the subject of a government lawsuit targeting patent trolling—the first ever such case. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has filed suit in his home state, saying that MPHJ is violating Vermont consumer-protection laws."

Comments

How is this different from Microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

Company come along in various guises through various subsidiary and makes vague patent claims against companies further down the chain demanding money.

How is it any different from the patent fraud Microsoft has been perpetrating against Android?