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Patent Troll Ordered To Pay For the Costs of Fighting a Bad Patent

Posted by timothy on from the once-in-a-while-justice-peeks-through dept.

We mentioned last year that FindTheBest CEO Kevin O'Connor had taken an unusual step, when confronted with a demand by patent troll company Lumen View that the startup pay $50,000 for what struck O'Connor as a frivolous patent: He not only refused, but pledged to spend a million bucks, if necessary, to fight Lumen View in court. Now, as Ars Technica reports, O'Connor has succeeded on a grand scale. Before trouncing Lumen View in court, Ars reports, "FindTheBest had spent about $200,000 on its legal fight—not to mention the productivity lost in hundreds of work hours spent by top executives on the lawsuit, and three all-company meetings. Now the judge overseeing the case has ruled (PDF) that it's Lumen View, not FindTheBest, that should have to pay those expenses. In a first-of-its-kind implementation of new fee-shifting rules mandated by the Supreme Court, US District Judge Denise Cote found that the Lumen View lawsuit was a 'prototypical exceptional case.'"

6 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds awesome except.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Patent troll will probably just declare bankruptcy and reform under a new name, all in the same day.

    Not even looking at how it is structured I'd blindly wager that they are held by no fewer than two shell companies. So the problem is that the people pulling the strings never suffer any real repercussions.

    1. Re:Sounds awesome except.... by fuzznutz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is also that the USPO granted the patent in the first place :/

      Amen. The "experts" who are supposed to know better are accepting these bullshit patents all the time. The courts have to sort it out while the victims get to pay. How about we personally make the patent examiners financially liable for the costs involved in defending one of these bullshit patents. I'd bet that they'd be looking at these patents with a much more critical eye then...

    2. Re:Sounds awesome except.... by stealth_finger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're also expected to be a subject-matter-expert on every application that crosses your desk. And remember, you have 2 minutes to review an application written by lawyers paid to write confusing applications.

      Well if the examiner cant understand it immediately, they should deny it, if in doubt dent. Yeah I know they get paid for approvals and all that but really, the whole system sucks, it needs pulling out, burning, having the ashes jumped on then started again using common sense.

      --
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      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  2. Sounds awesome except.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem is also that the USPO granted the patent in the first place :/

  3. Re:but by dbIII · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Before you blow your own trumpet too much consider the very bad US example of moving copyright from civil to criminal law which has spread like a cancer around the world. It would be very nice if it went back to Hollywood lawyers suing people instead of SWAT teams through people's windows for copyright violations.

  4. Re:My favourite sentence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My favourite sentence from the summary in the first link:

    The patent troll's attorney also made the claim that calling someone a 'patent troll' was actually a 'hate crime' under 'Ninth Circuit precedent' and threatened to file criminal charges — unless they settled the civil case immediately, apologized, and gave financial compensation to the troll.

    That is the worst thing I've ever read!!! It's the kind of thing a lawyer should be disbarred for. The kind of thing that would make me willing to bankrupt myself and my company just to punish the company and attorney. Ugh that's the worst!!!