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Patent Trolls On the Run But Not Vanquished Yet

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-forget-the-fire dept.

snydeq writes Strong legislation that will weaken the ability of the trolls to shake down innovators is likely to pass Congress, but more should be done, writes InfoWorld's Bill Snyder. "The Innovation Act isn't an ideal fix for the program patent system. But provisions in the proposed law, like one that will make trolls pay legal costs if their claims are rejected, will remove a good deal of the risk that smaller companies face when they decide to resist a spurious lawsuit," Snyder writes. That said, "You'd have to be wildly optimistic to think that software patents will be abolished. Although the EFF's proposals call for the idea to be studied, [EFF attorney Daniel] Nazer doesn't expect it to happen; he instead advocates several reforms not contained in the Innovation Act."

3 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Really need to post information about the act by Crashmarik · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...

    Also I would be very careful what you wish for here. Anybody who doesn't have the capital or desire to become a participating entity could be screwed over royally here.

    It would be far better to take patent trials away from juries. Picking people at random and then pointing them at highly technical patents isn't something that even sounds like it might work.

    1. Re:Really need to post information about the act by sycodon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My dad patented an oil field tool that relied on the magnetic properties of the drill pipe to perform its function.

      Someone copied it and started selling it. My Dad sued.

      During jury selection an officer of the Navy who specialized in detection and masking of submarines through magnetic means was dismissed from the pool by the defendants.

      He knew too much about the key technology involved in the trial.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Unlikely to make a big difference by Harlequin80 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It will just change some of the risk profiles taken on by the trolls. In the end they are staffed by lawyers where as their targets have to retain a lawyer, so their targets have to fund their defence right from the beginning and hope to win to get their money back. What you will see is an increase in out of court settlements ie. we will stop litigating you if you agree to settle this now for no money out of court. This would be very very tempting option if you saw the likely hood of thousands and thousands of dollars of legal costs ahead.