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Patent Troll VirnetX Awarded $626M In Damages From Apple (arstechnica.com)

Posted by timothy on from the made-their-play-got-what-they-wanted dept.

Tackhead writes: Having won a $200M judgement against Microsoft in 2010, lost a $258M appeal against Cisco in 2013, and having beaten Apple for $368M in 2012, only to see the verdict overturned in 2014, patent troll VirnetX is back in the news, having been awarded $626M in damages arising from the 2012 Facetime patent infringement case against Apple.

4 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Require that patents be defended by spork+invasion · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some of the problems with software patents could be solved with an idea from trademarks. Require that patents be defended or else they're lost. This wouldn't affect companies that legitimately do research, develop patents, and license the patents. One criticism would be that this favors big companies who have the ability to defend their patents at the expense of individuals and small businesses who don't have those resources. I don't think the criticism is valid because the playing field is already tilted very much in favor of big corporations and because law firms would market to inventors to help defend their patents in exchange for a share of the royalties. A legitimate patent is valuable enough that an inventor won't have a hard time finding legal representation to help defend it. This would squash the tactics of patent trolls and reduce the patent wars between big companies like Apple vs. Samsumg.

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    1. Re:Require that patents be defended by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That doesn't solve anything, this isn't just about submarine patents. As soon as a patent troll is awarded their patent on "Activity X that has been practised for millennia, but on the Internet", they can start "defending" it by having their lawyer sent letters to any infringing party who started using it after the application was filed.

      Maybe we shouldn't have software patents at all, nor award patents on stupid, trivial stuff. Or, since it is rather hard to define exactly what is trivial and what isn't, we could adjust the duration of a patent instead. Invest a few billion in discovering a new medicine, and yeah maybe you deserve a couple of patents with a long validity. Spend a few million on a think tank to come up with good ideas, and you'd deserve some patents with a duration that depends on how good those ideas are. Be the first to come up with a clever little algo in the course of your normal work, and maybe you ought to get a patent as well even if it's for something more or less "obvious to someone skilled in the arts"... but only one valid for a few years.

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  2. Greed. The oldest profession by geekmux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Only in America can "Patent Troll" become a legal multi-billion dollar industry, and yet prostitution remains illegal.

    How ironic, since both are in the business of fucking people.

  3. Re:Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    See Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. for details. Apple is a patent troll, and most of their "innovation" comes from purchasing other companies.