

Extracting a Toll From a Patent ‘Troll’ - 7402
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/business/extracting-a-toll-from-a-patent-troll.html

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grej
This is potentially positive, but many times the patent troll shell companies
deliberately hold very few assets. Even if the Supreme Court makes it easier
to capture legal fees from them, there may not be a lot to capture (if
anything).

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bd_at_rivenhill
A sane legal system would then require the plaintiff to post a bond in this
case.

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grej
Agree with both sentiments. There needs to be some mechanism to pierce the
shell corporation and get to the beneficiaries, whether they are the
representing legal firm or the licensing entities, in egregious cases.

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TrainedMonkey
This could be heaven or it could be hell. Supreme court precedent either could
kick patent troll war into overdrive or it could secure their place under the
sun. One would be good for startups and competition. Guess which.

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revelation
How about you lose, you pay? The "small pennyless inventor" is a romantic
fantasy.

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logicallee
Everyone is penniless compared to the size of the market where every
participant can instantly copy just the components. For existing tech, there's
nothing special about this - of course you can assemble a bicycle the same way
every other bike is assembled. But for new tech this is a killer difference:
with the protections, "penniless" inventors (everyone) has a chance to make a
fundamental investment of time and resources. Without the invention you can
just do unpaid R&D for the existing players. If they can also sue you in case
they outlaw you, then even the possibility of licensing to them disappears.

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logicallee
"outlaw" should read "out-lawyer", "without the invention" should be "without
the protection". Sorry about the haste.

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theorique
As we learned from IASIP, "you got to pay the troll toll".

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BlackDeath3
My first thought as well :)

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theorique
Worth a little downvote :)

