
How to slaughter a patent troll in 5 steps - wijnglas
http://pandodaily.com/2013/07/26/how-to-slaughter-a-patent-troll-in-5-steps/
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greenyoda
I'm very surprised that nowhere in the article does the author advise someone
in this position to get a lawyer. If I were being sued by a patent troll (or
anyone else), the very first thing I'd do is hire competent legal counsel and
let them communicate on my behalf. Not being a lawyer myself, I don't know how
to figure out whether the troll's suit is frivolous or not, and I don't know
whether some offhand remark I might make to their lawyer could get me in
trouble. It's also possible that once the troll sees that I have a lawyer,
they might just drop their suit and go after easier prey.

 _" He then told us we had until the end of the day to settle the case or face
criminal charges for harassment. We immediately notified the FBI of his
extortion attempt."_

That seems to indicate that the troll's lawyer was fairly incompetent; I don't
think a competent lawyer would have made such a baseless and self-
incriminating threat. A competent lawyer might have been much harder to beat
if he didn't have a lawyer of his own.

~~~
radley
"When a patent troll serves you with a lawsuit, you need to review the lawsuit
as quickly as possible to determine if your company is infringing the patent
referenced in the lawsuit."

Doing this with an attorney goes without saying. This isn't a jr league blog.

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zdean
"I’m personally willing to commit over $1 million to fight this injustice..."

The other 5 steps would seem pretty irrelevant as a defendant in the absence
of the above resource.

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noonespecial
That's what I came to post. Step 6 seems to be "have a million dollars".

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WildUtah
It's not exactly "have a million dollars."

The read sixth step is "have a million dollars you don't mind spending without
getting anything back for it."

If you win a patent suit, you don't win anything. You're just out a million or
two dollars for nothing. And it means the patent troll has to look through his
portfolio to find another one to use for the next time he decides to blackmail
you.

~~~
girvo
The game theoretical approach to patent trolls makes an unfortunate amount of
sense, but I wish that wasn't the case.

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x0054
I think a tool is necessary to allow people who are threatened with
litigation, but are not yet part of a lawsuit, to find each other. So, if some
lawyer contacts me and tells me that I am infringing on patent X, and I should
settle before trial, it would be awesome if there was a site where I could go
and register (anonymously) that I am being threatened with litigation for
infringement of patent X. The site would link me up with other people who are
either already being sued, or threatened with a lawsuit for Patent X.

It's an idea that has been floating around in my head for a while now, but due
to time limitations, I have yet to implement it. What do you guys think.

~~~
robotcookies
Good idea. It might also be good to track the names of the lawyers involved
(and not just the names of the shell companies they're hiding behind). Most
know the laws may eventually change to make patent trolling harder and that
their industry may not last forever. Many probably plan on working in tech if
this happens. If these lawyers knew their reputation could be sullied by
working for patent trolls and that tech companies may hot hire them for this,
it would provide a deterrent to working for such companies in the first place.

~~~
thinkcomp
PlainSite does this. You can tag lawyers with "Patent NPEs" (or anything
else), see which lawyers are tied to patent assignments, and see which lawyers
represent plaintiffs and defendants in patent litigation cases. On any
lawyer's or law firm's profile you can also see a list of their clients.

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huhtenberg
> _How to slaughter a patent troll in 5 steps_

Am I missing something or they haven't actually slaughtered their troll yet?

~~~
Qantourisc
Correct you are. On a more funny note: I was also expecting picture of
bleeding dead trolls.

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graycat
What about the Vito Corleone law firm -- "We make each patent troll an offer
they can't refuse"?

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TallboyOne
Can someone explain to me HOW these exist? Every time I read a story about
patent trolsl it enrages me. How do these even exist?? I get the gist of what
they do, but how come they don't have to pay any money, or even back up their
claims?

How hard would it be to just pass a law that stops these $&% pricks? Will this
happen any time soon do you think?

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tzs
> If you settle, more trolls will come knocking on your door.

The settlement agreement should include an NDA.

~~~
rpgmaker
Quick offtopic: from where is the image in the article?

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lh7777
Looks like it's from the movie Troll Hunter.

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/)

~~~
rpgmaker
Thanks!

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everettForth
I didn't find any useful content here, but at least there were five steps!

vi hart on why we like 5 reasons videos:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyw3ncjnH8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyw3ncjnH8)

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officialjunk
"the second" you read this...

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spiritplumber
Ease of slaughtering is well and dandy, but are patent trolls tasty? Can the
meat be cured or smoked? What's the caloric intake and fat percentage? These
are important questions to be answered before patent trolls can be added to
our food baskets.

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jackschultz
Besides generic software patents, the oddest one I've seen is being able to
patent a color. Since Nike has the patent on the color "Maize", Adidas had to
come up with a new color for Michigan athletics.

Also, I'm not sure how prevalent it is, but there may be an opportunity for a
business of being the go to firm for fighting these trolls. Like the article
said, being familiar with the companies and the process makes it easier, and
if you could be the go-to firm for fighting them, especially since you would
become more desirable the more often you fight the same groups.

~~~
dangrossman
There is no such patent; no patent assigned to Nike contains the word "maize",
and Google finds nothing to corroborate this story but an opinion piece in a
Michigan newspaper about a rumored copyright being the reason the team changed
its colors. Neither copyright nor patent can give ownership rights in a color.

~~~
james_madison
> Neither copyright nor patent can give ownership rights in a color.

A color can be a trademark:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trademark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trademark)

~~~
sporkologist
(trademarks and copyrights) ≠ (patents)

