
How Newegg is Winning the Battle Against Patent Trolls [video] - lclark
https://www.linux.com/news/how-newegg-winning-battle-against-patent-trolls-video
======
tim333
>more than 30 claims over the past decade -- about various aspects of
e-commerce and websites, which were often basic functions like an Internet
shopping cart, drop-down menus, and search boxes.

Each wanting $100k plus. That's kind of crazy for a regular ecommerce site.

~~~
Bartweiss
It's a depressingly well-chosen amount. Absurdly high, but comfortably below
the cost + risk value of actually fighting the case.

At this point, Newegg is starting to look like the brilliant player in this
game. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute" really is a potent
philosophy, and while $100k is cheaper than fighting the case, it's not
cheaper than preventing future suits before they arrive.

~~~
xviia
Hopefully, firms will start to pool resources to fund legal defenses.

If settling out of court costs $100,000 and losing a lawsuit costs $1,000,000,
teaming up will be the dominant strategy as long as more than 10 firms pool
resources.

~~~
sthu11182
Litigation is much more expensive than that. Inter Partes Review and early
summary judgment on 101 are the cheapest way to go in many circumstances. It
is what is happening these days too.

~~~
Bartweiss
Eh, I think that's an overgeneralization.

Newegg claims to have spent $450,000 on the Macrosolve fight, which was about
4x the troll's initial request, but which also includes a claim against
Macrosolve for legal fees. That's also more money than Macrosolve could afford
to drop on a fight, basically guaranteeing them a win by outlasting the case.
They've worked most of their claims down to summary dismissals or no-prejudice
suit drops, so once they got the "take it to the mat" reputation established
they stopped having to pay full litigation costs for most of their suits.

Review and summary judgement are definitely cheaper, but even full-litigation
expenses are workable. Your accounting just has to include dropped and averted
suits.

------
krallja
Current HN title is "Lee Cheng on How Racism Inspired His Battle Against
Patent Trolls".

There's nothing about racism in the article. Maybe in the 30-minute keynote
video?

~~~
nkurz
_In 1994, a non-profit organization that Cheng helped form "filed a lawsuit
against the San Francisco Unified School District in Federal Court," recalled
Cheng. "This was the first legal windmill that I tilted against, and I've been
looking for others ever since."_

It's mentioned, but not highlighted. That lawsuit was about racial quotas for
admission to the Lowell "magnet school", which is a special high school for
academically talented students in the SFUSD system. Chinese students were
required to score higher on tests than students of other races to be allowed
admittance. Lee was an alum of the school, and was offended by the practice.
Here's Lee being interviewed about it in 1995:

 _" I grew up knowing a lot of racism," said Lee Cheng, 23, a UC Berkeley law
student and spokesman for the San Francisco chapter of the Chinese American
Democratic Club, the group behind the legal battle._

 _" I was beaten up as a kid, referred to as a chink, a Chinaman. But in
school I was taught that the laws will treat everyone the same, that
discrimination was being eliminated._

 _" Then my friends and I applied to public high school. We discovered that if
you are Chinese, you have to do better than anyone else."_

[http://articles.latimes.com/1995-07-13/news/mn-23543_1_chine...](http://articles.latimes.com/1995-07-13/news/mn-23543_1_chinese-
americans/2)

He makes his feelings even clearer on an even earlier entry to the Wikipedia
Talk page about the San Francisco Unified School District:

 _I 'm proud to have gone to a high school whose alumni actually care enough
about it to write these wikis. My two cents: the Ho suit should be on both the
SFUSD and the Lowell pages. FYI--it won't be the last lawsuit challenging
race-based admissions at Lowell. When Ho was organized and filed, I'd just
graduated from college. I'm a lawyer now and spoiling to use that degree. The
next lawsuit will not result in a settlement. SFUSD racists, make my day.--Lee
Cheng '89_

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASan_Francisco_Unified_S...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASan_Francisco_Unified_School_District)

I've tremendously admired him for his role in pursuing patent trolls, but
hadn't known about this earlier history. Wow! I continue to be impressed.

~~~
krallja
Thanks for adding all these extra details!

