
How a law to fight the Mafia could stop patent trolls - samspenc
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/09/17/heres-how-a-law-designed-to-fight-the-mafia-could-stop-abusive-patent-lawsuits/
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adamnemecek
> According to FTB's complaint, Wasserbaur stated that "calling someone a
> 'patent troll' constituted a 'hate crime' under 'Ninth Circuit precedent.'"

I tried to come up with a snarky comment, but this quote is sufficiently funny
on it's own.

~~~
nzealand
The only way I see this working is if the gentleman claims to be a troll, or
troll-like in appearance/ habits.

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arbuge
>> When you're targeted by a patent troll, the rational thing to do is to
capitulate. Defending a patent infringement lawsuit can cost millions of
dollars, and trolls carefully calibrate their settlement demands so that it
will always cost more to fight than to settle.

This is the crux of the problem. We need to make things such that this is no
longer true. In practice, given the cost of legal fees in the real world, I
see no other way than banning software and process patents in their entirety -
and retroactively.

There may be those who argue the line between those kinds of patents and
others is somewhat gray. If that argument holds, I'd be in favoring of
scrapping the entire patent process rather than conceding.

~~~
mistercow
It kind of reminds me of a bluffing strategy I've used in poker. If you can
guess your opponent's hand, you can bet just enough to make the pot odds just
under their odds of winning, so that the rational thing for them to do
(assuming they don't know you're bluffing) is to fold, while exposing yourself
to minimal risk. A converse strategy works for getting people to call when you
know that you have them beat. (There's probably a name for these like "three
eyed street corner" or "popping the collar" or something, but I kind of lost
patience with reading up on poker strategy).

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sologoub
This article seems to be the same info as previously discussed here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6396174](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6396174)

Tumi info is interesting, though. Hope the RICO thing sticks and some legal
precedent is created that will make trolling impractical.

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ianstallings
As much as I hate patent trolls I wouldn't hold your breath on this. RICO
charges were hard to pin/stick on the mafia, who openly committed organized
crime, because the general nature of the justice department is to not simply
indict a whole group of people for being _around_ a criminal.

~~~
comrade_ogilvy
A mafia organization is a certain kind of acquaintances that formed a "social
group" and did not necessarily work for a single employer (or small set of
employers), thus the paper trail did not exist. The FBI had to do a lot of
careful investigation to document "business" relationships that were ongoing.

A law firm pursuing patent claims has to leave a paper trail. The more
convoluted, the more likely jurors will be inclined to see fraud.

~~~
ianstallings
A valid point but I think the ability to determine criminality becomes harder
because the business wraps itself in current legalities, being run by lawyers
themselves.

~~~
comrade_ogilvy
Agreed. One has to prove that individual arguable mistakes are a purposeful
pattern of fraud.

As the system exists, if I were to make, say, an incorrect bill or make some
other factually incorrect assertion that you owe me money, it is assumed to
not be a crime or even a civil offense. You would have to prove it.

The advantage of RICO is that it makes the pattern of behavior and therefore
all my legal records a matter of possible interest to the judge. There is
still a lot of work for you to do, and I can try to hide behind client-
attorney privilege.

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jevin
Great article!

Is there any website that lists these patent trolls and their sister
companies? I think this would be a great way to create awareness and
potentially make people think twice before dealing with such companies.

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Fuxy
I can't wait for the day when patent trolls get prison sentences like the
mafia :)

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it_learnses
There should be an Indiegogo setup to fight and beat the trolls once and for
all.

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dnautics
are we not worried that RICO was effectively the template for PATRIOT ACT?

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joe_the_user
RICO is about holding leaders responsible for the crimes of their
organizations. That, in itself, makes sense (further, I recall courts being
resistant to using RICO against "upstanding" but essentially criminal
operations,sadly). As far as I can tell, the act doesn't extend the
definitions of crimes or call for any specific enforcement whereas the Patriot
does this in spades, as far as I can tell.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrup...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act)

~~~
dnautics
I can't vouch for the accuracy of this report (was a quick google search;
PATRIOT was passed at a point in time where not everything was quite so
webbified), but I recall the lawmakers who crafted PATRIOT used RICO as a
starting point ("precedence") for the most controversial provisions. There are
surely more authoritative resources out there.

[http://www.johnisaza.com/patriot_act_compliance.html](http://www.johnisaza.com/patriot_act_compliance.html)

"Some of the more controversial provisions of The Patriot Act were largely
inspired by the RICO act, which restricted some elements of due process for
individuals involved in organized crime, racketeering, and drug trafficking.
The Patriot Act essentially extended the restrictions to those involved in
terrorism."

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Kudzu_Bob
Declaring patent trolls to be terrorists and sending them to Gitmo or
someplace like that to be tortured until they confess to whatever we want them
to confess to would also work, I suppose. It surprises me the reporter didn't
mention that option.

~~~
vinceguidry
I think the best plan would be to coordinate a concerted defense plan under
the EFF. A significant number of donors could create a fund big enough to meet
the entire patent troll industry head on. They could compile a list of trolls
and their targets. They'd then provide pro-bono council to defendants,
utilizing the same effective tactics that get the trolls to back off on every
single one of them. Eventually it just wouldn't pay to troll, they'd get so
flooded with counter-suits and demands for further information that the entire
industry would shut down.

~~~
Kudzu_Bob
But doing evil that good may come of it is so much more emotionally
satisfying, wouldn't you agree?

