patent trolls
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Motorola found guilty of infringing on a patent from infamous troll
There was good news and bad news for Motorola in its second round in court with the patent holding firm Intellectual Ventures. A Delaware jury cleared Motorola of infringing on one of IV's wireless patents, but it also said that the cellphone maker infringed on another patent focused on multimedia messaging, Reuters reports. It's not yet known what Motorola will have to pay up -- though it's worth noting Intellectual Ventures recently scored a $17 million win against Symantec. Intellectual Ventures, as you've probably heard, has built quite the reputation as an infamous patent troll. While it licenses its portfolio out to companies like HTC and Samsung, it's more well known for suing tech companies who might be infringing on its intellectual property. A 2011 suit between Motorola and IV ended in a mistrial last year, and the two are also scheduled to start a new trial today around a removable computing device patent.
Google, Dropbox, Canon and others team up to disarm future patent trolls
Patent litigation from non-participating entities (casually known as "patent trolls") is the bane of a technology firm's legal department. Fighting patent lawsuits from firms that subsist completely on licensing and legal action is a frustrating waste of resources, and one that often stifles innovation indirectly. Now, a new partnership between Canon, Dropbox, Google, Asana, SAP and Newegg hopes to cut off would-be patent trolls at the knees. It's called the License on Transfer Network (LOT), and it's a patent-licensing agreement that neuters a patent's potential for litigation before prospective trolls can exploit it.
Turbine settles Treehouse Avatar Technologies lawsuit via partnership
No matter how long you've been playing Lord of the Rings Online or Dungeons & Dragons Online, it's unlikely that you've heard of Treehouse Avatar Technologies before the company started throwing lawsuits around like party favors. After a little over a year, Turbine has ended the pending lawsuit by agreeing to license the firm's technologies for the aforementioned games, despite the fact that both games appear to have been developed before Treehouse Avatar Technologies filed its patent. The Turbine lawsuit predates a number of threatening letters sent by Treehouse Avatar to various small indie developers that made similar overtures. No mention is made of how much Turbine is paying to license the technology for the games in question, which were the only two cited by the suit.
Apple is now the undisputed No. 1 victim of all patent trolling
When you're one of the world's most valuable companies, it's not hard to find people hoping to lift a few bucks from your coffers by whatever means they can. And when it comes to patent trolling, the top target of patent trolls is none other than Apple, according to international law firm Winston & Strawn. A patent troll is an individual or company that buys patents for the sole purpose of using them to sue companies, while never using those patents for their own products or services. Apple has been attacked over patent claims ranging from how the iPhone's screen rotates to how iOS processes in-app payments, and while the company's legal team is able to squash the majority of these lawsuits, several have been successful. Patent trolls, also known as nonpracticing entities, are going after the largest companies because that's where the money is -- with the most popular products and the biggest markets, Steven D. Atlee, a partner with Winston & Strawn, tells TUAW. "A patent litigation can cripple a smaller company, and even some of the larger companies are spending a good chunk of their revenues defending against such claims," he said. And the money Apple is spending to defend against such litigation is climbing, as the number of lawsuits levied against the company by nonpracticing entities has skyrocketed from 18 in 2008 to 44 in 2012, according to data from Patent Freedom. But it's not all doom and gloom, and legislators are becoming aware that patent trolls are working solely in the interest of their own pocketbooks, rather than to actually protect the patent in question. "There are some changes in the courts and in the legislature which are making patent suits easier to defend," Atlee said. "It is no longer a given that the plaintiff will be able to get an injunction or court order barring the sale or importation of the accused product. Also, legislators are looking at rules which will make bringing patent cases more expensive and risky for the plaintiff." [via TechHive]
FTC planning to take on patent trolls, hopes to reduce frivolous lawsuits
Sick of endless patent wars yet? According to the New York Times, so is the Federal Trade Commission. Referencing the usual persons briefed on the matter, the NYT reports that FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez is preparing to propose an inquiry that will put patent-assertion entities -- companies that exist solely to buy and collect royalties on patents -- under federal scrutiny. If approved, patent trolls that catch the FTC's attention will need to detail how they operate and if their legal proceeds pay out to the original patent owner. The chairwoman is expected to explain the proposal in more detail at a patent law workshop later this week. According to the NYT, Ramirez doesn't have any specific company in mind, but aims to investigate companies that might hamper innovation. With any luck, the inquiry will help curb spurious litigation and rampant patent trolling -- something most of us can probably get behind.
Google lobs antitrust complaint against Microsoft, Nokia in EU, claims they're playing patent footsie (updated)
The gloves just came off at Google: the company has just filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft and Nokia. Its gripe accuses the two Windows Phone partners of playing dirty pool through handing 1,200 wireless-related patents to Mosaid, a Canadian firm which spends most of its time suing the industry over WiFi rather than making products. Microsoft and Nokia are allegedly hiking the prices of devices by "creating patent trolls" that bypass deals preventing them from suing directly, possibly steering a few companies towards picking Windows Phone instead of Android. Google argues that it's launching the complaint as an early defensive measure. Neither Microsoft nor Nokia has responded, although there's a degree of irony to the action: the complaints assert that Nokia is jeopardizing standards-based patents, but Google's recent acquisition Motorola has itself come under EU scrutiny for possibly abusing standards with its lawsuits against Apple and Microsoft. Either way, it's clear Google is concerned that Microsoft's Android patent licensing campaign might lose its decorum in the near future. Update: Nokia's decided to have its say, in an email to Reuters: "Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong. Both companies have their own IPR portfolios and strategies and operate independently."
Intellectual Ventures' Nathan Myhrvold defends patent trolling, calls tech industry immature
Intellectual Ventures' CEO and founder Nathan Myhrvold, who previously spent some 14 years at Microsoft Research, took the stage here at D10, and as predicted, his interview with Walt Mossberg was quite the invigorating one. You may know the man and his company for its vicious patent trolling -- or, what appears to be patent trolling. In essence, a lot of its business comes from acquiring patent portfolios, and then licensing and / or suing companies to "enforce" them. Naturally, Nathan has a radically different perspective than most sane individuals on the matter, insisting that the system isn't necessarily broken, and that "making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock." The talk centered predominantly around how Intellectual Ventures operates, what it does, and if its CEO feels that the "rat's nest of lawsuits" -- as Walt put it -- was getting out of control. Despite saying that his company has hundreds of people working on new inventions to help deliver medicines in Africa (in response to a question from the crowd on whether his outfit was truly helping people), he confessed that suing to enforce patents was simply another method of capitalism working. Care to take a ride on the crazy train? Head on past the break for a few choice quotes from the interview.
Kodak moves to block Apple's latest patent suit from proceeding in federal district court
In a move that's sure to surprise no one, Kodak is fighting Apple's latest round of patent litigation -- a suit that would force Kodak to pause plans to sell up to $2.6 billion in digital imaging patents as a condition of its bankruptcy loan. In documents filed late last week, Kodak argued the dispute should be heard by the same bankruptcy court that's already overseeing its insolvency proceedings. In fact, Kodak's bankruptcy filing back in January caused all pending litigation (from Apple and RIM, among others) to come to a screeching halt, but Apple is nonetheless pushing for a reboot, arguing it's the owner of "a number of valuable patents," including one that could be lost if that planned $2 billion sale goes through. So where might this legal catfight take place? A bankruptcy judge is expected to hear arguments from both sides on Thursday.
Watson now hunting down patent trolls, plans Ken Jennings' elaborate demise
The Watson supercomputer used its speech recognition, natural language processing, machine learning and data mining abilities to crush puny human Ken Jennings' dreams of winning at "Jeopardy!", but now Big Blue has it chasing down medical patent trolls for fun. Incorporating the Strategic IP Insight Platform, IBM has now programmed Watson to scan millions of pharmaceutical patents and biomedical journals to discover, analyze, and record any info pertaining to drug discovery. SIIP can then look for the names of chemical compounds, related diagrams, the company and scientist who invented and works with the compounds and related words to determine a patent's rightful owner. The SIIP function can also highlight which patents could be targeted for acquisition by trolls looking to control a property via a lawsuit or licensing agreement. Click past the break for a video outlining the project, along with Watson's announcement of its engagement to "Skynet".
Judge shoots down Personal Audio's second Apple infringement case
Talk about swift justice. It's been less than a week since we reported on Personal Audio's second infringement suit against Apple, and an East Texas judge has already put an end to the litigation. In a statement regarding the company's complaint that the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and latest generation iPods infringed on the same patents put forth in its initial suit, Judge Ron Clark said the $8 million already awarded to the plaintiff should do just fine. He went on to deny the company's request for a second trial. It may not be the last we hear of Personal Audio, but it is a refreshing change of pace from the usual goings on in Eastern District courtrooms.
Software to be unpatentable in New Zealand, Peter Jackson said to have some opinion on that
Oh, New Zealand, you country full of crazy cats. When will your zany ways end? Looks like the government of the country which produced Peter Jackson, famed director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy will finalize a move to make software unpatentable via a Bill which would make that the law of the land (software patents do not exist in Europe, either). The basic argument here is that patent trolls -- and to some extent, patents in general -- stifle innovation and make it nearly impossible for software developers in the NZ to get their groove on. New Zealand's two largest software manufacturers, Jade and Orion, both support the banishment of such patents, so it'll be interesting to see just how awesomely creative future software developments from the country become. Either way, we doubt Jaron Lanier will ever be moving there.
Nintendo escapes patent troll in appeals court -- thanks to Sony
About, oh -- four years ago -- a little Texas company called Anascape sued Nintendo and Microsoft for ostensibly violating its controller patents. Microsoft settled. Nintendo didn't. Anascape won. One $21 million judgment, two years and countless legal bills later, Nintendo has finally emerged victorious over the patent troll. This week, a Federal Circuit Court overturned two earlier decisions, ruling that Nintendo's GameCube, WaveBird and Wii Classic Controllers don't violate Anascape's six-degrees-of-freedom patent, because Anascape only added that 6DOF claim to its patent in 2000... making Sony's original DualShock controller -- released in 1998 -- prior art. Game, set, match.
