12.04.07
Patent Troll Watch: Polaris Sues, Klausner sues, and Ray Niro Harassess Bloggers
Once in a while we point out various stories which show how much interference patents can cause to real “innovation” (a word to avoid and a word which Microsoft loves enormously).
Here is a video coverage of the Polaris case.
If you want to see some truly large demands, how about this new case?
Klausner Technologies said on Monday the company had filed a $360 million suit against Apple (AAPL.O) and AT&T Inc (T.N) over voicemail patents that Klausner claims the Apple iPhone infringes.
If you search the Web for “Klausner Technologies”, then you’ll find little more than patent stories. Quite clearly, Klausner Technologies is some form of patent troll. It’s a patent portfolio in the sky.
Speaking of patent trolls, one of them has just resorted to really ugly actions; even uglier than the act of patent trolling alone. Ray Niro has offered a bounty targetting TrollTracker. This brings back shades of the bounty on Pamela Jones’ identity, not to mention gagging attempts [1, 2] .
Yes, Ray Niro has decided to offer $5,000 to find out who I am. According to the article, he wants to know “who is saying all those nasty things” about him. I don’t think that’s fair. I may have disparaged the validity of Acacia U.S. Patent 5,253,341, and I may have claimed that Niro was asserting the ‘341 patent against me just to shut me up, as he did to Greg Aharonian so many years ago (something that the article’s author also implies), but that’s not nasty. Is it?
Mr. Niro, here is a hint: if you behave [1, 2] and join civilisation, so to speak, you will not have to police the Web and fear what people say about you. Don’t be a Novell [1, 2, 3]. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.