08.04.08
Patents Trolls Gaining More Momentum
How long before USPTO takes notice?
In a tough economy, will patent-trolling be encouraged or will it finally be eliminated? In which direction will the pendulum swing? Sadly, in the bad guys’ direction.
Patent Trolls Attack in Texas
Yet another one strikes in the notorious venue. [via Digital Majority]
Palm Inc., Motorola Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., and other makers of mobile communications devices were sued by a closely held company that claims its patent used for networking browsing has been violated by the companies.
In the suit filed this week in federal court in Marshall, Texas…
Acacia’s Racket Extends
Acacia, which welcomes Microsoft employees [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], continues to extent itd not-so-intellectual arsenal. It accumulates ammunition and even brags about it.
“Acacia continues to grow its base of future revenues by adding new patent portfolios,” commented Paul Ryan, Acacia Chairman and CEO. “As our licensing success grows, more companies are selecting us as their partner for the licensing of their patented technologies,” concluded Mr. Ryan.
This patented technology generally relates to automatically retrieving database information stored in a plurality of formats, including structural and/or relational information.
Some companies tell their investors about a new product or service. Contrariwise, this shell company only ever talks about pieces of paper. It uses paper to shoot down other companies and their products. This is ‘innovation’?
The Ray Niro Troll is Back
The father of patent trolls [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] wishes not only to ban the term “patent troll” (mentioned the other day) but also to ban the term “shell”. Here is a brilliant response to it.
However, it looks like some patent attorneys are trying to go even further with that concept. Ray Niro, in defending Scott Harris (who, you may recall, licensed his own patents to be used in lawsuits against his own firms’ clients), is demanding that the phrase “shell entities” not be used either, claiming that they, too, are used negatively.
[…]
Separately, it is also rather amusing to see patent system defenders get upset about the phrase “patent trolls” when they’re so quick to refer to any sort of patent reform as “patent deform”, companies in favor of patent reform “The Piracy Coalition,” while, of course, insisting that any individual in favor of patent reform a “shill.”
The hypocrisy knows no boundaries. What’s more vexing is the behaviour of Ray Niro, who not only abuses the system but also attacked his critics.
The patent had been used, repeatedly, by lawyer Ray Niro, against a wide range of opponents, including a patent system critic. The end result was a drawn out review process where all of the original claims were rejected, but a single new claim was added to the patent, which Niro insisted covered JPEGs on a website.
With people like Ray Niro, Carl Icahn and Nathan Myhrvold [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] out there, it’s possible to name culprits for some anti-America sentiments across the world. These chaps are users, exploiters, leeches. They haven’t morals. █
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.