Flutterby™! : patent troll rant 2011-10-04 14:07:08.104416+00

patent troll rant

2011-10-04 14:07:08.104416+00 by Dan Lyke 8 comments

Wi-Fi Patent Troll Won't Sue Individual Users...Yet, After Cashing in On Coffee Shops, Hotels and Restaurants.

A possible next career move for me is to be a patent troll. Seriously. Team up with a friend, he's got some lawyers signed up who will pay for provisionals and give a portion of winnings for any potential litigation.

What can we do to return innovation to software and computing, to get this software patent trolling bullshit (and a good portion of the hardware patent trolling bullshit) out of the realm of possible again?

Because frankly, right now, it's impossible to be a small software developer. You have to have a couple of million dollars in your war chest to bring products to market, just to fight the illegitimate patents.

#Comment Re: made: 2011-10-05 10:21:43.882966+00 by: stevesh [edit history]

I'm inclined to think that you can't beat these slime when they choose the weapons. Serial arson, commercial and residential, until they get the message, might be the ticket.

I have a good friend who wants to get back into software development and pursue some ideas on his own that he had while being a graduate student. I forwarded this thread to him.

I believe I read some time ago that several states have severe penalties and allow counter-suing for frivolous lawsuits. So, would you want to incorporate in those states? Is anyone familiar with these states and their laws? Or are the laws uniform across the country?

Jeff, I think the issue is two-fold: First, these patents are often upheld. Second, that mounting a successful defense against these patents costs millions. I have heard at least once "yeah, our patent is invalid, but it's going to cost X to fight it, and none of our competitors has that".

If I ever start up another software company it will be headquartered in New Zealand, where there are no software patents. (My wife can get us residency there.)

Dan: Agreed. Unless you have extremely deep pockets you likely won't win, regardless of who is in the absolute right.

Mars: From most of what I've read and heard, in many dimensions New Zealand may be the best place in the world to immigrate to. A few years back I was waiting for a flight from India back to the States and I had a short conversation with a New Zealand tour guide. She said the only thing really lacking in New Zealand is people. They don't have enough of them. Is your wife from there?

Yes, she's an Aussie/Kiwi hybrid and would love to move back to Christchurch someday. I'd probably prefer Auckland, myself, but I haven't been there yet so it's all a guess. The country definitely seems like it would be hard to beat, overall.

Not to hijack this thread, but it would seem to me that the only possible negative of any scale would be the chance for catastophic earthquakes. But then Bay area residents have the same concern, since both reside on the "ring of fire."

To a lesser extent, potential class warfare with the indigenous indian population (a possible permanent underclass?) and the possible lack of a mature culture/arts scene could be negatives. As an aside, measured political corruption is among the lowest in world.

I've never lived or visited there, but would love to someday do a trip "down under!"