Posts Tagged: "Patent Trolls"

The SEC Defines Blockchain, But Did They Get it Right?

The SEC has landed on a definition which includes both permissioned distributed ledgers and permissionless distributed ledgers in the term “blockchain.” This is not surprising, nor is it necessarily the result of a misinformed view. There are lots of market opportunities and reasons for enterprise permissioned distributed ledgers, as there was always market appetite for permissioned systems in general. These ventures use the term “permissioned blockchain” intentionally and purposefully. After all, the transactions are batched in blocks that are linked to each other. So, there is a chain of blocks, and some kind of consensus protocol. But is that sufficient for a blockchain, really? And what ‘blockchain’ is the SEC referring to when it references “the blockchain”?

Gary Shapiro takes self-righteous stand against patent trolls despite obvious bias in favor of infringers

It is difficult to witness people like Gary Shapiro self-righteously railing against the patent system when they stand to gain from weakened patent rights… Shapiro continues on his defense of the PTAB by noting similarities between patent validity challenges and trials: “Lawyers make their case to the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB), and three highly qualified administrative patent judges hear their case and come to a decision.” Highly qualified or not, there is at least one administrative patent judge (APJ) who has sat on panels issuing final written decisions on trials petitioned by a former employer, a situation which would require a sua sponte recusal in district court to answer any concerns over potential conflicts of interests. Furthermore, the Patent Office has admitted to stacking PTAB panels so that cases are decided in the manner desired by the Director, which is as difficult to believe as it is stunning. Clearly, the PTAB is not an independent tribunal that exercises decisional independence. The PTAB has also removed pro-patent decisions from its database, refused to consider timely submitted evidence, fundamentally misappled the law of obviousness, determined that an MRI machine is an abstract idea, and blatantly ignoring the law with respect to CBM patents. Shapiro paints a picture of a PTAB that defies experience and simply is not realistic.

The duplicitous nature of Unified Patents statements about patent owners

Based on this Unified Patents definition of an NPE, any patent owner that seeks to enforce a patent, whether through licensing or litigation, is a patent troll. Therefore, according to Unified Patents and Shawn Ambwani, any patent owner that seeks a licensing fee, seeks to resolve ongoing infringement, or resorts to the judicial process to seek redress for those who are violating rights granted by the federal government are patent trolls. In other words, all patent owners are patent trolls in the view of Unified Patents and Shawn Ambwani. Only those patent owners that go through the extraordinary time and expense of inventing and obtaining a patent and then do absolutely nothing are legitimate patent owners — everyone else is a patent troll. Talk about completely and utterly asinine! But I suppose that is how they come up with the ridiculous and obviously phony “statistics” about more than 95% of patent infringement cases being filed by patent trolls. The only way that is possible is because to Unified Patents all patent owners are patent trolls!

Is HTIA’s general counsel John Thorne a patent troll?

John Thorne was VP and deputy general counsel for Verizon during its legal battle against former American cable television company Cablevision where Verizon asserted a series of patents it owned… A closer look into the patents renders some interesting information about the patents Verizon asserted and the company’s legal strategy in the case. Two of the eight patents asserted by Verizon in the District of Delaware weren’t originally invented by Verizon, Bell Atlantic or other any other of Verizon’s predecessor companies; they were acquired from outside entities… And haven’t we been told by the likes of Unified Patents that all patent owners who enforce their patents are patent trolls? One would have to assume if Unified is being logically consistent they would have extraordinary problems with Verizon’s activities particularly here where the patents used to sue Cablevision were acquired and not the subject of in-house innovation.

Is being called a ‘patent troll’ defamatory? NH inventor files suit against banking industry to find out

In a New Hampshire State Superior Court, this so-called ‘patent troll’ has decided to fight back. Automated Transactions and Dave Barcelou have filed a defamation complaint against the crème de la crème of those deemed “too big to fail” and who many might consider to be too big to defeat… The minute Barcelou was able to enforce his patented technologies in court, winning a sizable settlement from the biggest bank in his hometown of Buffalo, NY, a veritable “Who’s Who” of the financial services leaders joined forces to destroy both Barcelou and his company economically. Besides encouraging one another to ignore Automated Transaction’s demand letters, false and misleading statements started to appear in prominent business publications, which went so far as to say the company had purchased its patents, or alternatively, that the patents were invalid. Over time a unified battle cry arose from the ‘poor little community banks’ he allegedly targeted; “He’s nothing but a patent troll.”