Following on from my post the other day about patent trolls:
Soverain Software, who pretend to sell software but actually do nothing but sue people, wanted substantial cash payments plus one per cent of all US online sales involving online shopping-cart systems.
Thanks to the patents they bought when dot-com Open Market went bankrupt, they were quite successful in this.
But Newegg just kicked Soverain in the nuts so hard their patents died.
Not quite the public gut-hanging I would have recommended, and they had to go to an appeal to get it. But it'll do for now.
28 January 2013 at 6:23 pm
I hear they wanted to do a public gut-hanging, but the patentholder on public gut-hangings wanted too high a royalty.
28 January 2013 at 11:09 pm
Patent trolls need to be put on a spike at the city gates.
29 January 2013 at 5:43 am
No, Patent Examiners that allow a patent on an on-line shopping cart need to be replaced.
Real patents on innovative ideas are a big part of how modern societies thrive, and the court system is rightfully attuned to protecting them. Granted, the East Texas district is a bit too attuned, but that'll fix itself over time.
In the meantime, I wouldn't mind spiking a few trolls, but the trolls will keep coming until the sun comes up...
--Me
30 January 2013 at 11:01 pm
Bingo. The root of the problem is at the USPTO.