Un-fucking-believable

http://furbo.org/2014/06/05/un-fucking-believable/

by swilliams • 12 years ago

21 17 12 years ago

Patents are like trademarks, you have to protect them after you get them (by collecting licensing fees, even if it’s a small one.)

Unfuckingbelievable indeed. He needs to fire his lawyer.

pyre2• 12 years ago

It's not a use-it-or-lose-it like a trademark, but my understanding is that selective enforcement of the patent could put legal actions against the people you do go after in jeopardy.

noonespecial• 12 years ago

This argument seems fishy. He could have "licensed it" for $1 if that were the case. Instead, reading between the lines here, it sounds like he caused considerable hardship and non-trivial money to the creator of something that was essentially still in the "free beta" stage of development.

He can say whatever he wants to ease his conscience, if it walks like a troll...

mullingitover2• 12 years ago

I'd really like to see a cite for this claim. I looked and could find zero reference to a patent holder's responsibility to enforce in order to maintain a patent's validity. AFAIK a patent holder is free to enforce their patent as they see fit, just as a copyright holder can. Otherwise there could be no such thing as a purely defensive patent, no?

Edit: Here we go[1]. So a patent holder can lose their ability to collect damages if they notify an infringer of their infringement but then fail to take action against that particular infringer within a certain period. There's no damage to the patent merely because of selective (or absence of) enforcement.

[1] http://www.lawabel.com/patent-damages-laches-and-equitable-e...

swilliams• 12 years ago

Yeah, he found that out after posting that blog. https://twitter.com/chockenberry/status/474704755348881408

zmmmmm• 12 years ago

In fact, the whole patent troll problem is partly because patents are not like this. They can buy up all kinds of junk and wait until there's broad industry adoption of some concept and submarine everyone. Although it would open a whole different can of worms, we might actually be better off if patents were like that because it would at least bring things to a head very fast.

webwielder• 12 years ago

Maybe the lesson is that using patents as a deterrent from others using your idea is just too fraught with complications and costs. The best way to stay competitive is by relentlessly improving and effectively marketing your product.

webkike• 12 years ago

It's a pastebin. Long texts on pastebin are the tabloids of the internet. Why would you even respond to this?

patmcguire• 12 years ago

Long texts on pastebin are the only outlet for some things. It's like the bathroom wall of the internet.

aaronbrethorst• 12 years ago

From the guy who licensed the patent: https://twitter.com/pixelwinch/status/474716066896424960

megablast• 12 years ago

This seems like a decent call out.

bibinou• 12 years ago

Maybe the first line would be more helpful as a title :

  > An anonymous individual is spreading accusations that I’m a patent troll.

Un-fucking-believable

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