Overlawyered » patent trolls

Patent troll vexes municipal transit agencies

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:29:10 +0000

Greater Greater Washington covers a story we linked a while back:

Jones doesn’t actually develop or sell any technology relating to real-time vehicle tracking, but that hasn’t stopped him (and his two offshore firms, ArrivalStar and Melvino Technologies) from punishing anyone who does. To date, he’s filed more than 100 lawsuits against anyone who uses such technology—everyone from Ford to Abercrombie & Fitch to American Airlines to FedEx. He’s now one of the top 25 filers of patent infringement suits, according to PriorSmart.com.

Prominent among ArrivalStar’s recent targets have been municipal transit agencies, at least ten of whom it has sued, with another eight getting demand letters. Several have settled, including the New York City, Boston, Chicago and Maryland authorities; critics say the settlements are typically for less than the cost of defending the suits and are accompanied by nondisclosure clauses in which the transit operators agree not to talk about their experience.

Tags: patent trolls, transit

Patent troll vexes municipal transit agencies is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Drew Curtis of FARK: How I beat a patent troll

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:00:27 +0000

“You need to know that the average patent troll defense costs 2 million dollars and takes 18 months when you win. That is your best case outcome when you get sued by a patent troll.”

Tags: patent trolls

Drew Curtis of FARK: How I beat a patent troll is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:50:35 +0000

“A new target for tech patent trolls: cash-strapped American cities” [Joe Mullin, Ars Technica] Crowdsourcing troll control [Farhad Manjoo, Slate] “Why patent trolls don’t need valid patents” [Felix Salmon] “Why Hayek Would Have Hated Software Patents” [Timothy Lee, Cato] Et tu, Shoah Foundation? [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
Cory King case: “Not Everything Can Be a Federal Crime” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]
“Ban on smoking in cars with young children clears Md. Senate” [WaPo]
On religious exemption to birth control mandate, NYT wrestles with unwelcome poll numbers [Mickey Kaus]
“Undocumented Law Grad Can’t Get Driver’s License, But Hopes for Fla. Supreme Court OK of Law License” [ABA Journal]
Department of Justice launches campaign against racial disparities in school discipline [Jason Riley, WSJ via Amy Alkon]
James Gattuso and Diane Katz, “Red Tape Rising: Obama-Era Regulation at the Three-Year Mark” [Heritage]

Tags: immigration law, patent trolls, regulation and its reform, school discipline, smoking bans

March 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:07:43 +0000

Ninth Circuit panel strikes down California’s Prop 8 [Volokh, Kerr, Magliocca, Lithwick, Steve Chapman]
Judge dismisses PETA “killer whales enslaved” case [Caroline May/Daily Caller, CNN, earlier]
“Patent Troll Claims Ownership of Interactive Web – And Might Win” [Joe Mullin/Wired, earlier; more on testimony by Web father Tim Berners-Lee] Update: Ding Dong! Jury rejects claim;
“Further Analysis of the Bottle-Rocket Case” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
As patients suffer: “The War Over Prescription Painkillers,” start of a Radley Balko series [HuffPo parts one, two so far]
Richard Epstein on federal fiat and Yale disciplinary procedure [Defining Ideas] Under new-style rules at Yale, will a professor even be aware he’s been accused and henceforth is to be “monitored”? [KC Johnson]
Jim Copland testimony on abuses in government contingent-fee litigation [Manhattan Institute, PDF] “Parens patriae” proposal to replace class actions with state attorney general suits, but with private entrepreneurial bar still in saddle [Adam Zimmerman/Prawfs on Myriam Gilles/Gary Friedman, SSRN]

Tags: animal rights, attorneys general, class actions, colleges and universities, Ninth Circuit, patent trolls, pharmaceuticals, same-sex marriage, Yale

February 9 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls”

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:18:59 +0000

A new study by James Bessen, Jennifer Ford and Michael J. Meurer in Cato’s Regulation magazine:

This article makes several findings about this litigation [patent litigation by non-practicing entities (NPEs)]. First, by observing what happens to a defendant’s stock price around the filing of a patent lawsuit, we are able to assess the effect of the lawsuit on the firm’s wealth, after taking into account general market trends and random factors affecting the individual stock. We find that NPE lawsuits are associated with half a trillion dollars of lost wealth to defendants from 1990 through 2010. During the last four years, the lost wealth has averaged over $80 billion per year. These defendants are mostly technology companies that invest heavily in R&D. To the extent that this litigation represents an unavoidable business cost to technology developers, it reduces the profits that these firms make on their technology investments. That is, these lawsuits substantially reduce their incentives to innovate.

Tags: Cato Institute, patent trolls

“The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:43:41 +0000

“The real cost of patent trolls” [Brad Feld, PoL on BU study] Survey finds patent litigation booming [Corporate Counsel, Reynolds Holding/Reuters] Company claiming patent on wi-fi-in-stores unlikely to sue retail customers “at this stage” [Patent Examiner] Retrospective on crustless-sandwich case [Peter Smith/Good, earlier]
Louisiana federal court holds severe obesity to be disability under ADA [Sam Bagenstos, related]
Florida: many cops remain on job despite evidence linking them to crimes [Balko on Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigation]
“FDA Regulation Could Doom Cigar Shops” [Jacob Sullum]
Ted Frank vs. Brian Fitzpatrick on class action fees [PoL, David Lat on Federalist Society panel]
Orange County keeps mum about partnerships it’s entered with plaintiff’s attorneys Robinson, Calcagnie and Thomas Girardi [Kim Stone, Fox & Hounds] Maybe like “private attorney generals”? Fannie/Freddie genre of government-sponsored enterprises called “monstrous moral hybrids” [Mark Calabria, Cato]
Posner: lawyers appeared more likely to run junk-fax suit for own interests than clients’ [Beck, Trask (Creative Montessori Learning Centers v. Ashford Gear LLC)]

Tags: class actions, Florida, Los Angeles, obesity, patent litigation, patent trolls, police, public employment, tobacco

December 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:11:55 +0000

House Judiciary holds hearing on asbestos-claim fraud and abuse, with Prof. Brickman headlining [Main Justice, Legal NewsLine, WSJ law blog, PoL, Brickman testimony]
Endangered species habitat in Nevada: “Elko County wants end to 15-year-old trout case” [AP]
“Why is the Eastern District of Texas home to so many patent trolls?” [Ted Frank/PoL, more] Tech giants say multi-defendant patent suits place them at disadvantage [WSJ Law Blog] Plus: “Patent company has big case, no office” [John O'Brien, Legal NewsLine]
Lawsuit settlement and the lizard brain [Popehat]
“U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Looks Into Eminent Domain Abuses” [Kanner, Somin] U.K.: “Squatters could be good for us all, says judge in empty homes ruling” [Telegraph]
Madison mob silences Roger Clegg at news conference where he releases new study of UW race bias [ABA Journal, Althouse]
Life in Australia: “Another motorized-beer-cooler DUI” [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: asbestos, Australia, Eastern District of Texas, eminent domain, endangered species, Lester Brickman, Nevada, patent trolls, settlement, United Kingdom

September 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:25:02 +0000

Seattle’s best? Class action lawyer suing Apple, e-publishers has represented Microsoft [Seattle Times, earlier]
“Disabled” NYC firefighter/martial arts enthusiast can go on getting checks for life [NYPost; compare]
After the FDA enforcement action on drug manufacturing lapses come the tagalong liability claims by uninjured plaintiffs [Beck]
“What If Lower Court Judges Weren’t Bound by Supreme Court Precedent?” [Orin Kerr]
Fark.com settles a patent suit for $0 (rough language);
Canadian law society to pay $100K for asking prospective lawyers about mental illness [ABA Journal]
Self-help eviction? “Chinese Developers Accused Of Putting Scorpions In Apartments To Force Out Residents” [Business Insider]

Tags: Apple, China, disabled rights, FDA, firefighters, Microsoft, patent trolls, Steve Berman, Supreme Court, workers' compensation

August 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Who’s suing whom in the mobile business

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:05:17 +0000

A pretty graphic depicting a not-so-pretty situation [Design Language News; more, FlowingData] Related: “When Patents Attack,” NPR; Will Wilkinson, “Patents Against Prosperity”, The Economist; “Good Defensive Patents Are Bad Patents,” Julian Sanchez.

Tags: cellphones, patent litigation, patent trolls

Who’s suing whom in the mobile business is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Economics of patent trolling

Walter Olson — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:06:16 +0000

Rob Beschizza sees clues to the economics of patent litigation in the public pronouncements of Lodsys, a company that has sued small Apple developers based on IP claims covering such common app features as upgrade buttons. [BoingBoing, more, This Is My Next (with copy of a 2007 patent for "Methods and Systems for Gathering Information from Units of a Commodity Across a Network"] Update: Apple intervenes.

Tags: Apple, patent trolls, small business

Economics of patent trolling is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system