Overlawyered » patent trolls http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 February 9 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:07:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27470
  • 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: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/feed/ 3     “The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls” http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-private-and-social-costs-of-patent-trolls/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-private-and-social-costs-of-patent-trolls/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:18:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26621 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: ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-private-and-social-costs-of-patent-trolls/feed/ 1     December 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:43:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26078
  • “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: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/feed/ 2     September 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-16-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-16-roundup/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:11:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24652
  • 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: , , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-16-roundup/feed/ 4     August 11 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:25:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24221
  • 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: , , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Who’s suing whom in the mobile business http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/whos-suing-whom-in-the-mobile-business/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/whos-suing-whom-in-the-mobile-business/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:05:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24133 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: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/whos-suing-whom-in-the-mobile-business/feed/ 3     Economics of patent trolling http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/economics-of-patent-trolling/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/economics-of-patent-trolling/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:06:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23253 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: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/economics-of-patent-trolling/feed/ 0     April 22 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-22-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-22-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:23:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22652
  • Furor as NLRB issues complaint against Boeing for planning to open S.C. plant [Wichita Business Journal, Costa/NR "Corner", Wood/ShopFloor, more, Tom Bevan/RCP, Ira Stoll, Hirsch/Workplace Prof, Megan McArdle, Jonathan Adler]
  • Perp meanwhile declared not criminally responsible and awaits release: “Jury orders Nordstrom to pay $1.6 M to Bethesda stabbing victims” [WaPo]
  • Not so reliable: how eyewitness and confession testimony can result in convicting the innocent [Brandon Garrett, Slate]
  • Trying to pin down who merits label of “patent troll” [Michael Risch, Prawfs, and followup] “Digital Innovators vs. the Patent Trolls” [Peter Huber, WSJ]
  • Publishers as targets in pharma suits? Philadelphia product liability case names as defendant the company that put out drug fact sheet [Beck]
  • Regulate-Google schemes: “If search neutrality is the answer, what’s the question?” [Manne/Wright, TotM]
  • Hey, John Boehner’s tweeting about my blog post [@johnboehner]
    • Tags: , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-22-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Myhrvold’s patent-lobbying methods http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/myhrvolds-patent-lobbying-methods/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/myhrvolds-patent-lobbying-methods/#comments Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:57:09 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22226 A lawsuit by Washington figure Pat Choate provides a peek. [WSJ Law Blog]

    Tags: ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/myhrvolds-patent-lobbying-methods/feed/ 1     “FTC Takes Aim at Patent Trolls” http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:38:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21974 The Federal Trade Commission “today released a 300-page report examining the effect that patent trolls – or as the FTC more tactfully dubs them, ‘patent assertion entities’ – have on competition…. The practice, said the FTC, ‘can deter innovation by raising costs and risks without making a technological contribution.’” [BLT]

    Tags: ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/feed/ 0