Favorite Patent trolls make patents, and argue over them. They don’t have to ever make the thing described in their patents, if it’s even possible to determine what those things are. Instead, they generate legal threats and waste the time and money of companies that do do these things. This month’s Stupid Patent of the…
All posts tagged Patent Trolls
Podcast Episode: Don't Be Afraid to Poke the Tigers
Favorite What can a bustling electronic components bazaar in Shenzhen, China, tell us about building a better technology future? To researcher and hacker Andrew “bunnie” Huang, it symbolizes the boundless motivation, excitement, and innovation that can be unlocked if people have the rights to repair, tinker, and create. Huang believes that to truly unleash innovation…
Seeing Patent Trolls Clearly: 2022 in Review
Favorite The internet can be a powerful tool for communicating, collaborating, and finding community. But lawsuits and threats from patent trolls have been an obstacle to the dream of a free and open internet. That’s why EFF has been fighting back against them for more than 15 years. Patent trolls are companies that are focused…
Victory! Judge’s Critical Investigation of Patent Troll Companies Can Move Forward
Favorite In recent months, Delaware-based U.S. District Court Judge Colm Connolly started an inquiry into some patent trolling companies that have filed dozens of lawsuits in his court. Last month, lawyers for the patent troll companies appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking to shut down the investigation. Those events…
This Judge’s Investigation Of Patent Trolls Must Be Allowed to Move Forward
Favorite If you get sued, you should be able to figure out who sued you. Remarkably, though, people and companies who are accused of patent infringement in federal court often have no idea who is truly behind the lawsuit. Patent trolls, companies whose main business is extorting others over patents, often hide behind limited liability…
Victory! Court Unseals Records Showing Patent Troll’s Shakedown Efforts
Favorite EFF has prevailed in a years-long effort to make public a series of court records that show how a notorious patent troll, Uniloc, uses litigation threats to extracts payments from a variety of businesses. Uniloc earlier this month complied with a federal district court’s unsealing order by making public redacted versions of several previously…
New Bill Would Bring Back Terrible Software and Genetic Patents
Favorite A recently introduced patent bill would authorize patents on abstract ideas just for including computer jargon, and would even legalize the patenting of human genes. The “Patent Eligibility Restoration Act,” sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), explicitly overrides some of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the past 15 years, and would tear…
EFF Asks Federal Appellate Court to Re-hear Important Patent Transparency Case
Favorite After pushing for more than three years to access court records in a lawsuit brought by a notorious patent troll, Uniloc, against Apple, EFF is challenging a federal appellate court’s decision that imperils the public’s ability to understand what happens in patent litigation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overruled the…
The Federal Circuit Helps a Patent Troll Block Public Access to Court Records
Favorite For more than three years, EFF has been fighting for public access to court records in a patent case between Uniloc, one of the world’s most prolific patent trolls, and Apple, one of the world’s biggest tech companies. The district court has ruled three different times that the public has a strong presumption of…
Podcast Episode: Saving Podcasts from a Patent Troll
Favorite Podcast Episode 110 Imagine getting a letter in the mail—and then another, and then another—telling you that if you don’t pay $25,000 to a company you’ve never heard of, you’ll have to shut down the small business that you’ve worked for years to build. That’s exactly the situation faced by a group of podcasters…