Newegg: "We Don't Feed The Trolls"

Rydian

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For those unaware, "patent trolls" are companies or individuals that buy/obtain/hold patents and don't do anything except sue other companies over it. While patents were originally created to protect one company's invention and solely their ability to produce that invention, nowadays the patent system is abused like this all over. People have realized they can buy the right to a patent, and make a living by threatening companies for payments (without needing to actual produce anything themselves).

Many companies will buckle and just send out payments opposed to going to court for months, but Newegg decided to actually fight some patent trolls in court... and the patent trolls were so wholly unprepared for somebody actually going to court with them that they didn't even have a proper representative trained.
Apparently, when asked to name the patents and technology in question during cross-examination during the appeals hearing, Alcatel-Lucent's corporate representative was unable to name the patents or technology that his company was suing over.

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Foxi4

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Good. These days we see a lot of patent abusing and that often leads to monopoly (I'm looking at you and your black rectangles, Apple). There's a number of changes that should be introduced to change this situation. Patents should definitely expire quicker and they should only be accepted if a given product is in development.
 

Veho

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I remember the "shopping cart patent" farce, I'm glad Newegg didn't back down then and didn't back down now. Screw patent trolls. Also, screw current patent laws, they're retarded.


I'm going to patent my posts and am gonna charge €5 for every quote :tpi:
You can't "patent" your posts, you can "copyright" them. Details.

Also, non-commercial fair use, I ain't givin' you a cent :tpi:
 
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osm70

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I'm going to patent my posts and am gonna charge €5 for every quote :tpi:
Hi.

I remember the "shopping cart patent" farce, I'm glad Newegg didn't back down then and didn't back down now. Screw patent trolls. Also, screw current patent laws, they're retarded.



You can't "patent" your posts, you can "copyright" them. Details.

Also, non-commercial fair use, I ain't givin' you a cent :tpi:
That reminds me of that Nintendo youtube thing.
 

Jamstruth

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Ahh Patent trolls. The Patent system is getting a little ridiculous and with software it's becoming even more so as people patent vague data processing systems without any real code or algorithm behind it. Some of them seem, to me, like a guy patenting the ability to sort entries in a database alphabetically.
 

gamewitch

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The moral of the story is do not try to bully the nerds over at Newegg because you end up with egg in the face.
Pun Intended
 

Rockhoundhigh

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This reminds of that post Twitter made a long time ago about having no real means of making back all the money they have to spend defending themselves in court due to idiotic patent infringement litigation. They defend themselves they lose; they don't defend themselves they still lose. Nice to see some sweet justice being dished out for once though even if it's only due to the prosecution's own ineptitude. :P
 

Psionic Roshambo

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I love newegg, they will probably see $35K-$45K in sales from me alone in the next twelve months. (Well for my job anyway, with me ordering.)
 

Frank Cadena

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The reason why these patent trolls prosper is because patent litigation costs a lot of money. It's a basic extortion scam. "Going to court costs a lot of money, even if you win. Pay us a license fee, which is a fraction of the cost of an expensive lawyer, and save money and yourself the trouble." When faced with this, people will just cave and pay the fee rather than going to court. That's why I'm hoping that the SHIELD act passes. Even if it doesn't go far enough it's a good first step in ridding the scourge that is the patent troll.
 

Ericthegreat

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For those unaware, "patent trolls" are companies or individuals that buy/obtain/hold patents and don't do anything except sue other companies over it. While patents were originally created to protect one company's invention and solely their ability to produce that invention, nowadays the patent system is abused like this all over. People have realized they can buy the right to a patent, and make a living by threatening companies for payments (without needing to actual produce anything themselves).

Many companies will buckle and just send out payments opposed to going to court for months, but Newegg decided to actually fight some patent trolls in court... and the patent trolls were so wholly unprepared for somebody actually going to court with them that they didn't even have a proper representative trained.


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This is a problem with our patent laws, not something to blame people for using. (They did file the patent first, what they do with it is no ones business)
 

FAST6191

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On the list of companies that could one day classify as patent trolls I would not have Alcatel-Lucent high up on the list.

Still if you are going to send that much of an incompetent in there you get what you get.
 

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