Newegg, Troll Hunting, And The Fight For Patent Reform
from the we-need-reform dept
Techdirt has written about Newegg many times since the company became a leader in fighting back against ridiculous patent lawsuits, going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest trolls around. The company’s Chief Legal Officer, Lee Cheng, has vowed to never settle with a patent troll, and so far has never lost an appeal on a patent claim. As he puts it:
?As I learned about this uniquely American litigation industry, it became clear that the lawsuits were being filed?by people who had identified a way to extract unjust premiums?for often worthless patents because of weaknesses?in our legal system. The majority of defendants, both large?and small companies, are forced to settle with patent trolls?because of the high costs of defending themselves.
Newegg has fought back and won — but, as satisfying as it is when a patent troll gets smacked down in court, this is still an unnecessary and unfair tax on innovation, draining time and resources from companies like Newegg that could be better spent doing just about anything other than fending off frivolous patent lawsuits. And for every company that fights back, there are many more that don’t have those resources at all, and simply pay the extortionist fees that make patent trolls billions of dollars richer every year. No matter how many companies fight back, the problem won’t truly be solved without real patent litigation reform that addresses the roots of trolling and abuse.
Last week marked the one year anniversary of the passage of the Innovation Act in the House, by a bipartisan majority. The bill, which would have made real progress in addressing the patent troll problem, was blocked in the Senate, but there is no good reason this bipartisan bill supported by the President should not be law. Today, the CEA urges you to contact your U.S. Senator and ask them to pass patent litigation reform using the contact tool at that link and embedded below.
The Innovation Movement, sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, unites those who believe innovation is critical to American global leadership and economic growth. The Innovation Movement uses grassroots advocacy tools to support smart public policies, like patent litigation reform, that foster startups and innovation. To learn more about the Innovation Movement?s work fighting patent trolls, visit?trollticker.com,?follow on Twitter @imovement?and?like Innovation Movement on Facebook.
Filed Under: innovation act, lee cheng, patent troll, patents, sponsored post
Companies: newegg
Comments on “Newegg, Troll Hunting, And The Fight For Patent Reform”
more dissembling by thieves
‘ridiculous patent lawsuits’
So say large invention thieves.
Can you say dissemble? All this talk about trolls and so called ‘patent reform’ is just spin control by large infringers and their paid puppets to cover up their theft. If you tell a lie often enough and can dupe others to repeat that lie, eventually it is accepted as fact. As Mark Twain said, ‘truth is not hard to kill, and (that) a lie well told is immortal’. Those who use the amorphous phrase ‘patent troll’ expose themselves as thieves, duped, or doped and perpetuate the lie.
It’s about property rights and jobs. When government fails to uniformly and justly enforce property rights they contribute to the wealth and the power of the well placed few, suppress the economic potential of the rest, support giant monopolies that enslave and impoverish the public, and commandeer the government.
http://www.npr.org/2013/11/06/243022966/secret-persuasion-how-big-campaign-donors-stay-anonymous
http://townhall.com/columnists/eriktelford/2014/10/22/google-leverages-patent-reform-for-crony-ends-n1908760
Property rights and jobs in America are now hanging from a frayed thread. These changes are killing our small and startup firms and the jobs they would have created. When government fails to uniformly and justly enforce property rights they promote unrest and insurrection. Some in Congress and the White House continue to follow the lead of their giant multinational campaign donors like lambs…pulling America along to the slaughter.
The patent system now teeters on the brink of lawlessness. Call it what you will…patent hoarder, patent troll, non-practicing entity, shell company, etc. It all means one thing: “we’re using your invention and we’re not going to stop or pay”. It’s a pure red herring by large invention thieves and their paid puppets to kill any inventor support system. Their goal is to legalize theft. For the last several years now they have been ransacking and looting small entities taking everything they can carry. The fact is, many of the large multinationals and their puppets who defame inventors in this way themselves make no products in the US or create any American jobs and it is their continued blatant theft which makes it impossible for the true creators to do so. Invention thieves well know many inventors lack the resources to enforce their patent rights so their only recourse is to sell to others who do have the resources. Otherwise, large invention thieves just thumb their noses at you and steal at will. To infringers the only patents that are legitimate are their own -if they have any. Meanwhile, the huge multinationals ship more and more US jobs overseas.
Property rights should not only be for the rich and powerful -campaign contributors. America’s founders: Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and others felt so strongly about the rights of inventors that they recognized and incorporated inventors rights to their creations and discoveries into the Constitution.
From ‘Section 8 – Powers of Congress:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;’
They understood the trade off. Inventors are given a limited monopoly and in turn society gets the benefits of their inventions (telephone, computer, airplane, automobile, lighting, etc) into perpetuity and the jobs the commercialization of those inventions bring. For 200 years the patent system has not only fueled the US economy, but the world’s. If we weaken the patent system, we force inventors underground like Stradivarius (anyone know how to make a Stradivarius violin?) and in turn weaken our economy and job creation. Worse yet, we destroy the American dream -the ability to prosper from our ingenuity for the benefit of our families and communities. To kill or weaken the patent system is to kill all our futures. Show me a country with weak or ineffective property rights and I’ll show you a weak economy with high unemployment. If we cannot own the product of our minds or labors, what can we be said to truly own? Life and liberty are fundamentally tied to and in fact based on property rights. Our very lives are inseparably tied to our property.
Prior to the Supreme Court case eBay v Mercexchange, small entities had a viable chance at commercializing their inventions. If the defendant was found guilty, an injunction was most always issued. Then the inventor small entity could enjoy the exclusive use of his invention in commercializing it. Unfortunately, injunctions are often no longer available to small entity inventors because of the eBay decision so we have no fair chance to compete with much larger entities who are now free to use our inventions. Essentially, large infringers now have your gun and all the bullets. Worse yet, inability to commercialize means those same small entities will not be hiring new employees to roll out their products and services. And now those same parties who killed injunctions for small entities and thus blocked any fair chance at commercializing now complain that small entity inventors are not commercializing. They created the problem and now they want to blame small entities for it. What dissembling! If you don’t like this state of affairs (your unemployment is running out), tell your Congress member. Then maybe we can get some sense back into the patent system with injunctions fully enforceable on all infringers by all patentees, large and small.
Those wishing to help fight big business giveaways should contact us as below and join the fight as we are building a network of inventors and other stakeholders to lobby Congress to restore property rights for all patent owners -large and small.
For the truth about trolls and so-called patent reform, please see http://truereform.piausa.org/default.html#pt.
http://piausa.wordpress.com/
http://www.law360.com/articles/561199/justices-should-back-off-patent-eligibility-michel-says
http://humanevents.com/2014/10/22/depriving-property-rights-is-patently-offensive/
http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/04/the-conservative-case-against-patent-reform/#disqus_thread
Pattent trolls
I’m an inventor and I’m against patents.