S02.E10: Patents

[Athena]

 

For inventors, patents are an essential protection against theft. But when patent trolls abuse the system by stockpiling patents and threatening lawsuits, businesses are forced to shell out tons of money.

 

CNN produced an actual doomsday video to broadcast when the world is ending and it’s incredibly dull. We've enlisted Martin Sheen to help make humanity’s final moments happier!

[Victor the Crab]

Since I kinda called it on the main story of this past Sunday's show, I'm going to try again and say that the environment will be what Ollie talks about on the next LWT, what with next Wednesday being Earth Day 45.

[hincandenza]

If you're right again, I'm just going to assume you're actually John Oliver.

[Victor the Crab]

To quote Maxwell Smart: "Missed it by THAT much!"

 

I think that CSPAN guy has the worst job on television. I wonder if he pissed off someone that he got that job.

[bmoore4026]

Cat Saloon!  Yaaaaaaaay!

 

And was it wrong for me to think the polar bears having sex was fucking adorable.  Seriously, anything bears do is adorable, except when they're killing.  Or relieving themselves.

 

And I feel so bad for that C-Span Man.  Having to hear extreme and/or tired rhetoric from both -wings and not snap takes herculean willpower.

 

Lastly, Ted Turner using "Nearer my God to Thee" for the world ending song seems terribly ironic given his stance on religion at the time.

[Irlandesa]

I loved that moment when the C-SPAN guy said "no he's not" when the caller called Obama a Muslim.  Obviously he's not supposed to give his opinion either way but you could tell he just couldn't take it anymore. 

 

I liked the troll patent piece.  I don't think I knew that was happening but it sounds a lot like the copyright trolls that are out there as well.  They buy up the copyrights to articles/publications and go after people using portions of the articles appropriate under fair use but the cost of fighting the lawsuits would be more costly than settling. 

[Jamoche]

OK, I never want to play poker against the C-Span guy.

[Delwyn]

I know it wasn't his main segment, but I loved his smack down on humans being ridiculous, including fail videos: Space mermaid, shark tummys and segways really brought into focus that we really could be better at this. Also "Well played lions" made me laugh so hard I had to rewind.

Everything about dropping a cat saloon into the report was delightful, but Martin Sheen pronouncing "CATS" with his hand on his heart cracked me up. And some of this segment was maybe set to the Transformer speechify sound track as he described human achievements.

As a side note, it's great that both Archer and LWT referenced the same Jurassic Park joke within a month.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Delwyn

[HelenBaby]

Loved the show. Oliver can make me laugh at the most hopeless things.

Anywho, the show reminded me of the fight that Adam Carolla started with the patent troll who sues anyone with a podcast. He was out there raising money to fight the suit filed in Marshall, TX. The troll then tried to get him to allow them to drop the case. He wouldn't. I hadn't heard anything else about it so I poked around and found out that the suit was settled with a sealed resolution. Both sides agreed to non disclosure. Disappointing.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Be honest, how many people thought of The Legend of Korra when John was talking about Uniloc? We need Nuktuk!

[liqidclark]

The skating rink in front of the courthouse kinda blew my mind.

[Sharpie66]

One of the topics I deal with every day here at work is IP (intellectual property) law, so I knew all about the patent trolls beforehand. But, as always, John managed to impart a lot of information in a very enjoyable way.

[Traveller519]

This episode really paired up well with the Silicon Valley episodes.

[trow125]

Anywho, the show reminded me of the fight that Adam Carolla started with the patent troll who sues anyone with a podcast. He was out there raising money to fight the suit filed in Marshall, TX. The troll then tried to get him to allow them to drop the case. He wouldn't. I hadn't heard anything else about it so I poked around and found out that the suit was settled with a sealed resolution. Both sides agreed to non disclosure. Disappointing.

 

There was a new development in the podcast patent troll case last week. (I thought Oliver might bring it up, since he's a longtime podcaster himself!) "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) invalidated key claims in the so-called “podcasting patent” today after a petition for review from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)—a decision that significantly curtails the ability of a patent troll to threaten podcasters big and small." My favorite detail from the report is that EFF Staff Attorney Daniel Nazer holds "The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents."

[dusang]

There was a new development in the podcast patent troll case last week. (I thought Oliver might bring it up, since he's a longtime podcaster himself!) "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) invalidated key claims in the so-called “podcasting patent” today after a petition for review from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)—a decision that significantly curtails the ability of a patent troll to threaten podcasters big and small." My favorite detail from the report is that EFF Staff Attorney Daniel Nazer holds "The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents."

 

I know almost nothing about Mark Cuban, although I have a vaguely negative impression of him, but I've got to give a modicum of a respect to a man willing to endow that "chair."

Edited April 20, 2015 by dusang

[HelenBaby]

That's good to know. Golly, if these trolls would use their intellect for good instead of evil it would be a better world.

Fuckers.

[trow125]

That's good to know. Golly, if these trolls would use their intellect for good instead of evil it would be a better world.

Fuckers.

 

The trolls are not possessed of any great intellect -- otherwise they would be inventing things, not just suing companies. From the EFF: "A patent troll uses patents as legal weapons, instead of actually creating any new products or coming up with new ideas. Instead, trolls are in the business of litigation (or even just threatening litigation). They often buy up patents cheaply from companies down on their luck who are looking to monetize what resources they have left, such as patents."

 

The most interesting aspect of the LWT story to me was the stuff about Marshall, TX, including the Samsung skating rink. That's just nuts.

[Wax Lion]

I know almost nothing about Mark Cuban, although I have a vaguely negative impression of him, but I've got to give a modicum of a respect to a man willing to endow that "chair."

 

Cuban has his asshat moments but he has his good ones too. I did like hearing that he got the Shark Tank producers to stop making people give a share of their company to ABC to be on the show.

[revbfc]

I should get a patent for a process to enforce patents. Then I could sue all the patent trolls.

Edited April 21, 2015 by revbfc

[marny]

Mark Cuban is pretty vocal on Shark Tank about how much he hates patent trolls, so I'm not surprised he'd fund a chair like that. 

[bluebonnet]

I feel like I should watch Shark Tank.  I didn't even know there was such a thing called Shark Tank.  I'm guessing it's not a show about actual shark tanks?

[HelenBaby]

I feel like I should watch Shark Tank.  I didn't even know there was such a thing called Shark Tank.  I'm guessing it's not a show about actual shark tanks?

I don't watch it but I've come across a minute or two while channel surfing. It's on CNBC. It's a show where people bring inventions or ideas and there are 4 entrepreneurs who offer to invest or not.

[Irlandesa]

It's actually on ABC on Friday nights.  9 p.m. Eastern.  (Although I just saw some ads indicating that it'll start airing an hour earlier.)  The CNBC shows must be reruns.

[bluebonnet]

I wonder if anyone else thought it was about Shark Tanks.  I was so confused when Oliver started a segment on patents with a show I thought was all about sharks. 

[cattykit]

I was watching Martin Sheen's end of the world segment with my cat (see my avatar) and just as I was saying to him, "I want to be right here with you when the world ends," what did we get but CATS!  Best way to end the world for sure.

 

Patent trolls sound like the worst form of parasite, sucking the life out of the economy.  Too bad they can't be prosecuted as the extortionists they are.

[OneWhoLurks]

This story is hardly unusual. Nearly half of the nation’s patent lawsuits are filed in the Eastern District. In 2015, one Eastern District judge heard almost 30 percent of all patent cases for the entire country. That’s because under current law, patent owners have almost complete control over which federal district to file a case in.

 

If a new bill in Congress passes, no court will hear that large a share of patent cases. The VENUE Act was designed to address the problem of forum shopping — that is, patent owners filing litigation in whatever forum they think will give them the greatest advantage. Forum shopping lets patent owners exploit any differences between districts in their favor.

 

[...]

 

Eastern District judges have adopted nonstandard rules and practices that only serve to make patent cases more expensive and frustrating for defendants. The extra costs give patent owners leverage to push for a settlement of even the most meritless cases before a trial begins. When a case does go to trial, the patent owner has an elevated chance of winning. Without question, it’s the venue of choice for non-practicing entities (NPEs): companies that do nothing but amass technology patents and demand money from innovators.

 

Maybe you’ve heard the “This American Life” story on the district, with its haunting image of an office park full of empty offices for patent-holding companies. Or you saw John Oliver lampoon the ice-skating rink that Samsung had bought next door to an Eastern District courthouse where it just happens to face repeated patent suits. The business community of Tyler, Texas, even runs a website where it advertises the district’s “plaintiff-friendly local rules.” It’s easy to understand why the public might be skeptical about the system’s fairness.

 

The problem is not one district, though. If the Eastern District changed its practices tomorrow, then others might take its place. The problem is that giving patent owners complete control over the venue for a patent lawsuit can lead to a situation where courts — knowingly or not — adjust their procedures to make themselves more (or less) convenient or attractive for patent owners. The problem is not a few rogue districts, but a system that allows and incentivizes them to go rogue.

 

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/24/elliot-harmon-the-venue-act-is-common-sense-venue-/