Summary: Highlighting the problem with software patents using the story of just one entity that uses them for coercion and extortion

AS we have pointed out before, many patent trolls are run by lawyers, who are sometimes hiding behind a mask of secrecy. The father of patent trolling, Ray Niro, is himself a patent lawyer. According to a good report from Joe Mullin (longtime trolls expert), Jay Mac Rust is the man behind one of today's most notorious trolls [1], not to be confused with today's biggest patent troll, which is closely tied to Microsoft. Watch the photo of that smug man dressed up as a cowboy.

Another new article from Joe Mullin [2] focuses on another patent troll, which was stopped only by SCOTUS, the same disappointing entity which ruled on the Bilski case, showing that it's unwilling to address patent scope issue (Mullin too focuses on trolls, but rarely on patent scope).

It should be remember that the patents themselves are the problem; many patent trolls used them, as Joe Mullin once demonstrated (around 70% of cases use software patents). What the courts need to do is tackle patent scope (all in one fell swoop), not just trolls (one at a time). ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Patent stunner: Under attack, nation’s most notorious “troll” sues federal gov’t

   MPHJ Technology Investments quickly became one of the best-known "patent trolls" of all time by sending out thousands of letters to small businesses—16,465 of them, we now know—saying that if the business did not pay a licensing fee of $1,000 or more per worker, it would be sued for patent infringement. MPHJ claimed to have patents that cover any networked "scan-to-email" function.





2. “Shopping cart” patent rolls to a halt at the Supreme Court

   The company that pushed an "online shopping cart" patent into the courts—and successfully made tens of millions of dollars off it—has finally been stopped.