Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Trolls Are Going Bust in the United States (Along With the 'Protection' Racket Conglomerates)

RPXSummary: RPX continues its gradual collapse and patent trolls fail to find leverage now that software patents are kaput and patent opportunists struggle to access Texan courts

THE demise of patent trolling in the United States is measurable, e.g. based on number of filings/lawsuits. Nobody disputes that patent trolls were on the decline even before TC Heartland, which will further accelerate this demise. Quite a few trolls went bust. We wrote about that.



The collapse of several major trolls means lack of demand for so-called 'protection' (for the rich) from trolls. In fact, by its very nature, RPX requires a climate of fear and litigation in order for it to gain money, so it's no surprise that RPX has been dying for a while. Executives were leaving. There was turmoil. Now, based on IAM, RPX is up for sale. It's not good news for RPX; rather it's indicative of a failure, shortly after RPX pondered China as a contingency plan. To quote:

Amster was replaced by former General Counsel Marty Roberts amid a spate of senior changes at the company including former executive vice president Mallun Yen’s elevation to the board.

[...]

In 2016 the company’s leadership was thrust into the spotlight when activist investor Mangrove Capital Partners wrote an excoriating letter to RPX’s board criticising management and calling for significant cost-cutting measures. Mangrove’s letter also referred to RPX’s 2015 acquisition of discovery management business Inventus Solutions for $232 million as a “costly mistake”. At the time of RPX’s offer, Inventus was the subject of private equity interest and some critics privately contend that the patent business paid too much. That might mean that any successful bidder would look to quickly dispose of the Inventus business to free up some cash to pay down acquisition debt.


The demise of software patents means the end of various patent trolls, many of which rely purely on such patents. RPost is the latest example (a patent troll that had products many moons ago) and here's a new report about its loss in court:

Scottsdale-based GoDaddy Inc. received a final win today in a lengthy patent infringement case that sets a precedent for similar “patent troll” claims against other technology companies.

The win came after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a patent litigation case this morning between GoDaddy and RPost Communications Ltd., the Los Angeles-based creator of the RMail secure and certified electronic communications company that also is a patent-holding company.

RPost claimed GoDaddy’s email marketing product infringed on a broad patent regarding how email works, including how email bounces back when sent to an address that is no longer active.


We expect -- as already noted at the top -- TC Heartland to have a profound impact and to deal a final blow to practices such as these. Relying purely on patents (when there's no product to offer) makes one a troll and offers no benefit to society or even to industry.

Recent Techrights' Posts

António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day