Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Proxy Fights (via Patent Trolls) Emerge in the Courtroom

Beer



Summary: Intellectual Ventures' connections to Lodsys are being shown to the judge by DriveTime, which also uses the recent NPR article (about Intellectual Ventures) as evidence

The Oracle vs. Google case that Groklaw keeps track of may as well be motivated by part of the cartel Google spoke about. We have already written very extensively about the relationship between Apple and Oracle. But another fascinating battle comes from Microsoft's alter ego, Intellectual Ventures (IV), which is the world's largest patent troll.



According to this new article from Groklaw, Lodsys may be also an "alter ego" of Intellectual Ventures, as we mentioned before [1, 2, 3, 4]. To quote Groklaw's Professor Webbink:

Lodsys - DriveTime Says It Suspects Lodsys is an "alter ego" of Intellectual Ventures, Asks to Do Discovery



DriveTime Automotive Group has filed a motion, Motion For Leave To Conduct Jurisdictional Discovery And To Stay Response To Motion To Dismiss, in its Arizona declaratory judgment action against Lodsys. That is a mouthful for saying they believe Lodsys does, in fact, have jurisdictional ties to Arizona (where DriveTime is located) and that they should be allowed the opportunity to conduct limited discovery against Lodsys for the purpose of proving that point before the court simply grants Lodsys' motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction

DriveTime is asking the Arizona federal district court to let it do discovery to flush out any Intellectual Ventures ties to Lodsys. DriveTimes says they "strongly suspect, as do others, that Lodsys is a spin-off and the alter ego of a company called Intellectual Ventures (“IV”), known as “patent troll public enemy #1.”

It quotes from the recent NPR article implying such a connection, and attaches it as an exhibit [PDF], and it describes how patent trolling works, saying that trolls often assert baseless claims, and it says that Lodsys's claims against it are precisely that, baseless. So it would like to do discovery to flush out all the secret corners of the claim against it:
DriveTime seeks leave to conduct jurisdictional discovery because much of Lodsys’s licensing and enforcement efforts, and certainly its relationship with IV, are not a matter of public record. Specifically, DriveTime seeks permission to take written discovery and depositions on the following:

* (i) Lodsys’s licensing and enforcement activities in Arizona and/or with companies residing and/or doing substantial business in Arizona, including the nature of those licenses and whether they include any affirmative obligations on the part of Lodsys; * (ii) Lodsys’s qualification as a patent troll that has attempted to manufacture jurisdiction in the Eastern District; * (iii) the relationship between Lodsys and IV, and IV’s contacts with Arizona; and * (iv) the baseless nature of Lodsys’s infringement claims in its cease and desist letters.

Such discovery will uncover facts to demonstrate this Court has jurisdiction over Lodsys.
If the judge agrees, it looks like we'll finally get evidence one way or the other regarding the Intellectual Ventures' connection.


There are all sorts of patent trolls at play and they are being used by real companies (with products) to launch legal attacks on the competition. This way they can pretend not to use their patents offensively and they cannot be sued back, either. One of the trolls which gets used by Apple and Microsoft is MPEG-LA, which is generally busy attacking Google, with support from Microsoft boosters. By E-mail correspondence we are starting to piece together an accurate picture of which company uses which troll/s. We'll publish the details about this some time this year (some mail is explicitly confidential and some is out of date or inaccurate, so more research or organisation is required).

Yesterday Eben Moglen was quotes as saying that the "big challenge is software patents.

"Companies are acquiring munitions to destroy Linux. We've been preparing for this 2 decades..."

Recent Techrights' Posts

NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day