Sisvel not the only proxy for the likes of Philips

Summary: Another case of litigation by proxy shows why patent trolls are far from the only problem

Several years ago we chastised Philips for sending proxies to aggressively 'pursue' companies using patents and armed thugs [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. Nokia patents were even passed to these proxies after Microsoft occupation. (Disclosure: my brother works at Philips Healthcare.) This shows that patents themselves -- not just trolls or proxies -- are the issue. Titles of article or panels that says "abusive patent litigation" imply there is non-abusive patent litigation (like "good" software patents). I am reminded of the late Zinn who said, how can there be a war on terrorism when war is terrorism?

Anyway, we must not single out just trolls, ignoring abusers like Apple and trying to portray those massive corporations which control the government as the victims. Corporate lawyers won't make a good difference in the patent system.

Intertrust, which we wrote about before (even years ago), is suing Apple right now (as noted briefly the other day). The Economic Times says:

Intertrust Technologies Corp, a software firm owned by a group that includes Sony Corp and Royal Philips Electronics, said on Wednesday it has sued Apple Inc for infringing 15 patents relating to security.

The BBC also named the entities behind Intertrust:

A Silicon Valley-based software firm, Intertrust Technologies, claims Apple's entire product line infringes security-related patents.

It is suing over the alleged violation of 15 patents, on products including iPhones, iPads, Mac computers, iTunes and App Store.

Intertrust is partly owned by Sony and Philips, and develops security software for digital content.

Some name Sony and Phillips in the headline. This is not to be overlooked. Philips is rapidly shrinking these days in order to increase profits; patent aggression is to be expected. ⬆