Only the lawyers are receiving money (lots of it!)

Summary: The notorious patent assertion 'firm' from Wisconsin and the infamous patent troll that sues in Texas might soon find out that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) isn't tolerating their patents and their behaviour

TECHRIGHTS is far from a friend of Apple; in fact, we called for boycotts several times in the past, we criticised Apple's bogus European Patents (which EPO insiders tell us are bogus), and we regularly ridicule some of the patents that the USPTO gives to Apple. To set the record straight, Apple is a very evil company, it is a patent aggressor, and we generally encourage people to never buy anything from Apple (there's a new scandal with practical reasons to avoid Apple).

"Remember that 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for example, helps squash almost all software patents and Apple sometimes fights back against FRAND, which is inherently incompatible with Free/libre software."No matter our opinion/views on Apple, merely going after (or against) Apple does not make a company virtuous. We've repeatedly explained, for example, why we hope Apple will beat Qualcomm (there's a new article today about the case, "Apple and manufacturers: Qualcomm can't demand "billions in royalties" while ducking patent-specific claims"). There are even worse things than Apple and there are situations where Apple winning a legal case can inadvertently be helpful to GNU/Linux. Remember that 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for example, helps squash almost all software patents and Apple sometimes fights back against FRAND, which is inherently incompatible with Free/libre software.

As expected, the Federal Circuit (CAFC) throws aside decisions on patent cases from notorious courts in Texas and elsewhere (a software patent case of a patent troll called VirnetX is in Texas, another one from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) comes from elsewhere). As patent maximalists reported a few days ago, "Federal Circuit sets aside $234 jury verdict against Apple" and will decide on its own:

WARF’s 2015 patent damages win, bumped up to $506m by a judge last year, has been vacated by the Federal Circuit because “no reasonable juror could have found infringement based on the evidence presented during the liability phase of trial”

We expect to see this also in Texas, as Apple is expected to appeal (or to have already appealed) the VirnetX verdict.

"Patent maximalists keep cheering for parasites like VirnetX, merely reaffirming the view that they aren't proponents of technology but only proponents of litigation."Watchtroll came up with a bizarre headline four days ago: "Apple to pay VirnetX $93.4 million in costs and interest for patent infringement" (no, this is what VirnetX wants, but it doesn't mean that it will get it).

Well, there will almost certainly be an appeal to CAFC and maybe even higher up (the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) might get involved one day), but facts don't suit Watchtroll (Steve Brachmann in this case).

Patent maximalists keep cheering for parasites like VirnetX, merely reaffirming the view that they aren't proponents of technology but only proponents of litigation. ⬆