03.14.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Patent Trolling Allegedly Runs in the Blood (or Interests) of the Trump Family, in Spite of the USPTO’s and Courts’ Growing Hostility Towards Patent Trolls
Fear that Obama era nominees and appointees will need to be ‘replaced’ to better suit the interests of Trump’s family business rather than common sense
Macrosolve is back and this time it’s connected to President Trump
Summary: Revisiting the appalling, dirty Turf War over USPTO leadership and what Macrosolve’s (patent troll) business connections to Donald Trump’s son, namely $45,000 and 5,000,000 shares, might mean to Donald Trump’s patent policy
THE USPTO remains unchanged at the very top. Michelle Lee is staying, in spite of the storm of attacks on her character and policies (and perceived/conjured conflicts of interest).
“Michelle Lee is staying, in spite of the storm of attacks on her character and policies (and perceived/conjured conflicts of interest).”TechDirt, which previously (correctly) blamed many of these attacks on Watchtroll, wrote some hours ago that “General Franco Is Still Dead And Michelle Lee Is Still Director Of The US Patent Office”. He gave some background as follows: “Last month, we wrote about the truly bizarre situation in which no one in the federal government seemed willing to say who was in charge of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You see, there had been widespread reports right before the inauguration that the current director, Michelle Lee (who’s been really, really good at the job) was being kept on in that role. But, for some reason, the Commerce Department’s website listed the role as vacant. And there were a series of other confusing and conflicting signs. But the most bizarre part was that the USPTO and the Commerce Department simply refused to say who was in charge. Which is… weird.”
There is a Turf War going on and sites like IAM play a role in it. It’s lobbying. They are hoping to 'implant' a trolls proponent at the top of the Office (remember that IAM is paid by trolls), not to mention a proponent of software patents (like IAM). It’s someone who brought nothing but disgrace to the US courts system. He’s the kind of person corrupt enough even for Donald Trump to install at the top, but it didn’t happen. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, or maybe the Turf War was lost by the vicious lobbyists, who included Watchtroll (lobbying disguised as a news site).
“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, or maybe the Turf War was lost by the vicious lobbyists, who included Watchtroll (lobbying disguised as a news site).”We wish to remind readers of Obama’s AIA (Leahy-Smith America Invents Act America), which contributed a lot to improvement in patent quality, including the introduction of PTAB (similar to the appeal boards at the EPO, where these are being crushed by Battistelli).
“Although the AIA includes statutory protections,” Dennis Crouch wrote yesterday, “the all-republican majority allows for rapid changes…”
Remember that Crouch is hoping to slow down PTAB and thus decrease patent quality again (hence making his occupation as an academic more relevant). The Deputy Director of the USPTO has in fact just been unveiled and watch Dennis Crouch rushing to tell Lee what to do. From yesterday’s post about Tony Scardin, courtesy of Crouch: “Tony Scardino, Chief Financial Officer of the agency is now also the Acting Deputy Director of the USPTO (as recently revealed by the USPTO FOIA Response). It is a bit of an oddity as to how Scardino jumped to the head of the line in almost violation of the USPTO rules of succession that provides for CFO to take an acting head leadership role only if there is no Commissioner for Patents, Commissioner of Trademarks, or Administrator for Policy and External Affairs. However, the rules of succession do not provide in particularity as to who becomes Acting Deputy Director when the Deputy leaves but the Director is still in place. Thus, I would suggest that Dir. Lee is within her authority to select a qualifying person to fill that role. (It may also be that the PTO has a non-public succession plan.)”
“…Trump has said virtually nothing about patents, both prior to and after his election. It’s an enigma.”Is Crouch too trying to participate in that sort of ‘coup’ against USPTO leadership? In order to install the corrupt equivalent of Battistelli at the EPO? We sure hope that we merely misunderstand Crouch’s intentions here.
Why is all that relevant anyway? Well, Trump has said virtually nothing about patents, both prior to and after his election. It’s an enigma. But Joe Mullin’s new article (mentioned by Henrion today) says that Trump now have an interest in patent trolls. His son is in this business. To quote Mullin: “Before President Donald Trump took the oath of office in January, he handed off management of the Trump Organization’s business interests to his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. The family-owned company has been in various lines of business over the years—most famously, there are hotels, casinos, and golf resorts, some owned and others licensed. Ties, steaks, and a controversial seminar business have also borne the Trump name. [...] MacroSolve’s actions soon made it part of a longstanding debate in the tech industry over “patent trolls,” companies that do little or no business other than filing patent lawsuits. But MacroSolve management never accepted the idea that the company was a “troll,” and it said so in interviews. [...] Whatever you call it, MacroSolve’s brand of patent enforcement had initial success—its lawsuits earned the company close to $5 million. When the litigation campaign eventually collapsed in 2014, MacroSolve was absorbed by a defense contractor called Drone Aviation Holding Corporation. That organization has its own close ties to the Trump presidency, and there’s no telling whether, or if, Drone Aviation will try to enforce old MacroSolve patents or its own patents.”
This was also covered here by Cory Doctorow. It was found via Professor James Bessen, who is an expert in this sort of thing and it says:
Oklahoma’s Anyware Mobile Solutions was founded in 1997 to make PDA software, but after its sales collapsed, it changed its name to Macrosolve and devoted itself to suing people for violating a farcical patent that they said covered filling in questionnaires using an app.
Starting in 2011, Macrosolve became a prolific patent troll, suing 59 companies in dozens of lawsuits, filing in the notorious, patent-troll-friendly East Texas court system. It made its first million bucks in a few months. As a PR move it Macrosolve then hired Donald Trump Jr to be the company’s spokestroll, paying him $45,000 and 5,000,000 shares for two years’ worth of PR consulting.
Macrosolve was mentioned here 3 years ago. It was in relation to Newegg, which fought back against software patent trolling from Macrosolve. Now that the troll is connected to Donald Trump’s son there is danger that it will pull strings in favour of both patent trolls and software patents, but we shall see. █
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