{"id":70719,"date":"2014-07-22T19:11:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T23:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2021-12-21T15:08:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T20:08:39","slug":"top-patent-troll-reloads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/top-patent-troll-reloads\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Patent Troll Reloads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Top<\/a>It\u2019s been a good year for patent trolls, and now the biggest patent troll of them all wants to keep the party going. Jeff John Roberts<\/a> at GigaOM<\/em><\/a> reports<\/a> that Intellectual Ventures (IV) has acquired more than 200 new patents. <\/strong>The acquisitions will help IV extend its legal tentacles in fields like wireless infrastructure<\/strong> and cloud computing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"PatentGigaOM<\/em> explains that IV\u2019s peculiar brand of innovation involves acquiring old patents<\/strong> and using them to arm thousands of shell companies<\/strong>, whose sole business is to extract licensing fees<\/strong> from productive businesses.<\/p>\n

News of IV\u2019s restocked war chest, which Reuters<\/em><\/a> says<\/a> is partially funded by Microsoft<\/a> (MSFT<\/a>) and\u00a0Sony<\/a> (SNE<\/a>) <\/span><\/span>comes after earlier reports that initial investors, including Apple<\/a> (AAPL<\/a>) and\u00a0Intel<\/a> (INTC<\/a>) declined to take part in IV\u2019s newest trolling fund<\/a>. According to the report<\/a>, by the law firm Richardson Oliver<\/a> and spotted by IAM<\/a>, the fund is on track since IV purchased 16 percent of all available patent packages<\/strong> in the first half of 2014. A chart by the firm suggests it paid $1-$2 million<\/strong> in most cases; here\u2019s a partial look:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The chart shows six patents related to the cloud computing industry<\/strong>, which has so far escaped the rampant patent trolling<\/a> that has plagued mobile phone and app developers. The author speculates cloud computing could now be prime picking<\/strong> for IV in the coming year.<\/p>\n

IV is well-positioned to exploit the patents thanks to Senate Democrats<\/strong>, who in May killed a bipartisan Patent reform bill<\/strong><\/a> that would have undercut many of the economic incentives for patent trolling according to Mr. Roberts. IV has also been active on the lobbying front, filing to start a PAC this year and donating sums of money to Senator Dick Durbin<\/a> (D-Il)<\/strong>, who is closely allied to the trial lawyer lobby<\/strong> that reportedly helped to derail reform.<\/p>\n

\"corrupt<\/a>GigaOM<\/em> believes darker clouds could be looming for IV. They cite growing public skepticism<\/strong> towards patent trolls, who now account for 67 percent of all new lawsuits. The trolls have received harsh treatment from the likes of NPR<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a>, while the Supreme Court\u2019s<\/strong> repeated criticism of slip-shod patents<\/a> may finally be making it harder for companies to abuse them.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, respected tech figures like Marco Arment<\/a> have lashed out at IV\u2019s business model as \u201ccowardly\u201d while inventors like Tesla\u2019s<\/a> Elon Musk<\/a> have questioned the value of patents to begin with.<\/p>\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong>
\n Uh oh, the world\u2019s biggest patent troll has restocked its weapons chest \u2014 and it looks like their next target will be cloud computing.<\/em><\/p>\n

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