Legalized criminality and patent trolls

[LesPalenik]

In their latest video, the "Now You Know" Jesse and Zac team interviews Austin Meyer, creator of X-Plane simulator, who describes his ordeal and making his documentary in defending his software business against legalized extortion by patent trolls and corrupt lawyers and judges. Judges whose sons are the crooked lawyers working for the patent trolls.

You'll hear about a guy who patented the idea of "offering wifi to his B&B to attract a business" and now he is suing cafes and other establishments who offer wifi.
No wonder, that the big companies patent anything they can think of to protect themselves from the patent scams. One example is the Apple's patent to "sell electronics products in a paper bag".

Another story Austin describes in the interview is how the patent trolls demanded from him a payment of $50,000 and a signing of a non-disclosure agreement. He didn't go along with their demands, but Microsoft did.

The corruption runs deeper than you'd ever imagine. A multi-billion dollar industry you've never heard of. This is the world Patent Trolls thrive in: A world created for them by our own U. S. Patent system. You can be sued for clicking on a hyperlink, using your own scanner, or sharing your Wi-Fi! It sounds insane, but the reality is even crazier. Patent Trolls look for obvious ideas, patent them, and then sue anyone they claim is infringing on their idea. People's lives and businesses are being destroyed.. and they have no way out. “The Patent Scam” exposes the underbelly of this system, and the people that commit this practice.

Watch this video, it's 1 hour long, but once you start watching you won't be able to pull yourself away from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqdB93lCqHc

or you can watch Austin's Meyer's movie or trailer at:
https://www.thepatentscam.com

 

[Robert Roaldi]

Sounds like legalized extortion. The irony is too rich since the patent system was intended to be a protection. I wonder if the concept of "patent trolling" was patented by anyone.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... You'll hear about a guy who patented the idea of "offering wifi to his B&B to attract a business"...

Is that correct? I believe concepts and ideas can not be patented, no?

[Chris Kern]

You'll hear about a guy who patented the idea of "offering wifi to his B&B to attract a business" and now he is suing cafes and other establishments who offer wifi.

Is that correct? I believe concepts and ideas can not be patented, no?

In general, no.  Patent law is so obscure, and varies so widely among different countries, that even an expert—which I emphatically am not—probably would be hard-pressed to give a categorical answer.

This apparently refers to a particularly notorious instance of patent trolling, based on microchip patents purchased from Broadcom, which is well-summarized here.

[LesPalenik]

In general, no.  Patent law is so obscure, and varies so widely among different countries, that even an expert—which I emphatically am not—probably would be hard-pressed to give a categorical answer.

This apparently refers to a particularly notorious instance of patent trolling, based on microchip patents purchased from Broadcom, which is well-summarized here.

Chris, thank you for posting the link about the Innovatio patent troll. Incredible, that they could get away with it and that they inflicted $13 million damage to Cisco.

Just to show how ridiculous the patent laws are, below is the patent illustration for the aforementioned Apple paper bag.