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Not a troll? | 88 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Not a troll?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 27 2012 @ 07:59 AM EDT
Did the people Interval is suing get ideas from Interval? Did they read the
patents to get the precious information "disclosed" or is this yet
another case of independent invention where people get sued for implementing
obvious solutions to common problems.

This makes no difference legally. But it makes INterval fit my definition of
troll.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Not a troll?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 27 2012 @ 09:41 AM EDT
It is also a bit hard to take a shot at Interval as being a troll. While many (most?) of us don't care for so-called software patents, Interval did not acquire these patents. The patents all come from individuals who were employed by Interval at the time of invention.

What Intellectual Ventures do is get a bunch of people together for a weekend and have them speculate on where the hot new areas of technology are going. Then they have their lawyers write those ideas up as patents.

The people IV get together are typically ones who have good connections to a particular industry and have their ears to the ground as to current trends. That doesn't mean the people with the connections came up with any of the ideas which end up getting patented. It just means they have listened to the people who did.

This is classic patent trolling. They contribute nothing to the industry, but rather just stick their flag in the ground where they think the industry is going and then show up later after others have really built something to erect a toll booth. Even if the troll is wrong 99% of the time about where the industry is going, that 1% can still pay off. It's like wining a lottery where someone else pays for your tickets.

So troll? IV's entire business model is built on trolling.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Interval != IV - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 27 2012 @ 09:50 AM EDT
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