Oh, patents! "Trolling" rimes with "bowling" in the UK!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

And to sweep it all under the rug…. my favorite vacuum cleaner, a Dyson DC33 with cyclone vacuum technology that never loses suction, was invented by the British industrial designer James Dyson.

 In the interview, linked below, with the NY Times on October 25, 2012, James Dyson speaks of a lawsuit filed against the Bosch company in Germany and the UK, due to proprietary information leaked out of his company in England.

 He also speaks of trolling (pronounced like “bowling” with a British accent) and of the companies that buy suites of patents to engage in patent “policing” activity, rather than using the patents to create new products. James Dyson concludes this interview with a comment on what he believes to be the true spirit of the patenting system.

  [NYTimes interview with James Dyson (10-25-2012)] Patience... the interview takes a while to load 

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/10/25/technology/100000001865927/another-view-of-patents.html?smid=pl-share

Incidentally, in regards trolling, the US Congress passed the Innovation Act on Dec. 5, 2013, with an overwhelming majority of 325 vs 91. This is a piece of bi-partisan legislation introduced to curb the proliferation of patent infringement lawsuits filed by trolls.

Troll defense! - The SHIELD Act

Copyright © Françoise HerrmannThe bipartisan SHIELD Act (Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes) is a bill designed to protect start-ups and innovators from lawsuits filed by patent trolls. Proposed by Oregon Democrat Congressman Peter DeFazio, this law would make patent trolls liable for the costs of the defendants’ legal defense fees, when the defendants win.

Companies sued by patent trolls often opt to pay licensing fees because the costs of a trial to defend themselves would force them out of business.This piece of legislation would at least allow the defendants to recoup the costs of a defense trial.

 However, there is much opposition to this bill because such a SHIELD law would create precedence for Tort law in general.

Stay tuned to see whether H.R. 6245 ever gets voted by Congress! The terms (and actions) of “Patent trolling” would then be written in as Tort.

Oh Torte!