-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Is RPX’s “Defensive Patent Aggregation” Simply Patent Extortion By Another
Name?
,----[ Quote ]
| RPX’s model borrows a little from Intellectual Ventures (where CEO John
| Amster hails from), but with a twist. Amster used to be in charge of patent
| acquisitions at Intellectual Ventures, which buys up billions of dollars
| worth of patents and then gets companies to license the entire portfolio. If
| companies decide not to play ball, the threat of massive patenet litigation
| hangs in the air.
`----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/24/is-rpxs-defensive-patent-aggregation-simply-patent-extortion-by-another-name/
Firm to buy up patents
,----[ Quote ]
| According to the Wall Street Journal Cisco Systems and IBM have already
| signed up.
|
| RPX is funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles Rivers
| Ventures. Its two chief executives, John Amster and Geoffrey Barker,
| previously served as vice presidents of Intellectual Ventures, another
| company in the business of purchasing patents.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/25/firm-patents
New Patent Buying Firm Swears It'll Never Litigate Over Its Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| It involves getting a bunch of tech companies to pay up, so that this new
| company, RPX Corp., can buy up a bunch of patents "for defensive purposes
| only." The company insists it won't sue anyone with these patents. But, of
| course, the whole thing makes you wonder. For the companies that buy into
| RPX's deal (or IV's for that matter), they end up spending a bunch of money
| for a rather weak form of insurance that protects them in the very rare case
| where they might be able to use a patent in either firm's portfolio to maybe,
| possibly protect itself against an infringement lawsuit.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081124/0033382934.shtml
Cisco, IBM join start-up to protect against patent trolls
,----[ Quote ]
| According to a statement about patent reform on its Web site, Cisco
| states: "The patent litigation system today is unbalanced and patent
| speculators are exploiting the system's unfairness to coerce high settlements
| from productive companies.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/35665
RPX Spooks Trolls Lurking Under Patent Bridge
,----[ Quote ]
| NPEs typically troll the patent office, news reports, and company product
| lines in hopes of finding infringements to patents in its library. Once a
| product is targeted, the NPE sends a letter to the product's maker,
| threatening to sue the supposedly infringing company unless it pays a license
| fee or settles out of court.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154486/it_patent_trolls.html?tk=rss_news
Trolls versus trolls.
Recent:
Looking to fend off patent trolls, IBM, Cisco support startup RPX
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, two former executives of Myhrvold's Bellevue patent licensing firm are
| striking out on their own with support from IBM and Cisco to serve as a
| counterweight to patent holding firms like Intellectual Ventures. Today, RPX
| Corp. is launching what it dubs "defensive patent aggregation" -- a
| membership club of sorts where large and small technology companies pool
| capital in order to order to protect themselves from patent litigation.
`----
http://www.techflash.com/IBM_Cisco_support_RPX_in_defensive_patents34959854.html
Bill Gates, top Microsoft executives do some of their inventing on the side
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates and several of Microsoft’s top technologists are credited as
| inventors in eight newly disclosed U.S. patent applications. That isn’t a
| surprise. But here’s where it starts to get unusual: The applications weren’t
| made on Microsoft’s behalf.|
| [...]
|
| Here's what we know: An entity called Searete LLC applied for the patents.
| Searete is part of Intellectual Ventures LLC, the Bellevue-based invention
| house run by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft’s former chief technology officer.
| Myhrvold’s company has stirred controversy with its large patent hoard.
`----
http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Gates_top_Microsoft_executives_do_some_inventing_on_the_side34192179.html
Top Microsoft Execs Moonlighting For a Patent Bully
,----[ Quote ]
| "TechFlash reports that Microsoft bigwigs like Craig Mundie and Bill Gates
| (when he still worked there) have been secretly moonlighting at Intellectual
| Ventures (IV), the 'patent extortion fund' run by Bill's pal Nathan Myhrvold.
| A Microsoft spokesman confirmed that its technologists have been sitting in
| on IV-sponsored 'innovation sessions,' where their pearls of wisdom were
| captured and turned into patent applications for Searete, an IV shadow
| corporate entity. And if all goes well, Searete will soon enjoy exclusive
| rights to the fruit of the brainstorming, which includes processes ranging
| from determining and rewarding 'influencers' to treating malaria, HIV, TB,
| hepatitis, smallpox, and cancer."
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/211259
Microsoft fueling Intellectual Ventures, OpenOffice, and other conspiracy
theories
,----[ Quote ]
| Of more concern was the TechFlash's news that Bill Gates, Craig Mundie, and
| other top current and past Microsoft officials make a regular pilgrimage to
| the patent troll, Intellectual Ventures, to feed it ideas which it turns into
| patents. Regardless of what one thinks about patents, shouldn't Microsoft be
| feeding itself with patents, not another company? In other words, shouldn't
| it be the patent troll?
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10094807-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkktG8UACgkQU4xAY3RXLo5d2wCeNIFZjbJuhB2Gl9vy0FbO8TIL
r60AnjG2k532AsWqFLyIAeaC1nmd0667
=+wUH
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
