Have you ever heard of "patent trolls"? The words describe individuals or companies that go out, buy technology patents and then file suit against companies for patent infringement. Yes, I agree, patents provide developers of new ideas with the chance to recoup R&R investment before their ideas become public. But this is different.
In a letter recently sent to Congress a number of companies brought the need for patent reform to the attention of the committee on the judiciary. What they described is a devastating problem which needs immediate attention.
The kind of patents which are being sued upon are ridiculous. According to The Washington Post, costly litigation is being filed to stop companies from using what most would assume are publicly available ideas.
Even Whataburger, the hamburger chain popular in the south, is demanding changes to the patent system.
“We’re a burger company. We don’t own any patents. We make hamburgers,” says Whataburger general counsel Michael Gibbs. But in the last two years, he says, he’s been forced to deal with patent threats.
Gibbs says Whataburger has faced legal threats for using ethernet networking equipment and for putting calorie information on its Web site. And he says Whataburger scuttled plans to offer Wi-Fi access to its customers after learning that a troll had started suing companies that offered Wi-Fi services.
Supermarkets are also up in arms. Erik Lieberman of the Food Marketing Institute says his industry is also affected by the growth of trolls.
“There’s a troll out there claiming they have a patent on the rendering of JPEGs,” an image format that’s popular on the Web, Lieberman says. He says there’s a troll that claims to own the concept of sending a text message with an embedded link, something many grocery stores do. Another troll targeting grocery stories claims to own the concept of entering your zip code to find the nearest store. Other trolls claim concepts related to clickable online menus and QR codes.
Patents are necessary, but patent abuse must be stopped. Now if we only had a Congress that would do something other than run for re-election, maybe we could prevent these kinds of abuses.
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