Comments on: Patent troll Intellectual Ventures seeks “VP of Global Good”

By: bip

bip — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:01:43 +0000

to be clear, you’re supporting your argument that IV has created its own “personal tax” with: “2) Imposing its own personal tax on some of the country’s most creative entrepreneurs.”

Ahh.

By: Jeff John Roberts

Jeff John Roberts — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:36:54 +0000

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I don’t have time to provide a comprehensive answer to your thoughtful points, very quickly, I’m pointing the finger at IP because as some of you have pointed out:

1) It doesn’t create anything, while:

2) Imposing its own personal tax on some of the country’s most creative entrepreneurs

As for IV’s goal of ending malaria, etc, well that’s great. But lots of other institutions are doing great work with destroying companies in the process.

Finally, ee IV’s Nathan Myhrvold’s response to this article here: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/feisty-nathan-myhrvold-defends-quest-global-good/

By: Charlie Rudd

Charlie Rudd — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:12:46 +0000

Stephanie articulates the essential point. There are a zillion overlapping patents. IV asserts their patent rights by filing a lawsuit. Small Fry cannot afford to defend themselves so they have no choice but to settle, which likely means that they need to pay royalties. This means that if Small Fry brings a new idea to market and generates revenue, then IV after all of Small Fries work steps in and and forces them to give them a cut.
The root cause of the problem is the patent system itself which allows patents to be transferred as fungible assets even though they are frequently hopelessly ambiguous and overlap with other patents. Big companies are even bigger targets than smaller companies because they have much more revenue attached to patent use. However, big companies have lots of resources to defend their assets and are able to cut deals with other big companies and firms like IV.

By: Charlie Rudd

Charlie Rudd — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:01:01 +0000

Perhaps for the same reason that Nobel initiated the peace prize.

By: Jason Read

Jason Read — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 07:15:34 +0000

Because IV creates nothing

By: Stephanie Moody

Stephanie Moody — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:37:22 +0000

It’s not that simple. Issued patents are assumed valid until proven otherwise. This means if a company files a patent suit against a company, the burden is on the defendant to prove that patent is invalid. Companies spend hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars to defend against just a single patent suit. The longer the case takes, the more money they have to spend. With the average US patent suit taking 2 years to come to trial, it’s often cheaper for a company, especially smaller companies, to settle quickly and pay the licensing fees than try to prove invalidity. This means many patent holders, NPEs or otherwise, can “shakedown” companies by threatening or filing litigation even though their patents may not be valid. The problem lies in the weakness of the patents being asserted.

By: Andre Prudhomme

Andre Prudhomme — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:11:26 +0000

Lynne: What part of the article is speculative? IV has been well covered by the press and I don’t see any unfounded claims here.

Guest: it’s referred to as a patent troll because it doesn’t do anything but sue over patents. Also it often transfers its patents to shell companies in order to sue without the danger of a counter-suit. I don’t agree with Apple approach to patents, but they are actually putting their IP to use in products, not just lawsuits.

By: Dermot Tynan

Dermot Tynan — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:51:58 +0000

define “easy” for an average start-up?

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:49:17 +0000

Why is Intellectual Ventures identified as a Patent Troll for defending their IP while Apple going after Samsung for “rounded edges” seems OK. GigaOm, offer some perspective please…

By: Lynne Gregg

Lynne Gregg — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:18:25 +0000

This is not news. This is opinion and speculation based on a job posting. You don’t know anything about Intellectual Ventures.