The Problems Of Patent Trolls Continuing To Get Mainstream Attention

from the good-news dept

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There's been a recent uptick in stories about patent trolling getting mainstream media attention, and the latest example is a recent segment on CBS's national morning program,, which explored how patent trolls are hurting the US economy , mainly by focusing on the story of Uniloc suing the maker of X-plane.When we last wrote about that lawsuit, X-plane developer Laminer Research wasn't sure if it was going to fight the lawsuit, but as you can see in the video above, Laminer's Austin Meyer has decided he's going to fight the case no matter what -- even if it costs him $1.5 million (way more than it would cost to settle). Of course, this is how the trolls operate, by trying to make it cheaper to settle than to fight, but sometimes people have to take a stand and Meyer has decided to do exactly that.The overall piece is well done, and includes some excellent commentary from the newly appointed Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents, Julie Samuels (though, the segment was apparently put together before she got that title, so she's merely described as the more mortal "EFF staff attorney" in the segment).Either way, the whole thing demonstrates in a nice capsule just how ridiculous patent trolling is and how prevalent it has become. And, best of all, they really kept repeating the key point: this is hurting innovation in the US. After the segment, done by Jeff Glor, one of the anchors specifically says to him: "So it sounds like this is really stifling innovation and it hurts small businesses!" Yes, yes it is, but for years we've been told no one in the public cares. However, as this issue gets more and more mainstream attention, people are going to realize that it cannot be allowed to continue.

Filed Under: attention, mainstream, news, patent trolling, patents