Suits R Us

There is an old exchange that goes as follows -

Computer Geek: If cars were like computers, a modern car would go 1000 mph, get 1000 mpg and cost $1000.
Car Geek: But they would also crash 1000 times per day and the windows would not work.

I don't know why I mention that, it just popped into my head as I prepared this entry. Maybe it applies?

I was reading today that Ottawa-based Wi-LAN, a failed WIFI development company from Calgary that was bought by a couple of lawyers and converted into a patent-troll, is suing everybody and his dog (well maybe just 22 companies) whom they claim have violated one of their patents. They claim that those 22 companies are swiping its technology related to WiFi and power consumption in DSL products. So anybody making or selling a router, modem or laptop is a target. The suit names Apple, Belkin, Best Buy, Dell, HP, Intel, Netgear, Sony and pretty much any other major electronics manufacturer or retailer.

Can you say fecal matter on a vertical surface.

The point of this entry is not Wi-LAN. It is about the effects of Wi-LAN and the effects of patent-lawsuit heaven in Marshall, Texas.

The patent-trolls, like Wi-LAN buy up and represent obscure patents on speculation and then move them through the legal system like a hot knife through butter. They spend a few bucks harrasing companies in a little courtroom in a little town in Texas, where a little judge sits behind a big desk and then awards anything that the troll asks for - cause the big bad developers can afford it.

It is estimated that between one and eight percent of the cost of a new computers, peripheral and software devices and enhancements are tied to legal procedures such as those involving these trolls.

I am not too sure why this topic screws up my knickers. It maybe because I think that the system stinks OR it may be because I didn't get a patent on patent-trolling so that I could take the patent-trollers out behind the wood shed in Marshall, Texas.