I am making a documentary about the United States Patent System.
As part of my research, I have subscribed to a very low-cost service that shows me every patent lawsuit filed in the US as a little email each morning that lists each lawsuit just filed.
Just go to: http://home.docketnavigator.com and sign up for their free 30-day trial to see this for yourself.
If you do, you will learn what is really going on in this country with Patent-Trolling, with all the names named. No hidden identities or over-generalized politically-correct statements: You will see who is filing the suits, and against whom.
DocketNavigator advertises itself as being for lawyers, but anyone that wants to see who the Patent-Trolls are, and who they are suing, can freely subscribe to this service to get a direct look right into the heart of what is really going on in this Country now. When you sign up, you will get a daily email listing each lawsuit filed the previous day, showing the plaintiff, the defendants, the lawsuit, and the patent that is the excuse for all of it with just a few mouse-clicks.
Once you start looking at these lawsuits for a few minutes each morning, you will pretty quickly see a pattern: A company that you have NEVER heard of, typically with a name that implies that NO goods or services are actually created (names are commonly random letters with the word “Consulting” or “Properties” or “Patents” or “Intellectual” added onto the end) files many lawsuits at the same time against many companies that you HAVE heard of, and use every day (Best Buy. American Airlines. LG. Audi. BMW. The list goes on and on).
If you Google the companies that are filing these suits, the hits you will often get are ONLY the lawsuits that they have filed… NEVER any goods or services that they have actually created.
Try it! Subscribe to this free service and dive down the rabbit hole yourself to see the real facts.. complete with the names of everyone involved. Right now, you are like Neo in the Matrix, and you are being offered the red pill or the blue pill: Do you want to know what is REALLY going on or not? You don’t need to count on OTHERS to PRESENT the reality of the Patent System and what it is doing to our ability to create new products any longer: Now you can dive in and see it for YOURSELF.
Let me give you an example:
Today, a company called “Intellectual Capital Consulting, LTD”, represented by “US Patent Agent Samuel K Giles”, sued Apple and COUNTLESS automotive manufacturers for using a smart-watch to in some way interact with their car.
You don’t believe me? Read here.
We are entering a fascinating age of smart cars and watches, where Apple has built an incredible little watch that will in some way interact with your car. Will your watch soon unlock you car? Will it do it on command? Will it do it automatically, so you never need to have a car key again? Will your watch detect if you fall asleep at the wheel and engage an autopilot to safely stop your car and pull it to the nearest parking lot? The same if you have a stroke or heart attack? Will it detect a theft or car-jacking and stop the car safely? Or drive automatically to the nearest police station? If I write these words down on a piece of paper and send them to the Government, then I can get a Patent on the words I just wrote, allowing me to SUE anyone that actually DOES these things later!!! By simply filing the lawsuit, I can subject countless companies to years of litigation and millions of dollars in wasted legal fees unless they give me money now. Should I do this? Under the United States Patent System, I certainly CAN.
Tesla is about to release an autopilot for their cars. Apples’ new watch monitors your health. What are the possibilities for the future?
They are endless, and all wonderful experiments that I cannot wait to experience for myself.
BUT, are these companies ALLOWED to create these experiences for us?
Well, I just looked at this mornings’ DocketNavigator email summary of cases just filed, and according to Samuel K Gile of “Intellectual Capital Consulting, LTD”, he has been “damaged” by Apple and countless car-makers, and “will suffer additional irreparable damage and impairment of the value if its patent rights unless defendants are enjoined from continuing to infringe the 151 Patent”
(The lawsuit, Paragraph 73)
Samuel K Giles believes that his company “will suffer additional irreparable damage” if Apple and the automotive manufacturers are allowed to continue their work in this field.
So he is suing them.
In his lawsuit, he “Prays for Relief”. Part of the “Relief” that he “Prays for” is: “An order and judgement preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Defendants, their officers, directors, employees, agents, and all persons in active concert with them, from infringing, and contributing others to infringe, the 151 Patent”.
His lawsuit seeks a judgement to STOP Apple, and the automotive manufacturers, from being able to continue their work in this field.
(He also wants triple-damages, and his attorneys’ fees paid as well, plus anything else the court deems “just and proper”).
(The lawsuit, Prayers for Relief A through G)
The cost to defend a typical Patent Infringement lawsuit through trial is about $3,000,000… for a typical, average case.
And it takes about 3 years.
So what is the wondrous idea that “Intellectual Capital Consulting, LTD” created, that makes Apples’ work possible?
According to their lawsuit, it is patent US 7068151:
http://www.google.com/patents/US7068151.
Read it.
Does this patent list all the thousands (millions?) of lines of source code needed to make such a system actually work?
Does it provide the millions of dollars in R&D needed to create it?
Does it provide the thousands of hours of travel and meetings and ingenuity and persistence needed between the smart-watch manufacturers and the vehicle manufacturers and the FCC to devise the endless protocols, formats, and all the cooperation and trust needed to build such a system?
Does it go through the continuing cycles of coding, testing, releasing, deplyoing, supporting, and updating that are needed in such a field?
Or does it just say things like: ”2. The security system of claim 1 wherein said means for transmitting operational signals between said onboard control module and said wristwatch is done so by infrared/radio frequency.”?
To make a watch that can control a car over radio waves that are regulated by the FCC, what percentage of the work is done by writing down the words: ”2. The security system of claim 1 wherein said means for transmitting operational signals between said onboard control module and said wristwatch is done so by infrared/radio frequency.”?
Does this Patent MAKE such a system, or just set a lawyer up to SUE someone that DOES?
How many smart-watches and cars has “Intellectual Capital Consulting, LTD” actually made for you?
Now, is Apple to pay “Intellectual Capital Consulting, LTD” MONEY for exercising their creativity to build products for all of us?
Or are they to go through YEARS of litigation to try to defend their right to build a watch that can interact with a car?
How much will this cost us, the people that (speaking for myself, anyway) would find it kind of cool if my watch would take care of access to my car for me, without the need for any keys?
How much will it cost us in dollars?
How much will it cost us in time, if the product is delayed because of this non-sense?
How insulting do you find it that someone would write down on a piece of paper that someone ELSE could do a job, and then SUE them for actually DOING it?
These are the questions I am facing every day as I dive into the way our Patent System works, and you can easily dive into the rabbit hole as well, and decide the answers to these questions yourself, considering the actual specifics of each case. The links to get you started are right at the top of this page.
Take the pill that shows you what is really going on, and you will see cases like this: Every single day.
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Since posting this, one reader asked me: “What are the courts doing entertaining this obvious fraud? Surely it should be thrown out as having no merit?”
Well, I do not know if anything mentioned above actually IS fraud, or why the courts continue to allow these cases.
But I do know that the Eastern District of Texas takes a huge percentage of the total Patent Cases in this Country… a District that is certainly far from Silicon Valley. As well, a huge percentage of these cases have gone before two Judges: Judge Leonard Davis and Judge John Ward.
As I started researching these suits, I ALSO found the names “Davis” and “Ward” listed as the LAWYERS representing the Plaintiffs on a large percentage of the lawsuits filed.
WHAT?! WHY?!
A little bit of research found that Bo Davis, a lawyer representing Patent Assertion Entities in many cases, is the son of Judge Leonard Davis.
A little bit of research found that John Ward, a lawyer representing Patent Assertion Entities in many cases, is the son of Judge John Ward.
The SONS of these JUDGES are some of the LAWYERS that take Patent Infringement cases!
And, when you are sued for Patent Infringement in the Eastern District of Texas, you must PAY LOCAL LAWYERS IN TEXAS to defend you!
Is it coincidence that Patent Assertion Entities sue so disproportionately in the Eastern District of Texas, where some of the lawyers FATHERS are the JUDGES?
Is it coincidence that these JUDGES, both recently retired, now work at law firms that in many cases represent Patent Assertion Entities?
Here is the proof of the facts I have stated:
Judge Leonard Davis.
His son Bo Davis.
His new job.
Judge John Ward.
His son John Ward.
His new job.
As for John Ward: According to Peggy Anderson, deputy in charge at the Marshall Division, “When he became federal judge in 1999, he made a difference for the Eastern District of Texas patent docket,” she said. “He’s changed a lot of people’s lives with the patent docket, helping with the economy of Marshall because these attorneys come from all over the world.” (proof)
Now a question: If a person is sued by a Patent Assertion Entity for Patent Infringement in the Eastern District of Texas, and he does not believe that he can get a fair trial, will he be forced to settle with the Patent Assertion Entity? If he is forced to settle an unreasonable case by paying the Patent Assertion Entity, does he ever receive justice?