And there was much rejoicing

Following on from my post the other day about patent trolls:

Soverain Software, who pretend to sell software but actually do nothing but sue people, wanted substantial cash payments plus one per cent of all US online sales involving online shopping-cart systems.

Thanks to the patents they bought when dot-com Open Market went bankrupt, they were quite successful in this.

But Newegg just kicked Soverain in the nuts so hard their patents died.

Not quite the public gut-hanging I would have recommended, and they had to go to an appeal to get it. But it'll do for now.

4 Responses to “And there was much rejoicing”

  1. eofpi Says:

    I hear they wanted to do a public gut-hanging, but the patentholder on public gut-hangings wanted too high a royalty.

  2. cfuse Says:

    Patent trolls need to be put on a spike at the city gates.

  3. hagmanti Says:

    No, Patent Examiners that allow a patent on an on-line shopping cart need to be replaced.

    Real patents on innovative ideas are a big part of how modern societies thrive, and the court system is rightfully attuned to protecting them. Granted, the East Texas district is a bit too attuned, but that'll fix itself over time.

    In the meantime, I wouldn't mind spiking a few trolls, but the trolls will keep coming until the sun comes up...


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