| DirtyP2002 said: could you explain this to a european? |
US Patent Law is a travesty. First, you have patent mills that buy up patents and sit on them, with no inclination to ever make a product. Many of them even advertise on TV under the guise of "Invention Submission Corporations," that offer dubious promises to help you legalize your Next Big Idea(tm) and help turn you into a rags-to-riches millionaire overnight. Obviously, these companies do none of those things. They just sift through the thousands of ideas they get and patent the good ones.
Getting a patent in the US is actually very easy too, most (some might say none) are properly vetted, if at all.
What this leads to is a system where you have a group of wealthy lawyers sitting on filing cabinets full of hundreds of thousands of obtuse ideas, waiting for somebody to come along and actually introduce a product people want, then suing for patent infringement once the product becomes successful. Obviously, it's a lot easier, and cheaper, to sue Sony over a network appliance or Nintendo over putting an accelerometer into a Wii Remote to cash out a quick $20M than it is to actually devise, market, and advertise any unique products of your own. That would actually require a capital investment!
On top of this mess, add to it that if you want to sue over a patent in America, the court of Judge T John Ward in Marshall, Texas is the place to do it. A "rocket dockett" for patent law. If you look at the .pdf linked earlier in this thread ... this Sony suit originated in Marshall TX.
Exactly what happened here.
In a US Court, when it comes to patent infringement, it boils down to the fact that you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. You patent something with no inclination to make. I make something truly revolutionary the whole world wants. You sue me. Now, it's MY JOB to PROVE I didn't know you had this ten year old patent. It's difficult enough for me to win my case, and I'd already have to spend millions to get your patent invalidated, probably much more than what I'll wind up spending if I just pay you a settlement. Once you factor in judges like T John Ward, you get what we have today.
