<story><title>Senate Vote Tomorrow Could Give Helping Hand to Patent Trolls</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/09/senate-vote-tomorrow-could-give-helping-hand-patent-trolls</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>AlbertCory</author><text>Former tech advisor to Google Patent Litigation here.&lt;p&gt;The Ex Parte Reexamination is a fundamental tool for fighting against patent trolls:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Reexamination&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Reexamination&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They &lt;i&gt;can&lt;/i&gt; also be used by big companies to steal IP from small inventors. However, this is not why the backers of this bill are trying to limit them.&lt;p&gt;When a troll buys up a patent from the early 2000&amp;#x27;s, they hope to stretch its claims, with the help of a patent-friendly judge, to cover some modern technology. Naturally, it&amp;#x27;s the FAANG and other big companies they really want, but first they build up a war chest by settling with smaller fish.&lt;p&gt;Filing an IPR is a cheaper way than going to trial for challenging these bogus patents, and believe me, nearly all software patents are bogus. I busted lots of them, including this:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.zdnet.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;microsoft-patent-may-block-google-maps-in-germany&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.zdnet.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;microsoft-patent-may-block-goo...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you go to trial, it&amp;#x27;s some unsophisticated jurors who decide if the patent is valid. For a reexam, it&amp;#x27;s PTO people, who at least know what the law is.&lt;p&gt;So that&amp;#x27;s why trolls want to get rid of reexams: to force companies to negotiate with them.</text></comment>
<story><title>Senate Vote Tomorrow Could Give Helping Hand to Patent Trolls</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/09/senate-vote-tomorrow-could-give-helping-hand-patent-trolls</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hathawsh</author><text>Is there an online discussion about this happening somewhere? This sounds very important, but without some dissenting opinions, it&amp;#x27;s hard to be sure what details are being glossed over.&lt;p&gt;On the EFF&amp;#x27;s side, there&amp;#x27;s this: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theregister.com&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;scheduling_paradigm&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theregister.com&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;scheduling_paradigm&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The opposing CSIS article posted by &amp;quot;alwa&amp;quot; in another comment also sounds very convincing. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.csis.org&amp;#x2F;analysis&amp;#x2F;new-efforts-promote-us-innovation-pera-and-prevail-act-context&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.csis.org&amp;#x2F;analysis&amp;#x2F;new-efforts-promote-us-innovat...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Where is the civil debate?</text></comment>