Patent Troll Stirred a Hornet's Nest When It Sued Newegg

PatrickJS

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Patent Troll Stirred a Hornet's Nest When It Sued Newegg

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When a patent-holding company sued a Newegg subsidiary, it was biting off more than it could chew. Though the suit was dropped, Newegg has decided to sue them right back.

Patent-holding company Minero Digital fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia; only slightly less well-known is that you don't try to patent troll Newegg. There was also one about a Sicilian [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/166097-Toast-is-Being-Kickstarted-a-Board-Game-About-Poisoning-Your-Friends-Cups-of-Wine#&gid=gallery_5519&pid=1].

Newegg, it turns out, has a history of crushing patent trolls [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-scotus-newegg-soverain-idUSBREA0C13Q20140113] in court.

The story so far is this: Minero acquired a patent in April of 2015 that dated back to 1995 at Apple. The patent described a daisy-chain of serial bus connections for linking various peripherals to a base station. Nowhere does the patent mention Universal Serial Bus (USB), which at the time was still being developed by a consortium of tech giants, but that isn't stopping Minero from claiming its patent covers those ubiquitous plug-ins.

That, for those who don't know, is what maybe makes Minero a "patent troll." That usually refers to a company that does nothing but own and enforce "weak" patents for profit, taking advantage of defendants' small legal funds or a court's poor understanding of tech. Rosewill, which makes cables, power supplies, and so on, seemed like one of those small companies that couldn't put up much of a fight. As someone who's shopped for electronics online might know, however, Rosewill is a subsidiary of online tech retailer Newegg.

Minero made the first move in September. After Newegg confirmed they would happily fight the lawsuit in court, the suit was dismissed (though other defendants are still named, and Minero can re-file in the future). According to Newegg's counsel, they reached a settlement where Newegg would give a "nominal donation to charity," not paying Minero a dime.

That brings us up to this week, when Newegg announced it wasn't done with Minero Digital just yet. "We just don't believe Rosewill's products and customers infringed on valid patent claims," says Newegg's chief legal officer, Lee Cheng. "Minero's case does not have merit, and its patent is not only expired but would suck even if it wasn't expired. Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it."

It's impossible to really know how Newegg's counter will affect the outcome of Minero's suit with other defendants. At the very least, it would divide the resources of the patent-holder, which is represented by a single lawyer.

We'll bring you more news when we have it. Until then, keep your USBs safe.

Source: Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/newegg-sues-patent-troll-that-dropped-its-case/]







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joshuaayt

Vocal SJW
Nov 15, 2009
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"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
 

Micah Weil

New member
Mar 16, 2009
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joshuaayt said:
"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
...
I keep throwing my money at the screen, but it's not happening. T.T
 

FirstNameLastName

Premium Fraud
Nov 6, 2014
1,080
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I would love to see Minero get sued into the ground until they go bankrupt. While I'm completley apathetic towards Newegg (they could be slimy as well, but I don't really know much about their methods), I fucking hate patent trolls with a passion. They are the very definition of a leach upon society; contributing absolutely nothing and stamping all over those who do.
So if Newegg makes an example out of them I'll be happy.
 

The Enquirer

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Apr 10, 2013
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Good for Newegg. I don't know much about exactly how their business is run, something I should look into considering I order from them, but its good that they are actually willing to just crush someone despicable like this.
 

Valkrex

Elder Dragon
Jan 6, 2013
303
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Micah Weil said:
joshuaayt said:
"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
...
I keep throwing my money at the screen, but it's not happening. T.T
Didn't they make an Ace Attorney anime or movie or something? Cuz wouldn't this essentially be that?
 

MetalheroDamien

Blackwing Hybrid Hero
Mar 25, 2010
52
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Valkrex said:
Micah Weil said:
joshuaayt said:
"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
...
I keep throwing my money at the screen, but it's not happening. T.T
Didn't they make an Ace Attorney anime or movie or something? Cuz wouldn't this essentially be that?
They made a live action movie, but the Ace Attorney series is, as the title suggests, about criminal court. Corporate legal battles are civil.
 

Deathfish15

New member
Nov 7, 2006
579
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MetalheroDamien said:
Valkrex said:
Micah Weil said:
joshuaayt said:
"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
...
I keep throwing my money at the screen, but it's not happening. T.T
Didn't they make an Ace Attorney anime or movie or something? Cuz wouldn't this essentially be that?
They made a live action movie, but the Ace Attorney series is, as the title suggests, about criminal court. Corporate legal battles are civil.
Except when Franklin and Bash are involved. THOSE corporate legal battles are anything but civil. And they one liner shenanigans are hilariously entertaining.
 

MeatMachine

Dr. Stan Gray
May 31, 2011
597
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I've heard very little about patent trolling nor Newegg, but I know enough about both to see this as a mousetrap slamming down on the neck of vermin-like "businesses" that exist solely to extort innovators with vague, legal workarounds.

Newegg, I want to see you wipe the floor with these assholes like the fuckin' Undertaker. You have my attention.

 

Renegrade

New member
Jan 18, 2012
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Wow - a patent on daisy chaining various devices on a serial bus? Like the modified IEEE-488 connector found on C64s? For those that don't recall, the modification turned the parallel bus design of the original IEEE-488 system into a serial bus (still maintaining the ability to daisy-chain multiple devices of differing sorts together).

Talk about patent trolling... that patent was ridiculous (and had been for over a decade) in 1995, let alone today.
 

bluegate

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 28, 2010
2,322
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joshuaayt said:
"Now that they have started the litigation, it would be irresponsible for Newegg to not finish it"

So cool...! I'd watch an anime that was just corporate legal battles and cool one liners.
Not an Anime, not all about corporate legal battles and sometimes dipping into the absurd, maybe you would be interested in the tv series 'Legal High'.
 

runic knight

New member
Mar 26, 2011
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Some the company tried to push the equivalent of a false DMCA for quick cash and now are about to have themselves bent over for it? Sounds like a fitting punishment for their attempted bullshit.

Only similar case that jumps to mind is one concerning linux/unix and a company that tried to extort other companies for copyright infringement of unix because the other companies used linux and I guess they sound the same/have similar appearance, only to end up with a court battle challenging them to prove their claim and a printed out version of the entirety of the linux code at the time for them to specifically dig through and demonstrate infringement with. I think it was several million lines of code at the time.
 

LordLundar

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Apr 6, 2004
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I read this and the first thing that comes to mind is a lesson from Babylon 5 that apparently Newegg took to heart: "Never start a fight, but always finish it."

Between this and Virginia's new Patent Troll Unit (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/29/virginia_troll_smackdown/) It looks like being a patent troll just isn't worth the effort anymore and I'm happy.
 

EndlessSporadic

New member
May 20, 2009
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LordLundar said:
I read this and the first thing that comes to mind is a lesson from Babylon 5 that apparently Newegg took to heart: "Never start a fight, but always finish it."

Between this and Virginia's new Patent Troll Unit (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/29/virginia_troll_smackdown/) It looks like being a patent troll just isn't worth the effort anymore and I'm happy.
I approve of everything in this post. That's a nice quote to keep in mind, and the idea of a Patent Troll Unit makes me extremely giddy.
 

CrazyCapnMorgan

Is not insane, just crazy >:)
Jan 5, 2011
2,742
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Is there any other situation where a meme or an image of a train colliding with something isn't more deserving than here?

OT: Normally, I don't like major companies in anything...but I like trolls even less. Crush them into the ground, Newegg.
 

Hairless Mammoth

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Jan 23, 2013
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That is quite amusing. While every online retailer will have some dissatisfied customers no matter what, Newegg has always been one of the better PC parts suppliers for many. I've ordered PC parts from Newegg for years and have never had any issues, even the cheaper Rosewill parts and peripherals.

I really hate patent trolls. They're basically people with the money to buy (possibly) useless patents and teams of lawyers, who then go after anyone they believe will give in to the scare tactics or do not have the funds to last in a slow as molasses legal battle (usually because the defendant is a small business with less than 10 to maybe 50 employees).

I'd love to see how this goes. Since governments are still taking their sweet ass time fighting the patent troll issue, it would be nice if more trolls made this mistake to scare off any more of the dirty crooks.
 

PatrickJS

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Jun 8, 2015
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LordLundar said:
I read this and the first thing that comes to mind is a lesson from Babylon 5 that apparently Newegg took to heart: "Never start a fight, but always finish it."
Thank you for reminding me of that wonderful quote!
 

hentropy

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Feb 25, 2012
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Newegg is one of the few huge online retailers that are hard to hate, I'm glad that they seem proficient crushing patent trolls.