Patent Lawsuit Silly Season: TechCrunch Sued For Patent Infringement After Critical Blog Post
from the this-will-end-badly dept
There are different levels of ridiculousness when it comes to patent lawsuits, with the lowest of the low being patent lawsuits based more on spite than on any legitimate claim. For a while, it seemed like Ray Niro’s use of the infamous JPG patent, to sue a bunch companies he just didn’t like, was perhaps alone in that category. But, it appears that we now have a new entrant. Apparently, some company (who we won’t even name, since there’s a good chance it’s doing this just to get press attention) sued a more well-known competitor for patent infringement, over a location-based services patent. Looking over the patent itself it’s difficult to see how it was approved. People were talking about location-based profile matching a decade ago, let alone five years ago when this patent was filed.
TechCrunch wrote a post mocking the lawsuit as a weak attempt to get press coverage (it worked!), while noting that TechCrunch itself was partnered with the sued company to provide a “co-branded community.” This apparently caused the patent holder to amend the lawsuit and include TechCrunch as a defendant. Apparently, there were no threats or notification (though, the guy claims he tried to call TechCrunch). This will likely get tossed out incredibly quickly, as any judge will recognize that TechCrunch is just licensing its brand, not supplying the technology (and also hopefully question the validity of the patent itself). Already, though, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington is planning to countersue, so this could get fun.
The patent holder claims that adding TechCrunch to the lawsuit had nothing to do with the original post, but that’s rather difficult to believe. There’s also this somewhat amusing quote from the patent holder:
“TechCrunch can say whatever they want, and I applaud them. But no one has the right to infringe on a patent that I worked very, very hard for many years to bring about — not just on paper but in reality.”
Yes, and thanks to a broken patent system, you now get to dump a totally frivolous lawsuit on a site that clearly did not infringe on your highly questionable patent. Just like Thomas Jefferson intended.
Filed Under: location based services, patents, press, revenge
Companies: earthcomber, loopt, techcrunch
Comments on “Patent Lawsuit Silly Season: TechCrunch Sued For Patent Infringement After Critical Blog Post”
Well...
I’d like to leave a comment, but my attorney advised against it.
Hilarity in 3..2..1..
That’s a smart move…
Because Arrington is known for being the kind of person that would roll over, quietly, without making a fuss over IP / IT issues. The kind of person that will turn the other cheek when sued.
Or, Michael will countersue Earthcomber, burn Jim Brady’s dog and beat his children to death with a broken lawn chair. While twittering the whole event.
“The bottom of the post included a disclosure that Loopt is a TechCrunch sponsor because TechCrunch promotes a co-branded community on the Loopt service.”
Any idea what this means?
What would happen if...
Artificial entities could not hold patents and could only license them.
Re: What would happen if...
Artificial entities could not hold patents and could only license them.
why do you hate america? with that kind of thinking you might as well burn the american flag and punch your mother in the uterus that bore you.
Re: Re: What would happen if...
lol
Stop you are violating my patent on snarkiness
🙂
Oh man, are we back in Branded Community territory again?
MasNick is a Pussy
OK, Momsdick:
We get it. You don’t like patents, and you are in love with Mike Arrington.
Just curious where you obtained your expertise in analyzing patent litigation? You ARE an attorney, correct?
Eh, nope.
So why don’t we let the big kids with legal expertise sort out the relevence of the lawsuit, and in the meantime, take your mouth off of Arrington’s fat ass and do some enterprise reporting of your own. So far, all I can see is a wannabee parroting the Emporer, seeking approval.
Consider your weak blog another “Yes Mike” enterprise. Mind you, he HATES guys like you because you are on his turf. But that won’t stop him from using your shitty site to support his claim that he’s not at fault.
We shall see about that.
Congrats, Momsdick. You are the A#1 Pussy of pussies. I bet the people at the foster home who raised you are quite proud.
Pussy.
Gotta agree, Mike, your argument seems irrelevent
Mike:
Like you, I am a fellow Cornell sissy who didn’t pay for school myself and is working a full-time job at Starbucks while writing a technology blog in my mom’s basement on the weekends.
However, that is where our similarities end.
It does seem as though you are, in fact, simply regurgitating Mr. Arrington’s position as a defendant in a lawsuit he doesn’t want to be part of. But what I don’t understand is why it’s OK for the Valley to believe that they can trample on intellectual property without consequence.
YOU don’t believe the patent is valid? Really?
With all due respect, Mike:
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO SAY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
No need to answer. It’s a rhetorical question.
Stay along the margins, Mike. It’s where you are best suited.
Sorry about the spelling errors
Mike
My apologies. I hate you and your blog so much that I failed to spellcheck in the above posting.
Irrelevant. Not Irrelevent.
Again, My apologies.
Running into issues with Earth Class Mail
This week, I received legal letters and demands from this company Earth Class Mail that says that my blog’s domain name (earthmailfree) violates their trademark. I am actually looking for help to get people to know more about this and give me suggestions/advice. Thanks.