Patent trolls - Barclays acts

Barclays has become the first major European bank to join the LOT Network and Open Invention Network Community to oppose the abuse of intellectual property rights by patent trolls.

Patent trolls are organizations that derive revenue primarily by threatening to sue unless companies pay to license their patents. The are also known as Patent Assertion Entities.

More often than not the most flimsy claims are usually settled because of the excess time, resources and expenses that are required for a successful litigation.

By joining the non-profit LOT Network and open-source-based OIN Community, Barclays is adding its portfolio of patents to the millions of patents that are already hosted.

LOT Network financial members from outside of the EU include JPMorgan Chase, Alibaba, Citi, Vanguard, Visa, American Express, Wells Fargo, Union Pay, and Fidelity

In a statement Barclays, said: “Spurious claims from Patent Assertion Entities divert resources and investment away from true innovation and collaboration. We also recognize that a modern approach to technology development and innovation requires a level playing field around use of open source software. With membership of LOT and OIN, we are pleased to contribute to and extend the growing global community working together to reduce the PAE threat and lower barriers to use of open source technologies.”

 

Serial “patent troll” takes retailers to court over payment systems

From Paymenteye

“A Texan company has filed lawsuits against retailers including Weight Watchers and Chipotle Mexican Grill, claiming that they infringed its search, online ordering and payment patents.

Landmark Technology LLC, a non-practising entity that is essentially a proxy for owner Lawrence Lockwood, has filed lawsuits against nine companies with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In addition to Chipotle and Weight Watchers, these include Panera Bread, the travel companies Allegiant and Choice Hotels, and the stock photography site Shutterstock.

Lockwood, a former infomercial producer, has previously filed similar suits against Dunkin’ Donuts, Abercrombie & Fitch, Harley-Davidson and Rubbermaid, and has been accused by many observers of “patent trolling.” He has been particularly busy this year, with Landmark filing no less than 22 suits in the first four months of the year alone.

Since May, he has been embroiled in a legal battle with eBay, with had asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine three of his patents which apparently attempted to claim ownership to simply “paying with a credit card online”. The USPTO agreed that one of the patents raised serious concerns – and Lockwood took revenge by suing eBay for abuse of process and malicious prosecution. This is the same (failed) argument that Lockwood attempted to use when suing law firm Sheppard Mullin in 2009. The case was dismissed.”

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CLS wins legal battle in settlement 'patent' dispute

From Finextra

“The US Supreme Court has found in favour of CLS Bank in a long-running patent dispute with Alice Corporation over the abstract notion of intermediated settlement.

In its opinion statement, the Supreme Court said: "We hold that the claims at issue are drawn to the abstract idea of intermediated settlement, and that merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention."”

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