Kaspersky Labs trolled a Patent Troll and forced them to pay $5000

[AlTech]

Kaspersky Labs has trolled a Patent Troll and forced them to Pay $5000 USD to end the litigation.

 

Originally, Kaspersky Labs was being sued by a Patent Troll by the name of Wetro Lan LLC for allegedly infringing on a patent for an Internet Firewall.

 

Quote

In October, Kaspersky Labs found itself in a situation familiar to many tech companies: it was sued (PDF) by a do-nothing patent holder in East Texas who demanded a cash settlement before it would go away.

 

Quote

The patent-licensing company, Wetro Lan LLC, owned US Patent No. 6,795,918, which essentially claimed an Internet firewall. The patent was filed in 2000 despite the fact that computer network firewalls date to the 1980s. The '918 patent was used in what the Electronic Frontier Foundation called an "outrageous trolling campaign," in which dozens of companies were sued out of Wetro Lan's "headquarters," a Plano office suite that it shared with several other firms that engage in what is pejoratively called "patent-trolling." Wetro Lan's complaints argued that a vast array of Internet routers and switches infringed its patent.

 

Important Context:

(Basically Kaspersky's lawyers knew the Patent Troll's claims would be rejected)

Quote

"Their patent was for a firewall that's not user-configurable," Kniser said in an interview with Ars. "They knew ours was configurable. So they started taking weird positions, basically saying, 'Well, you can only configure it a little bit.' I think that would have gotten them in trouble as far as [patent] validity goes."

 

After refusing to pay the Patent Troll, Kaspersky Labs tried a new tactic of demanding that the Patent Troll pay for the litigation to end.

Quote

Wetro Lan's settlement demands kept dropping, down from its initial "amicable" demand of $60,000. Eventually, the demands reached $10,000—an amount that's extremely low in the world of patent litigation. Kniser tried to explain that it didn't matter how far the company dropped the demand. "Kaspersky won't pay these people even if it's a nickel," he said.

Then Kniser took a new tack.

"We said, actually, $10,000 is fine," said Kniser. "Why don't you pay us $10,000?"

And thus the Patent Troll got trolled and agreed to pay $5000 USD.

 

Hats off to Kaspersky for having the COURAGE to fight the patent troll like that. If this happened more often then we could potentially see fewer Patent Trolling cases in the future.

 

Source:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/kaspersky-lab-turns-the-tables-forces-patent-troll-to-pay-cash-to-end-case/

[PCGuy_5960]

[Lurick]

To the trolls:

 

[Hiitchy]

I mean... did they think Kaspersky was a company running around with its head cut off?

[AlTech]

Just now, Hiitchy said:

I mean... did they think Kaspersky was a company running around with its head cut off?

Most companies pay the money the Patent Trolls demand.........

[NumLock21]

Majority of patent troll lawsuits is from texas. They are trying to stop it. 

[AlTech]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

Majority of patent troll lawsuits is from texas.

I wonder why. Seems oddly specific.

[Sauron]

Spoiler

 

this thread calls for ALL the memes

 

I'm glad this happened, it's time patent trolls eat poo and die (metaphorically).

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Majority of patent troll lawsuits is from texas. They are trying to stop it. 

 

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

I wonder why. Seems oddly specific.

It's a specific area in East Texas and it's in a few specific courtrooms too that are VERY friendly to all patent holders and side with them some absurd amount of the time.

[NumLock21]

5 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I wonder why. Seems oddly specific.

 

More info here

 

https://www.techspot.com/news/69421-supreme-court-makes-harder-patent-trolls-hand-pick.html

https://www.techpowerup.com/233616/patent-trolls-to-lose-their-homefield-advantage-thanks-to-supreme-court

 

[Imbellis]

10 minutes ago, Lurick said:

 

It's a specific area in East Texas and it's in a few specific courtrooms too that are VERY friendly to all patent holders and side with them some absurd amount of the time.

Dang it Texas, get your crap together.

 

4 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

https://www.techspot.com/news/69421-supreme-court-makes-harder-patent-trolls-hand-pick.html

https://www.techpowerup.com/233616/patent-trolls-to-lose-their-homefield-advantage-thanks-to-supreme-court

 

 

At least somebody is doing something about it.

[PlayStation 2]

Wah wah waaaaaah.

[captain_to_fire]

 

 

https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/08/30/the-best-defense-is-attack-and-that-now-includes-when-fighting-patent-trolls/

[D13H4RD]

When the victim is better at being the troll than the troll itself.

[vanished]

I just heard about this on another source and checked to see if anyone had posted it.  This has to be the most amazing story I've heard in months  

[Trixanity]

I wonder why it's legal for a court/judge to be predisposed to agree with one party regardless of the facts or case put forward. And I wonder how a judge can get into such a position and not be concerned one bit that he's ridiculing his seat of power by not really considering a case objectively but instead go "they hold a patent so I guess they win".

[Bcat00]

3 hours ago, Trixanity said:

I wonder why it's legal for a court/judge to be predisposed to agree with one party regardless of the facts or case put forward. And I wonder how a judge can get into such a position and not be concerned one bit that he's ridiculing his seat of power by not really considering a case objectively but instead go "they hold a patent so I guess they win".

its texas duh, you not see enough movies about that place to know its close to being lawless?

 

bring out the banjoSSSS YIPEEE BOYSS

[Guest]

On 31/08/2017 at 3:11 PM, Sauron said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

this thread calls for ALL the memes

 

I'm glad this happened, it's time patent trolls eat poo and die (metaphorically).

I mean nobody nobody blink twice if they did it literally.