Would You Buy A Patent From This Man?

from the patent-extortion dept

A great article in eCompany looking at the whole patent process and TechSearch, the company whose whole purpose is to buy up tech patents and force licensing money out of big companies who realize it's cheaper to pay than litigate. The article presents people who very clearly state that TechSearch is engaged in legal blackmail and extortion. Of course, TechSearch says they're just protecting the "little guy" who is being trampled by big companies abusing their patents - though they give little actual evidence of this. What it comes down to though, is that our entire patent process is terrible, and that's what lets companies like TechSearch come into being. The best story in the article though is how TechSearch is suing one of its harshest critics for violating one of their patents for having compressed images on his site. This is protecting the little guy from big corporations? Sounds more like using a big stick to beat down your opponents.

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