RSS
Ski Manufacturer Turns Patent Troll, Igniting Patent Response & Pissing Off Potential Customers
from the bad-chess-players dept
Crosbie Fitch alerts us to the news that skiing manufacturer Armada apparently secured a patent 7,690.674 earlier this year on a "snow riding implement," and the company has started sending out threat letters to a bunch of competitors. Now, two interesting things have happened in response. First, at least one of the companies threatened, Rossignol, has responded by pulling out one of its own patents (6,986,525 and filing a lawsuit against Armada for infringement, while also asking for declaratory judgment that it does not infringe on Armada's patent:
Rossignol more or less has admitted that, while it has this patent, it's basically just held it for defensive purposes, such as when someone else threatens it with patent infringement.
The second interesting thing is that if you read through the threads on either of the links forums above, you see a ton of customers swearing off Armada products. Oops. As Crosbie notes in his submission:
The second interesting thing is that if you read through the threads on either of the links forums above, you see a ton of customers swearing off Armada products. Oops. As Crosbie notes in his submission:
"One thing that patent trolls seem to be unaware of is the growing awareness in their customers of patents as a tool of extortion, so when a market player plays dirty, it's not just their competition they piss off, but their market, especially their current and potential customers."Of course... that only applies to "trolls" who also make products...
I’m looking for policy...
Jon Potter: Software Patent Trolls Can Be Stopped By U.S. Patent Office And Congress
Policy Resources: Data Privacy & Security
I have an idea...
5 Things You Should Know About Crowdfunding For Startups
From Noodles And Hot Sauce To Funding In 9 Weeks, With Oomf Founder Mikael Cho
I’m looking for research...
Geography Of The App Economy
Who Are App Developers?
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
Patent Trolling on Skis
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Patent Trolling on Skis
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3032921&postcount=62
From what I understand... the community members believe that Armada stole a design, got a patent on it, and now is trying to sue the people they stole the design from...
What? Are they taking this right from the AA"s playbook?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Correction
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
He-LO Microsoft...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
truth about trolls
Call it what you will...patent hoarder, patent troll, non-practicing entity, etc. It all means one thing: “we’re using your invention and we’re not going to pay”.
For the truth about trolls, please see http://truereform.piausa.org.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: truth about trolls
You can't handle the truth
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "Snow riding implement"
Did Armada ever think about prior art on all these "snow riding implements"? Such things have been around a lot longer than I have.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Add Your Comment