Patent Law

• Troll Tracker Revealed: After learning that Ray Niro paid $10,000+ for information leading to his actual identity, the Patent Troll Tracker has revealed his identity ? Cisco IP Director Rick Frenkel [LINK]
• Trade Secret: Although perhaps a novel theory, I would argue that an anonymous blogger's identity is a protectable trade secret. Improper means used to reveal the trade secret can create liability.
• Quote of the day (from 1895):

  "It should also be borne in mind that no property is so uncertain as "patent rights"; no property more speculative in character or held by a more precarious tenure. An applicant who goes into the patent office with claims expanded to correspond with his unbounded faith in the invention, may emerge therefrom with a shriveled parchment which protects only that which any ingenious infringer can evade. Even this may be taken from him by the courts. Indeed, it is only after a patentee has passed successfully the ordeal of judicial interpretation that he can speak with any real certainty as to the scope and character of his invention. Especially is this true of patents on spring-tooth harrows." [1]

[1] E. Bement & Sons v. La Dow (C.C.) 66 Fed. 185 (Circuit Ct. N.Y. 1895)