Patent Law

Phoning in Junk

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Pitiable pukes who poot about patent trolls are merely mouthing mega-corporate mush. Notwithstanding that patents are a tradable commodity, with any owner having the same right of enforcement as the original inventor, consider the flip side - corporations strong-arming their brethren with nothing but trash talk.

Emboldened by its shakedown of patent-hapless Vonage, wireless Verizon angled for bigger game, accusing cable company Cox of infringing six VoIP patents. That fishing expedition floundered when the jury found non-infringement on the sour six-pack. Mired in denial, Verizon tooted: "Despite the decision, we believe our patents were infringed." Verizon is mulling getting a postcard from the CAFC*.

After signing a five-year non-aggression pact with Comcast, Verizon might have focused its evil eye on VoIP johnny-come-latelies Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, but the loss to Cox may just knock its determination into the dirt.

The Wall Street Journal fingered Verizon as not practicing what it was preaching: "Verizon has been aggressively asserting its patents in Internet phone technology, despite not promoting the service to its own customers."

*Less than 1% of patent cases seeking appeal are taken up by the CAFC. Notice of refusal comes as a postcard that lacks the moniker "wish you were here."

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on October 07, 2008 (boomark / email).