November 2017 – American Inventors for Justice

‘But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg…’

‘https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/27/supreme-court-deeply-divided-patent-review-process/897814001/

‘But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the process merely gives the Patent and Trademark Office a streamlined method for correcting its own errors. In Great Britain hundreds of years ago, she asked rhetorically, “the King couldn’t say, ‘I made a mistake?'”‘

But America is not a monarchy. What was acceptable or lawful in Europe at the time may not be lawful or acceptable in America. That was the old world. This is the new.

The founders regarded the right to a trial by jury as ‘inalienable’. Any post issue admin review that negates or appreciably diminishes that right denies inventors our rights. It’s one thing for the PTO to administratively ‘correct’ errors of prosecution for applications in process, which they have always done -that’s why they have so many layers. But it’s a totally different matter for them to ‘correct’ once a dispute involving that property has arisen, or after the patent has already issued. Once issued, or certainly once a controversy arises for an issued patent the PTO must lose any such control. Otherwise, the PTO becomes judge, jury and prosecutor in a pseudo trial which works about as well for us as an administrative trial did for Joan of Arc. That the PTO refers to these administrators as ‘judges’ establishes that they have usurped the courts. Further, as we have recently learned these PTO ‘judges’ have been assigned cases in a partial manner which predetermines the fate of any reviewed patent. Should anyone really be surprised when PTO management comes straight from large multinational serial infringer central?

As we have said, the PTAB is where our patents and their inventions go to die. There are good reasons why former CAFC Chief Judge Rader referred to the PTAB as a ‘patent death squad killing property rights’.

Such proceedings are a complete denial of due process and violates inventors rights while depriving us unjustly and unlawfully of our most valuable property. That has greatly contributed to the collapse in the small entity share of issued patents and filed applications which are now running only about 1/10th their historical shares, if not less and still falling. Has PTO management been hiding that fact? What else are they hiding?

For our position and the changes we advocate (the rest of the truth) to restore the patent system, or to join our effort, please visit us at https://aminventorsforjustice.wordpress.com/category/our-position/
or, contact us at aifj@mail.com

‘specialist judges’

‘http://fortune.com/2017/11/27/supreme-court-patents/?iid=sr-link1

‘This method, known as inter partes review, involves specialist judges at the Patent Office, and is faster and less expensive than going to federal court’

This is another one sided PR production by Roberts -his specialty. Who is he working for?

Sure it’s faster and less expensive…for thieves. But these ‘specialist judges’ like the top managers at the Patent Office have close ties to some of the world’s biggest serial infringers. When they decide the fate of patents, you can rest assured it is nothing but bad news for their small competitors. Those proceedings are where our patents and their inventions go to die. That in no small measure is why inventors now only prevail about 3% of the time in court through appeal and why our issued patents and filed applications are down to only about 10% of their historical shares, if not less and still in a free fall. For us the patent system has become a sport of thieves.

frivolous “patent troll” cases

‘http://thehill.com/policy/technology/360438-tech-pushes-for-focus-on-copyright-in-nafta-negotiations

‘Tech firms also want to make sure that intellectual property provisions in copyright laws don’t allow for easy lawsuits that result in what some call frivolous “patent troll” cases. Such cases have frustrated tech companies like Apple and Intel as they field lawsuits from smaller companies that hold patents but make their money through such court cases, instead of manufacturing and producing their own products.’

The bigger the multinational infringer (thief) the bigger their lies.

Their definition of ‘frivolous “patent troll” cases’: whenever we are sued

The patent system now teeters on the brink of lawlessness. Call it what you will…patent hoarder, patent troll, non-practicing entity, shell company, etc. It all means one thing: “we’re using your invention and we’re not going to stop or pay”. It’s a pure red herring by large invention thieves and their paid puppets to kill any inventor support system. As Mark Twain said, ‘truth is not hard to kill, and (that) a lie well told is immortal’.

Inventors no longer have any fair chance at commercializing our inventions due to the political intrigues of large infringers. Without the right to sue to stop infringement we have no chance at benefiting in any material way from our inventions. They coerced the courts to take away our right of injunctions so we no longer have a fair chance to commercialize. How can we when they have stolen our ‘gun’ and have all the bullets. They know that, but continue to spread their Chinese style propaganda. Don’t believe the lies of thieves. Just because they call it reform doesn’t mean it is.

‘U.S. patent system in decline’

‘http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/04/26/top-3-reasons-u-s-patent-system-decline/id=82571/

‘U.S. patent system in decline’

That’s such an understatement we are nearly speechless.

First, take a look at the Board for the Chamber…

https://www.uschamber.com/about/board-directors

How many inventors do you see?…Zero.

How many small businesses do you see?…Zero.

They say they represent ‘the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes‘. Sure they do, rrrright.

The American patent system is now a sport of kings. For us it is also a sport of thieves. We view the Chamber as essentially a lobbyist organization for some of America’s and the world’s largest infringers (and exporters of American jobs or importers of foreign workers who displace Americans). Sure, for them the American patent system may well be the world’s best. It is great at helping them rob and crush their small competitors. But that’s disastrous for inventors and other inventive small American businesses. We need a patent system that strengthens and stabilizes property rights, not one that sells them to the highest bidder.

Rather, a far better gauge as to the health of our patent system is: does it encourage inventors?

Our answer is simple and emphatic -HELL NO! Here’s why.

As in our earlier study using data from the PTO web site, the small entity share of issued patents and filed applications has fallen to only about 1/10th of their historical shares, if not less and still falling. Obviously, the patent system is NOT encouraging inventors. It is chasing them away.

Further, our chances of enforcing any patents we may get after years of fighting the patent office for them is minuscule -about 3%, according to another study.

https://aminventorsforjustice.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/inventors-only-succeed-about-3-of-the-time/

Worsening the erosion of property rights is that the courts have artificially capped our awards (see p9 2017 PWC Patent Litigation Study). There is no data to support market based factors so we can only conclude these reductions are not based on fact, but rather on a change in policy. They have been artificially capped. But the reality of damages is far worse than the PWC study suggests. Their study only looks at pre appeal damages. Those awards rarely matter. If we lose on appeal, or have our awarded damages gutted we get nothing, so the PWC study in this respect is largely immaterial.

In fact, for about the last 10 years even if inventors can get a large award at the district level, we have little chance of getting that award upheld on appeal. As above, we only prevail about 3% of the time in the end -virtually never for any award over $5M, so even a large award from the district court does us no good…we lose it on appeal and NEVER collect! So is the CAFC saying it’s OK for our infringers to make millions or even billions on our inventions, but not for us? Huh??? That’s as ridiculous as SCOTUS saying in Alice they will not uphold patents for fundamental or building block inventions. So what, they don’t want us to invent anything really important…or just don’t want to uphold our patents for anything large corporations want to steal? That’s another reason why we need the right of injunctions because we cannot depend on the courts to equitably uphold our property rights, if at all. The crumbs some courts such as SCOTUS and CAFC want to give us, only prolong our eventual ruin. They will not sustain OUR successful commercialization of our inventions -only their commercialization by others such as large multinational infringers (thieves). That’s how large thieves most always prevail in the end. Why are these courts so soft on crime? WHY?!

But if you cut the top off of a tree, the tree dies. THAT, is what is happening to America’s inventors.

Because of the above inventors are no longer practically able to obtain and enforce patents to our inventions. As in the above PWC study patent suits have been declining overall. But things are far worse. Their study does not reflect that we are now permitted to only name one defendant per case, whereas before we could and would routinely include up to tens of infringers in one case -sometimes over 100. Therefore the number of cases filed is no longer material. It is the number of DEFENDANTS named that matters. Likely for us, that has dropped in proportion to the number of our patents that have issued, or by at least 90% -but it may be far worse We are aware of no study that reports that.

These are some of the causes that explain why the small entity shares of issued patents and filed applications have so plummeted. In general, patents for us are now far too hard, expensive and slow to get, keep and enforce. For us, the patent system is now a sport of thieves. Unless changes are made to restore the patent system the American inventor will continue to dissipate until they completely disappear. This is a matter of grave importance to America’s economic stability and job creation. The American inventor is becoming extinct.

After all, the entire purpose of the patent system is to encourage inventors, not large multinational infringers as the present system does. Inventors have been ‘reformed’ to death by them and their paid lobbyists who have commandeered some courts, the Patent Office, the former White House and some in Congress -if not infiltrated. We can only conclude SCOTUS hates us and property rights…except possibly those of our large infringers. We’re not so sure about the CAFC either, at least because they are artificially limiting our damages. The real world market needs to set the price of our inventions, not the courts. Give us our injunctions back. Respect our rights. The courts must either be for property, or they will be against America.

What inventors critically need is for Congress to restore the patent system. We have drafted a set of proposed measures which we are completely convinced will do just that.

https://aminventorsforjustice.wordpress.com/proposedmeasures/

‘approached Apple about a partnership’

‘http://fortune.com/2017/11/07/israeli-apple-camera-corephotonics/?iid=sr-link1

‘According to the lawsuit, Corephotonics Chief Executive David Mendlovic approached Apple about a partnership. Apple praised the start-up’s technology but refused to license it, Corephotonics said, even suggesting it could infringe the latter’s patents with little consequence.’

This is common practice for large multinationals. No doubt all large entities in this present state of the patent system are free to rob their small competitors at will. It appears few courts respect property rights as do few in Congress. Basically the country is in a state of commercial anarchy. The courts and Congress have not only allowed, but aided this activity by adjudicating and legislating changes in law which have in affect legalized theft of our inventions. Many large tech, insurance, retail, and financial services firms now brazenly defy inventors and other small competitors. Many routinely have used the threat of flagrant infringement as a way of bullying inventors into selling out at a fraction of the value of their technology knowing they have no way to stop infringement in view of the tremendous expense and uncertainty of enforcement. Large multinational infringers (thieves) know that and shamelessly use it. This is business as usual for them. Such companies completely lack ethics. They are the modern day equivalent of horse thieves. Until the patent system is restored, large infringers will continue to thumb their noses at us and steal at will.

For example, one inventor formed a joint venture with a large financial services firm to commercialize the invention, but when the Patent Office refused to issue patents the capital partner backed out. Then about 10 years later after the patents began issuing following many years of fighting by the inventor on his own with no help from the former partner, the financial services company and former capital partner sued the inventor in violation of the agreement which forced the inventor to settle to avoid bankruptcy in an expensive legal battle, granting the former partner a free license.

Another inventor was told by a large multinational competitor that he must sell his company and its technologies to them and come to work for them, or they would flood his market and put him out of business.

These are examples of why inventors and small businesses rely so heavily on the patent system to stop these predations of large competitors. Without strong property rights this will continue to be the fate of inventors and inventor shares of filed and issued patents will continue to crash as the American inventor disappears and with them good paying American jobs. Congress must act now to restore the patent system and with it America’s greatest job engine.

‘declining to hear Samsung’s appeal’

‘http://fortune.com/2017/11/06/apple-samsung-supreme-court-3/?iid=sr-link3

‘The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to step back into the years-long feud over patents between the world’s top smartphone makers, declining to hear Samsung’s appeal of a lower court ruling that reinstated a jury award of about $120 million in favor of Apple.’

We are very pleased to see that the court once again respects property rights. It is our sincere wish that they now do so for all property holders regardless of their wealth or influence. In fact, we rely on a uniform and consistent across the board application of property rights for all property holders. Without such a framework we have no fair chance of ever commercializing our inventions. The courts, Congress and the White House will now determine the course of the American economy by their actions. Truly and consistently applied strong property rights will encourage inventors. A continued weak patent system inconsistently or ineffectively applied will only continue the decline of small entity patent filings and issued patents which has already plummeted to about 1/10th of their historical shares, if not less and still falling.

“bad patents”

‘http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/10/30/ptab-patent-trolls-bad-patents-wakeup-aia-apologists/id=89609/

‘PTAB is necessary to prevent trolls from asserting “bad patents” with frivolous lawsuits‘

Let’s deconstruct the large infringer propaganda in this statement. First, since large infringers refuse to define the phrase, we do so for them.

patent troll=small competitor

That by itself will help Congress put all the remaining Chinese style propaganda of large multinational infringers (thieves) in perspective.

Next, when large infringers say ‘bad patents’, what they mean is those owned by others. Similarly, by ‘frivolous lawsuits’ they mean ‘any time WE are sued’.

It really is that simple.

Most importantly, the PTAB is a pseudo judicial/administrative body which ‘tries’ cases involving property disputes -specifically inventions. We believe any such body or process which denies any American the right to a trial by jury is wholly in tension with any reasonable reading of American history and the Constitution. Since the founding of America and indeed into the middle ages in England as codified in Magna Carta all citizens have had a right to a trial by jury. America’s founders regarded that right to be ‘inalienable’. Large infringers somehow defrauded Congress into passing a bill -no doubt written almost entirely by large infringers, which violates that right. When thieves write the laws no property is safe. The only just course is to either repeal the law or replace it with one that respects and guards that and all other rights. We stand ready to work closely with our friends in Congress and elsewhere to craft a bill which does so while in general restoring America’s patent system which has been so debased by large multinationals so as to make obtaining, keeping and enforcing our patents practically impossible. To that end we have drafted a set of measures we believe will do just that.

https://aminventorsforjustice.wordpress.com/proposedmeasures/

‘vague software patents’

‘http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/10/31/patent-based-financings-unlocking-licensing-revenues/id=89705/

‘Over time, many companies began to view patents – particularly vague software patents – as weapons that could inflict significant harm in the hands of infamous patent trolls, rather than assets of potential value. Given the staggering cost of defending a patent infringement action to conclusion — easily within the $5 million range — settling was often the most rational course, regardless of a case’s merits. As the cost of these settlements began to pile up for a handful of the largest technology companies, so did the political pressure exerted on Congress to change the patent system and return leverage to those sued for patent infringement.’

Let’s clear the air and inject a little critical analysis on the above statements.

infringers regard all patents as ‘vague’…that belong to anyone else
patent troll=small competitor
All businesses consider settling when sued. This is true in all business litigation -not just patents. The considerations are most always
1. what will it cost to settle,
2. what will it cost to fight,
3. what are our chances of losing and what will the cost be if we lose…what is our exposure

To suggest that only the cost of fighting is considered by accused infringers is just not true. That is a lie routinely spread by large infringers and their paid lobbyists. For example, if their exposure is going out of business and their cost to settle is $50k, then they settle. Pretty reasonable, right?

The authors lose all credibility by repeating such lies. It appears their principal clients are large corps, or that at least in this instance they are working for large multinational serial infringers (thieves).

http://brileyfbr.com/our_firm/

Don’t believe the lies of thieves or their paid lobbyists. Just because they call it ‘reform’ doesn’t mean it is.

	staff on “quietly acquired”
	staff on ‘out in front’
	‘admissions of… on ‘seriously defective…
	‘STRONGER Pate… on ‘Industry funding of uni…
	staff on ‘inhibit innovation…