Lodsys: The Patent Troll Responds

Lodsys: “There are lots of bills in life that it would be preferable to not pay if one didnâ€ t have to. Lodsys is just trying to get value for assets that it owns, just like each and every company selling products or services is, trying to do business and make a profit. Its odd that some of the companies that received notices had such a visceral reaction. Some of these companies have our favorite apps, for which we paid the asking price. We realize you have to get paid for your work and so do we.”

The Troll responds.

Their extortion fee is 0.575%.

What’s really bogus about this is they’re looking to shake out fees for “past usage.” Even if they could collect today it’s not very nice to turn someone upside down and shake them until coins fall from their pockets.

Our patent system1 is completely busted. Like in this case. There’s a guy sitting somewhere trying to collect fees for doing NOTHING. Oh, sure, the shell company bought a patent from someone else, but they didn’t actually do the inventing. He’s probably an ex divorce lawyer or used car salesman. I’m sure there are many fine folks in East Texas, but why would you want to share where you live with vermin like this?

1. Disclaimer: I’m actually a co-author on a patent. I also asked to be removed from other patents, after this one, because I believe they’re not used the way they were intended.