MPHJ is probably the most notorious bottom feeder troll, threatening thousands of small businesses who might own scanners that scan documents and email them. It’s been so active that it’s drawn fire from the attorneys general in Vermont, Minnesota, and Nebraska. New York recently joined the fray, negotiating a settlement with MPHJ that requires the trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary. Cf. NPE, PAE, PME. See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. to refund license fees to some New York businesses.
One big complaint about MPHJ has been that its threats were empty, because it never sued anyone. (Except for one company — an earlier incarnation of MPHJ called Project Paperless sued a company called BlueWave Computing and ran when the company fought back. Soon the patents were transferred to MPHJ and a network of shell companies started sending thousands of threat letters.)
Until now.
It turns out that MPHJ’s strategy of sending thousands of demand letters to small businesses didn’t work too well. It seems that MPHJ got only seventeen companies to take licenses.
So not only did MPHJ become the symbol of the patent trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary. Cf. NPE, PAE, PME. See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. problem, it didn’t even manage to make much money for all that grief.
Well, MPHJ is madMutually Assured Destruction. A Cold War-era metaphor used in the context of patent practice to refer to the possibility that any assertion of patents by one business entity against another will be countered with assertions of patents held by the original defendant. as hell, and it’s not going to take it any more. MPHJ recently sued some big companies, including Coca-Cola, UNUM, and Dillard’s.
And in even bigger news, MPHJ has now sued the Federal Trade Commission along with all of the Commissioners. It seems that the FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]. was ready to take action and MPHJ decided to sue preemptively. MPHJ is basically claiming that it’s doing nothing wrong and the FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]. is cramping its style.
It’s clear that MPHJ has been preparing for this for a while. It sued those big companies back in November to counter the charge that its threats were empty. And the patents it’s using now are continuations of its first patent, which was filed in 1999. These continuations have claims that are much more clearly targeted at e-mailing scanners (the most recent patent just issued last year). And MPHJ submitted all of the prior artPrior art is the knowledge in the field of a patent that was publicly available before the patent was filed. that has been thrown at it to the USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO. as part of prosecuting those continuations. That arguably makes the patents stronger, rather than the worthless junk patents MPHJ was accused of using.
MPHJ is going for the big money and is openly daring the government to try and stop it. In its complaint against the FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]., MPHJ declares that its business model is constitutionally protected, and the government has no right to interfere.
MPHJ’s attitude perfectly illustrates the philosophy of the patent trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary. Cf. NPE, PAE, PME. See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. industry. According to the trolls, a patent is an unrestricted property right, and a patent owner can do anything it likes with the patent.
In MPHJ’s case, the constitutional right to do whatever it wants with its patents includes harassing innocent small businesses, as well as the occasional non-profit or Alzheimer’s patient, with bogus patent infringement claims. MPHJ is so brazen that it will even sue the FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]. to protect that supposed right.
Which patent system do we want? The one envisioned by MPHJ and the rest of the patent trolling industry, where anything goes? Or one that promotes innovation and protects both small inventors and small businesses?
If there were any doubt that Congress needs to act, I think that doubt should be gone now, don’t you agree?