Patent Troll finally sees patents overturned

Scatterbrained

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For those of you who aren't familiar with the case, for the past year there has been a lawsuit in the works involving Peter Wolf and Capstone photography. Peter basically patented the "take a picture and use identifying characteristics (bib number) to allow people to search for it on your website" idea. After getting the patent he sues people, settles, and collects a license fee.:sour: When he tried to sue Capstone he encountered someone who wouldn't roll over.:gun: PetaPixel - Photography and Camera News, Reviews, and InspirationPetaPixel - Photography and Camera News, Reviews, and Inspiration

Apparently the judge filed a Judgment of the Pleadings yesterday based on the pleadings filed by Capstones attorney. The judgement overturns all three patents. :bouncingsmileys:

I thought I'd share this rather good news.:goodvibes: For anyone here shooting sporting events there's a few cents extra per image sale you can keep in your own pocket. :applouse:
 
Is this the case of the big sports photo company trying to monopolize the market by suing and bankrupting smaller companies?

I read a story about it a while back but wasn't sure if this was the same guy.
 
Is this the case of the big sports photo company trying to monopolize the market by suing and bankrupting smaller companies?

I read a story about it a while back but wasn't sure if this was the same guy.
Pretty much. I don't know how big his company is, but he pretty much threatens lawsuits (or just sues) everyone into compliance knowing they can't afford to fight it. Meanwhile service providers were just tacking the fee onto photographers sale prices.
 
I just created a visio workflow...I wonder if we should patent it?
 
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This sounds similar to what Adam Carolla is going through. Patent trolls are scum.
 
Very interesting.

For nearly 20 years, I worked for a couple of companies that timed races (most often 5 & 10k's and sometimes half marathons). We dealt with the race photographers all the time. In fact, most of them obtained a database of the participant names and bib #'s from the race directors / owners.

Wondering how many had to deal with this nutbar.
 
what is a WEB site?

I'm surprised no one else fought this earlier. I'd have laughed with someone holding a patent over a workflow threatened suit.

I'd patent the workflow for filing a suit, and then coutnerthreaten.
 
I lay some of the blame at the Patent office - so long as they are lax in what they let be patented things like this will happen.

Braineack the problem is that the costs of going to court as well as the time and stress are far too high for many smaller companies (which might only have a handful or even 1 person running them). So all that needs to be done is to charge less on court costs in "licenses" and the guy can earn a nice little sum of money off multiple little companies. It's a neat way to abuse the patent system whilst being perfectly legal.

It tends to come un-stuck if they get above themselves and challenge a bigger company or simply find a smaller company prepared to go through the courts (and who can hire a competent lawyer).
 
Imagine what turmoil there would be if Al Gore decided to patent and enforce his invention; the internet !!
 

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