Comment by mirzap | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mirzap | Hacker News Reader

I always admired George, his simplicity and vision. But after this I respect him even more:

  What he didn’t take into account is that comma isn’t run by rational actors in suits sitting on a committee. It’s run by me, George Hotz. I’m willing to lose $1M before I give him $10k. We will hire an amazing legal team, fight this, and while doing so invalidate his patents so they can’t be used against anyone else. Not because it’s rational, but because it’s the right thing to do.

This only can come from a strong character. Very rare these days where everybody calculates their angles even in matter of just cause or "right thing to do so" staff. Sometimes you need to get hit for good cause. You'll get stronger, but more importantly society as a whole will get stronger. Every win against patent trolls matters. Who knows how many great companies did they destroyed, which would make big change in our world. How many inventions delayed. Fuck them George.

“Right thing to do”, or, “punch back 10 times harder so the next troll thinks twice.”

Both work for me. When people trumpet their altruism, I usually don’t buy it.

I don’t really care about geohotz motivation though. Glad to see someone with the means standing up to the trolls.

It's possible that the "lose $1M before I give him $10k" schtick is bluster. If you're facing a fight with someone, then convincing them that you're crazy, and that you're prepared to risk everything to beat them, might make them run away.

Incidentally, can you invalidate a patent, so the troll can't use it any more, if the troll declines to defend the patent? Can they just walk away, and then assert it against some other mark?

From my understanding, you have to go to court to invalidate an issued patent

Yes, that's my understanding too. But if the party asserting the patent decides not to defend it, and drops their claim against you specifically, can you go ahead and invalidate the patent in court? If you can, and there's no defence, then presumably the patent is invalidated by default.

But it seems rather odd; in normal civil proceedings, you have an adversary against whom you allege some kind of wrongdoing. Who is your adversary if you are attacking a patent that nobody cares to defend? Can you bring a case against the patent itself?

I understand that in parts of the USA, the police can sue a car, a house, or a sackful of cash, so it's not beyond reason.

If the filed a suit against you, you can counterclaim the invalidity of the asserted patents. And even if they drop the claims against you, you still have the claim that their patent is invalidity.

If they just threaten you, can still sue the patent owner for a "declaratory judgement" that their patent is invalid, though you have to show harm in order for the court to hear the case. So if they promise not to sue or your customers, the case may get dismissed.

You can always file an Inter Partes Review at the patent office to attack any patent.

> You can always file an Inter Partes Review at the patent office to attack any patent.

I see. So that sounds like the simplest, clearest course. Presumably it's in practice the most difficult, expensive and time-consuming route.

It's actually the easiest, least expensive, and quicker option.

This is the logic of companies that never settle. They want a track record of always going to court as this deters stupid lawsuits.

> This only can come from a strong character.

You need to be able to afford it.

They aren't saying all strong characters would do this, but that those who would do this have strong character

Plenty of troll settlements happen where the sued party could've afforded fighting it

I love George Hotz. Respect bro

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