[hpsdr] SDR Patent application that will kill hpsdr

[Ross Stenberg]

It is no wonder that we have such a dysfunctional government. Look at 
the deficit debacle. Nothing personal Bruce...just venting.

On 8/8/2011 4:53 PM, Bruce Perens wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
>
> On 08/08/2011 01:49 PM, Erik Anderson wrote:
>>  One thing that might be good is that (as long as we don't make any 
>> changes) that suing someone for patent infringement when that exact 
>> infringement could be considered "prior art" is hopefully not 
>> considered a healthy thing to do?
> The American Intellectual Property Law Association's/Economic Survey 
> /has placed the cost of prosecuting or defending a patent case at 
> somewhere above USD$5 Million. The effect of this is that the party 
> with the deepest pockets wins by default and the other party has to 
> accept their license. There is no justice for those who can't afford 
> to spend lots of time in court. Patent claims that have little chance 
> of standing a court challenge are regularly used to extract 
> significant license fees from hapless victims.
>
> A proper reply to the application is indeed based upon the language of 
> the claims rather than the abstract. There is no law that prevents you 
> from sending a certified letter to the applicant the moment you become 
> aware of an application, not two months later, and this letter can be 
> considered as evidence that the applicant was informed of prior art in 
> any later litigation.
>
> Technically, an applicant who files without citing prior art of which 
> they are aware is a perjurer. Theoretically there is a potential of 
> jail time for perjurers. Unfortunately, USPTO disbanded their 
> enforcement department in 1974, and there have been no perjury 
> prosecutions of applicants since then, only "inequitable conduct" 
> which can be significant for the attorney or patent agent involved but 
> the only peril for the applicant is that they lose their patent. So, 
> there is really no downside for someone who attempts to shake down 
> others with an invalid patent, except that they might not succeed.
>

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