Newegg CEO remarks against patent trolls "Screw them. Seriously, screw them"

[Snipeye]

Newegg CEO remarks against patent trolls "Screw them. Seriously, screw them"

While Other Retailers Settled, Newegg Crushes Shopping Cart Patent Troll on Appeal
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - January 28, 2013 10:06 AM

"We basically took a look at this situation and said, this is ***." -- Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng

Patent troll Soverain sued 50 different high-profile e-commerce websites over patent infringement (some big names like Amazon, Avon, and Victoria's Secret actually settled for millions with Soverain), alleging that it owned three patents pertaining to digital shopping carts. Early on, the case looked rocky for Newegg, an online technology products retailer, when the judge overseeing the case refused to allow Newegg to argue that the Soverain patent was invalid.

However, on appeal Newegg's legal team was able to trot out prior artwork to help get the patent case defeated. That prior artwork came from 1984 in the form of a magazine ad from CompuServe bragging about an electronic mall. The District Court judge had originally denied the invalidity argument because the judge said there wasn't "sufficient testimony" and that making the argument to the jury would be "very confusing" to them.

Soverain continued to argue that the system CompuServe used didn't include a "product identifier" as its patent defines. The patent troll also argued that CompuServe's system lacked a "shopping cart database." Those arguments didn't work for Soverain, as a three-judge panel decided that all of the shopping cart patent claims the company made were rendered obvious in the light of CompuServe Mall.

As a result, Soverain won't get the $2.5 million it hoped to snatch from Newegg's bank account. In addition, retailers in currently pending lawsuits will also likely be off the hook to feeding the troll.

Newegg chief legal officer Lee Cheng said in an interview with Ars Technica:

We basically took a look at this situation and said, this is ***. We saw that if we paid off this patent holder, we'd have to pay off every patent holder this same amount. This is the first case we took all the way to trial. And now, nobody has to pay Soverain jack squat for these patents.

Cheng also noted that Newegg decided to fight to the death over this lawsuit versus settling because the company is majority owned by its founder, Fred Chang. There are no shareholders to answer to, so Chang has the long-term prospects of his company in mind rather than short-term gains to temporarily help out the balance sheet.

In his parting words to Ars Technica, Cheng didn’t have many good things to say about what he calls “submarine” trolls – those that lurk under the surface for years, and then hit unsuspecting companies for millions.

“Then they pop up and say ‘Hello, surprise! Give us your money or we will shut you down!' Screw them. Seriously, screw them. You can quote me on that.”

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=29764


No swearing on the forums please -Ill Legend

 

[Cloakedsphere]

Its been awhile since you made a news post like this.

But in all seriousness. I find this hilarious and an outrageous ploy to scam a hard working company out of money. When a company builds itself into an empire how do people treat them once they are at the top? Like crap. The original owners of these big named companies should be refunded the money of this or he should be thrown in jail. These companies deserve a lot of credit. They do things average Americans simply can not. This is why I hate it when I see company fan boys freaking out at each other. They all worked hard and try to make the best product they can until someone tries to pull stunts like these.

 

[Puke-N-Snot]

Actually got word about that from a co-worker today, then found the article.
Bully for Neweg!
got to love the straight talk -


No swearing on the forums please -Ill Legend

 

[Gusyen]

Its been awhile since you made a news post like this.

But in all seriousness. I find this hilarious and an outrageous ploy to scam a hard working company out of money. When a company builds itself into an empire how do people treat them once they are at the top? Like crap. The original owners of these big named companies should be refunded the money of this or he should be thrown in jail. These companies deserve a lot of credit. They do things average Americans simply can not. This is why I hate it when I see company fan boys freaking out at each other. They all worked hard and try to make the best product they can until someone tries to pull stunts like these.

People still a pirate a game that has no DRM, is from a company that actually cares, and is insanely good.

That game is "The Witcher 2".

 

[Cloakedsphere]

People still a pirate a game that has no DRM, is from a company that actually cares, and is insanely good.

That game is "The Witcher 2".

Im confused on what you are trying to say.

Are you telling me people still pirate games without something called a "DRM?" Or are you saying its good that people pirate things?

Sorry to sound rude but the grammar threw me for a loop.

 

[Snipeye]

If I understood it right, he's responding to your post about "But in all seriousness. I find this hilarious and an outrageous ploy to scam a hard working company out of money." And his comment is how there are still people who actually pirate great games and rob those company out of the money they deserve. The other info kind of alludes to the argument about games with DRM vs No DRM (the argument for or against isn't explained however).

 

[Cloakedsphere]

If I understood it right, he's responding to your post about "But in all seriousness. I find this hilarious and an outrageous ploy to scam a hard working company out of money." And his comment is how there are still people who actually pirate great games and rob those company out of the money they deserve. The other info kind of alludes to the argument about games with DRM vs No DRM (the argument for or against isn't explained however).

Ah alright. That cleared things up for me then. Anyways. Yes - Great games should not be pirated as it just loses the company money and will eventually force them to go broke and stop making the great games we all like. Which is why I think pirated anything is a bad idea.