- Read the title: ... Giant Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures .... The author doesn't waste any time before branding Intellectual Ventures a giant patent troll.
- The author states Intellectual Ventures "does very little inventing," but according to many articles IV is busy inventing in many technology areas.
- He states IV uses more than 1,200 shell companies. This makes IV sound sneaky but it's legal. So why can't IV use shell companies to reduce its purchase costs?
- He asserts about half its patents originated outside the U.S. and IV exploits the disparities in IP valuations between the US and the rest of the world. Don't inport/export businesses exploit disparities in valuations between the US and the rest of the world?
- Mr. Rosoff states big companies invest in IV then use its patents for defense. Boo hoo some company pays for patent rights then has the audacity to file a counterclaim when it is sued. Sounds like self-defense to me.
- He notes IV's activities are compared to "privateering" in the Giant article, a now-abolished kind of warfare where countries would encourage private sailors to attack enemies ships and auction off the proceeds. This appears to refer to IV's willingness to license its patents to third parties who do the "dirty work of licensing and suing." But why is licensing and suing "dirty work?" This "dirty work" argument sounds truly lame.
- Mr. Rosoff concludes IV's business is referred to as "an ugly business, but also perfectly legal." So there you have it: "Giant Patent Troll" labeling at the front end and "ugly business" at the rear end.
- It's this negative slant that makes the siren song for more government regulation such a clunker.
- After the REVEALED article was published, Intellectual Ventures pointed Mr. Rosoff to the Intellectual Ventures corporate blog for the other side and in my opinion some necessary balance.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Intellectual Ventures and Patent Aggregators - Mr. Rosoff's Article
After I posted Intellectual Ventures and Patent Aggregators on February 29, I read Matt Rosoff's REVEALED: How Giant Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures Does Business. At first I thought nice summary of the Giants Among Us article, but now Mr. Rosoff's article seems too negative:
