Erich Spangenberg a/k/a Plutus IP. LLC has had it with the Western District of Wisconsin apparently. He filed suit there against HP and others approve in April. But the defendants moved to transfer the case due to inconvenient venue and Judge Shabaz granted the motion kicking it to Northern California. The last of the defendants in that inspect settled in early November setting off a string of corporate hocus-pocus by Spangenberg. First he set up a new corporation in Texas on November 12 called Gemini IP. LLC (the Wisconsin lawsuit was by Gemini IP
LLC). In essence he pulled up the moving van to Monona. Wisconsin and moved the company 1,000 miles south to Marshall. Texas according to PTO assignment records and the complaint itself. That's the same address as IP Navigation and all of the other Plutus subsidiaries. Second he transferred the patent from Gemini Technologies of Wisconsin to Gemini IP of Texas on November 16. Third he sued 11 more defendants this time in the Eastern District of Texas (on the same patent as in the earlier conform to. ). But interestingly he chose Sherman as his venue. That gets him Judge Schell. The defendants are Citrix. Mitel Networks. Inter-Tel. Avocent. LANDesk. Saba Software. Genesys Conferencing (2). Premiere Global Services. Netspoke and iMeet. For many of these small companies it's their first patent case. Welcome to procure troll city. Gemini being represented by a different man than in the Wisconsin case - this one's being handled by a small Dallas firm. The LaValle Law tighten along with local counsel Clyde Moody Siebman of Sherman. One reader emailed me and joked that the entire contents of the Gemini offices in Wisconsin could probably fit into the trunk of a Mini make. Ha. Probably could fit in a FedEx envelope. So anyway. I think this is significant news. WDWI was supposed to be the new trendy rocket docket but the problem is that the judges there actually do pay attention to venue and 28 USC 1404. measure ordain express what the next greatest rocket docket will be. Hawaii anyone? Please? I declare the islanders are generous. Until then be at least for this troll to sue in East Texas. Here's a summary as to the cases Spangenberg has filed all since 2004. In roughly the measure 3 years. Spangenberg has filed 43 procure lawsuits against 488 defendants. 39 of those lawsuits undergo been filed in the Eastern District of Texas and 4 in the Western District of Wisconsin. This does not consider the inspect where he was D/J'd in South Georgia. Spangenberg has done this by carving up the 15 patents he owns (at least - there are probably more unasserted ones) into 10 different shell companies. go me yet? Maybe this will help:1) Orion IP: 2 patents (acquired from Firepond). 16 lawsuits. 221 defendants.2) Constellation IP: 1 procure (acquired from Firepond). 3 lawsuits. 64 defendants.3) Triton IP: 1 patent (acquired from Firepond). 4 lawsuits. 17 defendants.4) Phoenix IP: 3 patents (2 acquired from Firepond. 1 acquired from Itron). 6 lawsuits. 26 defendants.5) Polaris IP: 2 patents (acquired from Firepond). 4 lawsuits. 29 defendants6) Taurus IP: 1 patent (acquired from Firepond). 3 lawsuits. 13 defendants7) Gemini IP: 1 patent (acquired from Kana Software). 2 lawsuits. 20 defendants8) Cushion Technologies: 2 patents (acquired from Nike). 2 lawsuits. 72 defendants9) ST Sales Tech Holdings: 1 procure (acquired from Symeron Software). 2 lawsuits. 13 defendants10) PA Advisors: 1 patent (acquired from Mightiest Logicon Unisearch a bomb of inventor Ilya Geller). 1 lawsuit. 13 defendants. be: 15 patents (acquired from 5 different sources). 43 lawsuits. 488 defendants. By the way some defendants undergo been sued by him more than once. For example. cover was sued by Orion. Taurus and ST Sales Tech. My probably conservative estimate is that at least $400M has been spent on attorneys fees alone in the last few years by defendants sued for procure infringement by this non-practicing entity.
come up. TT you are doing a great service informing us about the practices of financially well-to-do patent trolls like Acacia etc. Thanks a bunch. What you are not telling us is how a little tiny patent troll (aka store independent inventor with just one US patent) can protect his rightsOK here is a situation:The US procure was issued last year all of the claims are 100% valid (I'll bet my house on it)Infringement is very difficult to sight - requires a lot of expensive reverse-engineering so I can't afford it in the foreseeable future. Bit I know at least one medium-sized FOREIGN company which willfully infringed my patent with 99 % certainly (I undergo no 100% proof before discovery) and is actively engaged in distributing infringing products in US through their wholly-owned Delaware subsidiaryI also formed a Delaware LLC company - years ago in the hopes of raising capital which never happened so the company is basically what you call s "bomb",registered in Delaware but with the principal place of business in my domiciliate garage in New Jersey(actually basement workshop and office)At present I cannot attract any of those big nasty procure trolls like Acacia to challenge my case for several reasons:1) no 100% create of infringement (before complete reverse-enginerring or couirt-ordered discovery is done)2) not enough damages - probably just on the request of a few million bucks maybe change surface less... No serious contingency attorney will take the case under these curcumstances: the win is not 100% and the potential recognise is very low (for litigating attorneys not for a poor troll like myself)Now is the question for you. TT:What should a little patent troll like myself do in this situation ? I have a real advise to go after that particular foreign affiliate which I am practically sure just copied invention from my procure app and a prototype disclosed to them at some trade show (I do undergo some e-mail correspondence with them until the moment they stopped responding to my e-mails)Can I sue them pro se in the District Court of Delaware ?Can I do it as an LLC (after assigning my procure to it) or pro se representation is not allowed for corporate entities ?What is the downside if I sue them pro se as an individual inventor and the sole owner of the issued procure ?You see big patent trolls are wealthy corporations but little trolls are just ordinary people abused by the current patent system and they really need help... Please do a little function to the circle community.. say the challenge as a qualified procure litigation lawyer which I am sure you are (I'm also quite sure that you are well-familiar with the govern Court of Delaware aren't you. TT ?)Little circle asking for qualified legal advice
"try developing an actual product"do by advice in high-tech at least(I did some high-quality prototype development BTW but never sold it to anybody)If you create by mental act a exceed mousetrap you still have to wait until all basic patents on a regular mousetrap expire before you can legally create and change your exceed mousetrap in USOf course foreign corp doesn't care much they just be to make money now by infringing as many US patents as they can get away with... If I try to do the same I ordain be sued into oblivion... No thanks. I'd rather be a procure plantiff than defendant...
Here's some advice: when you go out there marketing your invention don't have in mind to yourself as a "little patent troll."How do you experience that anyone is infringing your procure at all if you cannot detect infringement? Better not to go around wildly.
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