Oracle Sues Lodsys For Patent Trolling

RWarrior(fobw) writes "PJ reports at Groklaw that Oracle has sued well-known patent troll Lodsys, asking for declaratory judgement in the Eastern District of Texas that Oracle and its customers don't need Lodsys licenses, and that Lodsys patents are invalid anyway. 'It seems that Lodsys has been going after Oracle customers, and they in turn have been asking Oracle to indemnify them. Lodsys, methinks, has made a mistake. One doesn't go after Oracle's money. No. No. Never a good plan. I suspect Oracle will go for damages, tripled, and all their expenses, legal fees, etc. when this is over.' PJ also points out that which companies are the good guys and which are the bad guys depends on which case you're looking at. "

Re:The enemy of my enemy ...

[Isaac Remuant]

From the groklaw article.

See why I always tell you that to avoid whiplash, don't look at the parties in litigation and decide who you like, but anaylze the issues involved and plant your flag accordingly? Hence, here we are, on the same side of this issue, Groklaw and Oracle. Who'd-a thunk it last week?

Not a suit for "trolling"

[Theaetetus]

A suit for "trolling" would be a suit over malicious prosecution, or harassment, or extortion, or something like that. This is a suit for noninfringement and declaratory judgement, saying that (i) Oracle doesn't infringe 4 Lodsys patents; and (ii) even if they do, the patents are invalid. These are the same claims that every defendant files in their response when they get sued. Oracle is simply taking a preemptive shot, presumably because Lodsys sent them a letter asking them to take a license.

The only odd part is that when accused infringers take this preemptive shot, they usually don't do it in the Eastern District of Texas. It's actually one of the reasons to file first when someone hints at a lawsuit - you get to choose where to go.

Re:Who's the bigger troll here?

[amicusNYCL]

The Oracle vs. Google case was not about patent trolling, that was about Oracle trying to get money from Google any possible way they could. It turns out that they couldn't, but you can't really blame them for trying (it's their nature). That is distinct from a patent troll, where they go and acquire patents specifically for the sole purpose of extorting other companies. Oracle at least makes legitimate revenue doing legitimate engineering work.

I believe that case wasn't even about patents though, it was about copyright.