SoftBank Owned Patent Troll Sues to Block Covid Testing, Using Theranos Patents | Hacker News Reader

SoftBank Owned Patent Troll Sues to Block Covid Testing, Using Theranos Patents

techdirt.com

123 pointsSirOibaf11 comments

If you haven't clicked through, the confluence of huckers in this story is simply unbelievable:

> Honestly, I wasn't sure how to begin this story or how to fit all the insanity into the title. It's a story involving patents, patent trolling, Covid-19, Theranos, and even the company that brought us all WeWork: SoftBank. Oh, and also Irell & Manella, the same law firm that once claimed it could represent a monkey in a copyright infringement dispute. You see, Irell & Manella has now filed one of the most utterly bullshit patent infringement lawsuits you'll ever see. They are representing "Labrador Diagnostics LLC" a patent troll which does not seem to exist other than to file this lawsuit, and which claims to hold the rights to two patents (US Patents 8,283,155 and 10,533,994) which, you'll note, were originally granted to Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos -- the firm that shut down in scandal over medical testing equipment that appears to have been oversold and never actually worked. Holmes is still facing federal charges of wire fraud over the whole Theranos debacle.

> Honestly, I'm used to all sorts of awfulness, but this one piles awfulness upon awfulness, and takes it to a level of pure evil. The lawyers filing this lawsuit on behalf of "Labrador" should remember what they've done -- filing a bullshit patent trolling lawsuit, on behalf of a shell company for a notorious giant patent troll, using patents from a sham company, and using them to try to block the use of Covid-19 diagnostic tests in the middle of a pandemic. I wonder how they sleep at night.

> That Defendants be enjoined from infringing the Asserted Patents, or if their infringement is not enjoined, that Defendants be ordered to pay ongoing royalties to Labrador for any post-judgment infringement of the Asserted Patents;

I'm trying to figure out what on Earth could make the first approach appear like a sane course of action to anyone. Apart from reeking of evil it's not like they have their own production line ready to go - they'd get nothing from it. Lawyers being lawyers playing hardball and forgetting what time it is while PR dozed off? Obviously they have to assert the patents however bullshit they may be, but goddamn.

(Yes, the stupidity basically irks me more than anything else)

Has this story been noticed by any other media outlets? If this is all true, the parties involved deserve to be shamed into oblivion, but will need more attention for that to happen.

Just got it from Bloomberg related email, so it is getting noticed...

I hope they don't have similar patents in other parts of the world. Looks like it's a US patent so can't cause too much pain outside the US

Professor Scott Galloway needs to comment on this.

This is the equivalent of hoarding toilet paper, except in this case the toilet paper is a patent.

No. Hoarding toilet paper is a harmless, if annoying, way for panicking people to cope.

This is one of the most evil thing that's been attempted in months. I sincerely hope everyone involved on the suing side will get imprisoned under some emergency "don't fuck with healthcare in the middle of pandemic" law.

Good point, I should be more careful.

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