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Comment by rohamg | Hacker News Reader

Dont worry about that: developing a reputation for aggressively fighting patent trolls has the effect of dissuading trolls from targeting newegg in the first place. Trolls are likely to target others for a quick settlement rather than risk losing their golden goose at trial (as happened here).

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And this long-term view is, I suspect, how NewEgg justifies the short-term risk of losing a trial. Never negotiate with terrorists.

Isn't it odd that this is exactly what patent trolls have become? How many people (especially small company owners) are living in teror of being sued, or have already been sued, for being in violation of completely asinine patents?

They've all pretty much been reduced to "X on a computer" or "X over a network" with "X" being ideas that are in many cases decades old and if patented, long since those patents have expired.

I guess this is what we get with patent office incompetence and rubber-stamp-happy inspectors. The patent office a little while ago asked for "feedback" on the software patent issue. I had a good chuckle.

SOYLENT TERRORISM IS CORPORATE PEOPLE!

If you think "Don't negotiate with terrorists" is just overdramatizing, then you've misread. It's actually a reference to an interesting bit of theory about deterrence. A country which has a history of negotiating with terrorists will tend to get more terrorists making demands of them. Conversely, a country which steadfastly refuses to ever negotiate, even when this hurts them, will not get as many terrorist demands.

This kind of reasoning also applies to border skirmishes, contract disputes, and patent trolls.

Newegg is saving themselves millions of $ a year from being a patent-troll nightmare. I suspect many patent trolls try to avoid them, especially after this.

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