Inventor Involved In Patent Troll Tracker Lawsuit Arrested For Weapons Stockpiling

from the exactly-what-the-founding-fathers-had-in-mind dept

Thu, Feb 25th 2010 8:42pm — Mike Masnick

Sometimes you come across stories so odd, you just don't know how to classify them. You may have heard, recently, about the New England man, Gregory Girard, who was arrested for illegal weapons stockpiling in his home. The guy, who claimed that he believed Armageddon was quickly approaching, had recently told his wife both, "It's fine to shoot people in the head because traitors deserve it," and "Don't talk to people, shoot them instead." Not surprisingly, he's being held without bail for being too dangerous.

So, what does that have to do with stuff we write about here? As noted at The Prior Art, Girard is the inventor and claimed patent holder at the center of the high-profile patent infringement lawsuit that involved Rick Frenkel, who had been the anonymous guy behind the still greatly missed Patent Troll Tracker blog. As you may recall, Frenkel was sued for defamation in East Texas, after he had questioned the legitimacy of a date change on a patent lawsuit filed against Cisco (where Frenkel worked at the time). Basically, the lawsuit appeared to have been filed the day before the patent was granted and then, magically, the date changed. The lawyers involved suggested it was an honest mistake, but others suspected otherwise.

Either way, Frenkel's case settled, and (separately) the judge just recently tossed out the patent infringement lawsuit against Cisco that resulted in all of this, after realizing that it appeared that Girard and the holding company he had set up for lawsuits involving this patent didn't actually own the patent in question. Girard had developed the invention while employed by another company, which was working on similar technology, and Girard's own employment agreement said he would automatically assign any inventions over to the company. Still, during the lawsuit, Girard's lawyers tried to play him up as an All-American inventor:

"Mr. Girard is exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when they penned the Patent Clause in the basic Article I of the U.S. Constitution."

But perhaps not what they had in mind when they penned the rest of the Constitution.

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Filed Under: guns, patent troll tracker

20 Comments

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light anti tank intellectual property, 25 Feb 2010 @ 9:19pm

HE knows were coming to take him away
haha hehe hoho

To the funny farm.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2010 @ 10:17pm

I would bet that Ronald, Harold and Angry Dude all have guns.
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bob, 26 Feb 2010 @ 3:27am

LOL
Girard faces four counts of possession of an infernal device and four counts of possession of a dangerous weapon. Additional charges are pending, police said.

Infernal device, in my old house with my x wife that was the stove.

I'm guessing the tear gas was an incendiary device, but sticks as deadly weapons, lol.
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angry dude, 26 Feb 2010 @ 5:46am

Re:
"I would bet that Ronald, Harold and Angry Dude all have guns."

angry dude lives in a nice neigborhood in New Jersey and doesn't need a gun to protect his family from punks like you

He calls police instead
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angry dude, 26 Feb 2010 @ 5:58am

wrong state
As a Tea Party activist and admirer of Sarah Palin, Girard chose a wrong state for living

He would be just fine on his own ranch in Alaska or Texas, but not in a condo building in MA

Of all crazy states MA is probably the craziest

Revolution is coming
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Dark Helmet (profile), 26 Feb 2010 @ 6:46am

Re: Re:
"a nice neigborhood in New Jersey"

Of all the things I've ever read that you've said, the statement above makes the least amount of sense....
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 6:58am

Re: Re:
Does angry dude always refer to himself in the 3rd person?
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angry dude, 26 Feb 2010 @ 6:59am

Re: Re: Re:
Why ?

There are some nice places here in South Jersey... if you can afford them

Property taxes keep all the punks away
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yozoo, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:01am

In time
At least they got this guy before he took out all his frustrations and failures on innocent bystanders.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:50am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Fair enough. I've probably been to wrong areas in Jersey. Everything I've seen has indeed been a Garden State....if your garden is made of concrete...
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:51am

Re: wrong state
There is of course some irony in Tea Baggers not being comfortable in MA
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 9:52am

Re: Re: Re:
Anonymous Coward does not know the answer to Anonymous Coward's question.
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staff, 26 Feb 2010 @ 11:18am

"Frenkel, who had been the anonymous guy behind the still greatly missed Patent Troll Tracker blog"

Sure -missed by invention thieves.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 11:48am

Re: Re:
Those police consequently arrest angry dude for being belligerent and a public safety hazard.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 11:49am

Re:
Yeah, thats why its called troll tracker, so that you can track those invention thieves.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 1:24pm

Re: Re: Re:
5150 - Danger to himself and others.
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Wesley Franklin, 28 Feb 2010 @ 6:37am

Inventor Involved In Patent Troll Tracker Lawsuit Arrested For Weapons Stockpiling
The answer to your question is that the arrest and charges should have nothing to do with what you write about unless, as it appears, you are a shill for the Ciscos of the world who want to advance a proprietary view of how the patent system should work through fronts like the Patent Troll Tracker. At the very least, you could report the facts fully. The court docket in Girard's case in Texas shows that the dismissal has been appealed to the Federal Circuit Court and the order granting the motion to dismiss shows that Cisco was fined $100,000 because of behavior during discovery by Charles Verhoeven, Cisco's lead counsel described by the judge as "predicated upon the presence of such factors as willful disobedience, gross indifference to the right of the adverse party, deliberate callousness or gross negligence".
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Mike Masnick (profile), 28 Feb 2010 @ 3:59pm

Re: Inventor Involved In Patent Troll Tracker Lawsuit Arrested For Weapons Stockpiling
The answer to your question

I didn't ask a question.

as it appears, you are a shill for the Ciscos

I am hardly a "shill" for Cisco. I have never done any work for Cisco of any kind and either way, editorial on this site has never been and never will be for sale. Why would I ever risk my reputation in that manner?

Furthermore, my position on patent reform differs greatly from Cisco's. But why would that matter to you when you don't want to listen and just want to pretend what I have to say is meaningless?

At the very least, you could report the facts fully.

I wrote what I wrote based on the original article. If you feel it is incomplete, take it up with the original article's author.

The court docket in Girard's case in Texas shows that the dismissal has been appealed to the Federal Circuit Court

Standard operating procedure, so why even mention it?

Cisco was fined $100,000 because of behavior during discovery by Charles Verhoeven, Cisco's lead counsel described by the judge as "predicated upon the presence of such factors as willful disobedience, gross indifference to the right of the adverse party, deliberate callousness or gross negligence".

Again, totally meaningless to the story, so why waste space on it?

Until you are my editor, unfortunately, I don't take writing cues from you. Sorry.
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patenthitman, 13 Mar 2010 @ 10:54pm

Speaking of patent trolls...I'd like to suggest a defense to patent trolls and frivolous patent lawsuits!

http://patenthitman.com/
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World Cup Merchandise, 17 Jun 2010 @ 4:23am

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