Developer Claims Patent Troll Lodsys Demanded To Be Paid Via Swedish Bank To Avoid Taxes
from the no-that's-not-scammy-at-all... dept
In the past few months, we wrote about how patent troll Lodsys sued app developer Todd Moore because he called Lodsys a "patent troll." Stunningly, Lodsys' lawyer more or less admitted this to Moore's lawyer, and that allowed Moore to hit Lodsys with an anti-SLAPP motion for trying to stifle free speech. Lodsys quickly ran away, which happens semi-frequently. If you don't recall, Lodsys, which got some patents from Intellectual Ventures (though it's unclear if IV still gets a cut of any proceeds), likes to claim that a very large percentage of mobile apps infringe on its patents, and has spent the past few years sending around demand letters to shake down app developers.However, at a lunchtime talk in DC recently, Todd Moore spoke about the legal battle with Lodsys, and apparently added a fascinating tidbit that I had not seen anywhere before. As reported by Rob Pegoraro, who was in attendance, Lodsys apparently demanded Moore pay up to a Swedish bank:
Moore noted the fundamental asymmetry of patent trolling, saying he could only fight because he had pro bono representation: "Most people who can't get a free lawyer like me will settle."So, not only is Lodsys up to some fairly questionable practices concerning demanding payment over a highly questionable patent -- and sometimes going after people for exercising their free speech rights -- according to Moore's statements at this event, the company may also be trying to dodge US taxes to boot. It makes you hope that perhaps Lodsys is on the list of 25 companies that the FTC plans to investigate in detail, to understand how they operate.
He also described some blunt bargaining by Lodsys--"how much will you give us so we go away?"--with the funds to be deposited in a Swedish bank account to avoid U.S. taxes.
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Filed Under: apps, patent trolls, patents, taxes, todd moore
Companies: lodsys
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Pitiful
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"Justice" = cash
You can accuse anyone of anything more or less without fear of reprisal and if you're rich and they are (relatively) poor, they'll be almost forced to settle because they can't afford to fight it in court.
I don't know how this gets fixed (or perhaps it's by design since it totally favours corporations). Perhaps for civil disputes there should be the option of a state-provided lawyer for the defendant as for criminal law but with costs being owed by the defendant if they loose and by the plaintiff if they win...
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Re:
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Re: Pitiful
Moral is no longer specific in our society. It may be in an isolated monoculture, but not in anywhere with internet and some migration. You cannot discourage patent trolls by harsh words or moral preachings. The only way to change things is to change the system they are gaming.
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Re: Re: Pitiful
The internet provides a means to view what has always been there. I doubt it can be easily removed.
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Steal from little people, no big deal.
Steal from the man and you'll have a bad time.
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Re: Re: Pitiful
My business attorney once remarked that there is no room for ethics or morality in the conventional sense in law. The law is a set of rules, he said, and what is OK to do is purely defined by what those rules arguably allow. The intention of the law and considerations like fairness or justice simply don't enter into it.
In one short statement, he summed up exactly why people tend to hate lawyers and the field of law generally.
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Corporate taxes can be lower in Sweden than the US. Officially federal corporate tax rates in the US are between 15% and 39%, in Sweden they are 22%. But it depends on the particular company's situation. Some companies pay nothing.
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As everyone knows, breaking laws is fine... but evading taxes results in bad things happening to you.
C'mon IRS!
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maybe they they just wanted lots of ...
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Very easy way to nail the patent troll's balls to the wall
2) Use Bitcoins to order heroin on silk road
3) get it sent to patent trolls corporate offices and CEOs home
4) Phone in a DEA tip ANONYMOUSLY
5) do steps 3 and 4 several times, just to make sure DEA won't ignore it
6) watch patent troll's offices get SWAT raided and the jerkoff get a 50 year sentence for EVIL DRUGS!!!1111!!!
A few bags of silk roads finest is still cheaper than "settling" with these psychopaths
Fight fire with fire
fight psychopathy with psycopathy
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