i wrote about it in the past, and it is becoming worst.

it seems like every day there is a new failed company suing a successful company for infringing on its patents (a failed company is actually a good case, in many cases the company filing the lawsuit never tried to build a real business but rather started by buying a patent and hiring lawyers on success fee).

the latest case in the news is Net2Phone suing Skype. since Skype got acquired by eBay it has been sues by at least 3 companies, all looking to stick their hands into eBay's deep pockets.

it is getting to the point where it is out of control, and is starting to hurt businesses. the whole patent system should be changed, it is old, corrupt and misguided, and now it is being abused. it has become Plan B for many companies, and i hear it from start-ups more and more "well we're building a real IP portfolio, so even if we don't make it as a business we can always sue anyone that goes into that space". and this is the good ones, the bad ones are lawyers with an entrepreneurial spirit who want to go into the business of buying patents and than suing companies.

there are 2 approaches: focused and big, spread and small.

Focused and Big - this is the case of NTP vs. RIM. go after a big company with deep pockets and threaten to put it out of business. it takes years, but the reward could be huge (ask RIM..).

Spread and Small - this is the case of Accacia vs. the rest of the world. go after hundreds thousands of companies. ask them for a small license fee (e.g. $5000), otherwise you will sue. for most companies it makes more sense to pay than to pay legal fees. so they pay. pure extortion business.

obviously i have a problem with both tactics, and i hope sooner rather than later the laws will be changed, but since i have zero faith in this (or the next) congress i am not optimistic on this one. it going to get much uglier before it gets better.