Former Patent Attorney Turned Patent Litigant… Sues Other Patent Lawyers
from the the-devil-you-know dept
A growing number of patent attorneys who have worked on cases for patent hoarders have realized that it’s such a lucrative game (and it really is a game — one that wastes money and harms innovation — but a game, nonetheless) that they’ve jumped ship, either getting or buying patents themselves and launching lawsuits. An anonymous reader points us to one such lawyer who didn’t only do that, but has chosen a rather interesting target for his patent lawsuits: other patent lawyers. Yes, that’s right. Patent lawyer Wes Whitmeyer apparently got a couple of patents (5,895,468 and 6,182,078) covering ways to manage patent payments, and he’s now going after other law firms.
What’s particularly unusual is who Whitmeyer is targeting: IP law firms, which are trained to either dish out the pain–or parry the blows–on behalf of others, but rarely find themselves accused of patent infringement. But no less than eight law firms are now in that position, thanks to Whitmeyer’s patent claims.
In June, through his patent-holding company WhitServe LLC, Whitmeyer sued seven law firms: Brinks Hofer Gilson & Leone; Dinsmore & Shohl; Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aranoff; Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Kusner & Jaffe, Mueting, Raasch & Gebhardt; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Apparently, Whitmeyer has sued a bunch of companies that make software for managing patent payments (how the hell is that not an obvious offering?), and won one of the lawsuits. The law firms listed above are apparently all customers of that firm, CPi. So, beyond attacking other patent attorneys, Whitmeyer is double dipping here. This is allowed, but it’s yet another example of how ridiculously distorted the patent system has become.
The article also points out some other incredible parts of this story. CPi, which has been in business for over half a century, is being accused of willful infringement and for copying Whitmeyer’s patents. CPi’s CEO claims that’s false, and notes that he’d never heard of Whitmeyer until he sued CPi. But where it gets really ridiculous is that Whitmeyer’s lawyers are asking the court to increase damages just because CPi’s CEO called Whitmeyer’s patents “silly.” Who knew that expressing an opinion on egregious patents might get you hit with greater damages?
This sort of situation is not what the patent system is supposed to encourage.
Filed Under: patent attorneys, patents
Companies: cpi, whitserv
Comments on “Former Patent Attorney Turned Patent Litigant… Sues Other Patent Lawyers”
Talk about breeding and eating your own kind,
See what I said about incentive?
I swear… It’s like I don’t even know how to ask about how we can change the incentives anymore. It just seems like the Supreme Court has to come down and tell people “sue in bad faith, get convicted, you pay court costs”
Right now, the entire system really is wonky.
It’s nice to see them attacking each other for once. No honor among dogs who eat other dogs apparently.
I guess it’s too much to hope that maybe they’ll destroy each other and leave the rest of the people who actually produce something alone.
Circle the wagons
I’m with you, Mike, I hate people like this. 🙂
Lower than theives
I mean damn there’s even some degree of honor among theives. This should proof positive that the patent system is a mess that needs to be cleaned up badly.
Re: Lower than theives
No, it needs to be cleaned up well. 😉
We need a loser pays system…
On the bright side
another patent lawyer dropped out and became one of the most lucid critics of IP.
Readers interested in this post might also be interested in a story I wrote about Whitmeyer’s company last month, located here.
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202464370148
Whitmeyer story
Whoops, I didn’t mean to be an AC!
The previous comment and link was left by me.
Do we still need more proof that the system has a problem and needs severe changes?
Re: Spare some change?
Until the unrest foments an armed revolution; there are no problems.
; P
Re: Re: Spare some change?
“You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all (THIS PORTION OF COMMENT DELETED PENDING COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LEGAL ACTION)”
Dog-eat-dog capitalism.
Combined with the lawyer’s medieval guild. Both looting a dying civilization.
Lawyers fighting lawyers? I see no problem here.
Doggy dog world?
The law give it, the law take it.
Then some people don’t understand why so many people are starting to ignore the law.
Re: Re:
Doggy dog world?
LOL, it’s “dog eat dog world”.
Satire IRL
Wow – this is excellent !
Stop with the "patent system is broken" nonsense
It is so easy to blame and say that the patent system is broken. The patent system’s primary purpose is to encourage innovation. If it stops encouraging innovation, then the system can be called broken. Just because other activities are happening does not mean that the patent system is broken. To the extent that a patent system can stimulate innovation, it is still working. Nothing’s perfect. This is just a case of an individual attorney trying to make some money.
Re: Stop with the "patent system is broken" nonsense
“It is so easy to blame and say that the patent system is broken. “
It’s so easy to say that 1 + 2 = 2. Lets try and argue that it’s five instead.
This Could Be A Good Thing
The first sign of the whole patent system imploding?
A patent lawyer with a patent on patent trolling is suing patent lawyers for patent trolling.
“This sort of situation is not what the patent system is supposed to encourage”
That’s an assumption which seems to fly in the face of all available evidence. Just because that’s not why the patent system was created, it doesn’t mean it’s not what the current system is supposed to encourage.
What a bunch of average_joes…
Meta-trolling
Wow, so here we have meta-trolling. What about meta-meta-trolling, or more generally (meta)^N-trolling?:)
His bio indicates that he was lead counsel in Knorr-Bremse, both at the trial and appellate level. It doesn’t say who he has worked for in the past.