Earlier this year, online retailer Newegg knocked out a software patent that would reach the heights of infamy only after its death—a patent claiming to own the idea of an online “shopping cart.” Soverain Software had used that patent (and a few others) to score untold tens of millions in royalty payments. Its fully fleshed-out website is an empty husk, with phone numbers and e-mail addresses that do nothing. At trial, the company admitted to never having made a sale. Soverain is a group of lawyers who hold a batch of patents. (via “Shopping cart” patent troll tries to save itself, gets pounded by Newegg | Ars Technica)
NewEgg’s lawyer Lee Cheng decided not to just pay up to avoid court, and so Soverain, one of the firms that makes nothing but trouble and money suing on tenuous patent claims, goes down.
Barbara K Iverson 