[erichocean]

> Apple, Argosy Publishing, Blockbuster, Citigroup, eBay, Frito-Lay, JP Morgan Chase, New Frontier Media, Office Depot, Perot Systems, Playboy Enterprises International, Rent-A-Center, Sun Microsystems (bought by Oracle while this litigation was underway), and Texas Instruments.

^^ The list of companies who settled with Eloas before the patent was ruled invalid.

A part of me wishes companies had a legal obligation to fight patent claims they believed to be invalid. Settling hurts us all.

[throwaway64]

then an agreement that the patent is valid would simply be included in the settlement.

[ars]

Can the companies that settled ask for their money back?

[yardie]

Most likely not. They buy the licence to indemnify themselves, like insurance. But when you don't use your insurance you don't get the money back.

[ben0x539]

It's closer to a protection racket than insurance in this case, isn't it?

[yardie]

Yup, that basically sums up how patent trolling works. Threaten with a government backed court order for unknown millions. Offer a special deal worth hundreds of thousands to take away that threat.

Public corporations tend to go with option 2 even though they know 75% of it is bullshit. They have to list any outstanding lawsuits as liabilities every quarter. Investors ask lots of questions about these liabilities. Expenses are cheaper than liabilities so it's better to turn those liabilities into relatively, small expenses than potentially large liabilities.

Small private companies also go for option 2. Cheaper to pay them off than be billed $200/hour for a lawyer and the court fees.