http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/04/sony-v-red-digital-redcom.html
This blog post talks about Sony suing Red Digital, a company founded by the founder of Oakley. It seems as if Sony is going after Red Digital in retaliation. Red had previously sued Sony first. This serves as a good lesson for younger companies that have a great track record, good product, and think they are invincible. Although a larger more established company may be obviously infringing on your product, case you know you can win, it may be wise to either let it go or wait a little longer until you decide to sue. These larger companies apparently hold grudges and will have you on their radar just waiting for the right moment to strike back and this time with the intention of completely destroying you. At the end of the day, regardless of the product or infringement, the larger company has the money to keep the litigation going until it drives the smaller company into the ground. The patent litigation game is more than meets the eye, it involves a ridiculous amount of strategy.
I agree with you Cory, it is better to have a strategy for the patent litigation process. However, a lot of companies, don't look far ahead and plan only the first few steps in their litigation process. This activity can get very intricate though.
ReplyDeleteI think many of the young company's mistake is that before they consult the costly patent lawyers (to save costs), they immediately play offense role in a trial scenario because that would give them an upper hand initially.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for the smaller company, the larger and more established company has more resources.
Great read Cory. Adam Remba talked about a similar article. Sony is kind of being ridiculous and does not really need to sue. We should definitely look closely at this issue in the next couple months.
ReplyDeleteBigger companies have made patent litigation not a truthful battle between right and wrong but rather put in a lot of politics and clever strategies at play.
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