Hacker Cinema
The Patent Scam
2017 · Film · documentary · 110 min
Directed by Austin Meyer
The corruption runs deeper than you'd ever imagine. A multi-billion dollar industry you've never heard of. This is the world Patent Trolls thrive in: A world created for them by our own U. S. Patent system. You can be sued for clicking on a hyperlink, using your own scanner, or sharing your Wi-Fi! It sounds insane, but the reality is even crazier. Patent Trolls look for obvious ideas, patent them, and then sue anyone they claim is infringing on their idea. People's lives and businesses are being destroyed.. and they have no way out. “The Patent Scam” exposes the underbelly of this system, and the people that commit this practice.
3 positive1 neutralfrom 4 commenters
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5 comments on Hacker News
If you want to learn more about how patent system works and how the troll lawyers take advantage of society by using it to terrorize inventors, I recommend you watch the documentary by X-Plane's creator Austin Mayer, The Patent Scam.
https://www.thepatentscam.com/
I'm not sure a movie called "The patent scam" is going to be seen as an unbiased, convincing source by any fence sitter.
I recently watched the documentary The Patent Scam with the XPlane guy... it was disturbing to say the least. My question is this... With "method" patents being an absolute joke, what would stop me from patenting, "A method of acquiring patents for the sole purpose of litigating infringement without actually creating a licensable alternative"? I'm serious, these patents seems so stupid, I don't see why you couldn't just get that patent and sue all of these people?
Then again, if it is patentable, I'm sure some troll owns that one too.
Good documentary, though. It's currently on Hulu.
Thanks for that reply! My understanding of this issue is solely based on the Patent Scam movie. Its actually made by the person who got sued because he sold an app on Google Play store! (basically anyone selling on Play Store could be sued this way).
In addition to the burden of discovery that you have mentioned, the fact that US allows an idea to be patented, is the root cause of this pain. Once that is addressed, innovation can thrive.
Could this also be because the judge in that district court is about to retire and most of the patent lawsuits were filed by his sons who are attorneys in the same district court holding several shell companies?
Update: my source is this mind blowing documentary called Patent Scam (on amazon prime) which mentioned this conflict of interest. It’s way too unbelievable, but I believe it is true because otherwise the movie maker would be sued like crazy if it was a lie.