Trolls' Cases Rolls On!

I have already written about Patent Trolls and how they are exploiting the loopholes in US Patent Laws. Well, it just took a new turn today.

We all knew that eBay already lost the Buy It Now patent suit to MercExchange and has already paid around USD 25Mil. United States Court of Appeals (a specialized court to handle just patent suits) had also already ruled earlier this year that as a general rule, if a patent suit is finalized in favor of one party, the losing side should stop using the patented material. Fair Enough! Not really!

The Supreme Court today came up with a decision of its own. The case Winner should answer four questions before the injunction takes place for the Loser-
- Has the Winner suffered an irrepairable loss/injury?
- Is there no way out?
- Is the injunction warranted, considering the harm for both parties?
- How far the public interest is harmed?

The respective case judges should analyze the answers to these questions to provide a judgement on injunction! I feel, that is for sure a well thought out judgement!

So, coming back to the cases which I had mentioned in my previous post - If at all they are brought back to court, 'Patent Trolls' have to come up with answers! I guess, the first question (as per the judgement) itself has written an answer called 'WIN' for eBay against MercExchange! (& for RIM against NTP which is a done deal. So no more court case!) Doesn't it? With no business around, where can MercExchange look for an irrepairable loss?

With this judgement, the patent suits by Trolls are likely looking for Win-Lose/Win situation for both parties. The cases will answer two questions here after:
Is it a patent infringement?
- (May Be) YES - Trolls get millions.
Should the case continue for an injunction?
- (May be) NO! - Loser continues using the Patent