Floyd Norris writes a worthwhile business column for The New York Times. He’s done yeoman work exposing corporate fraud, for one thing.
Norris’ article of October of 2013, “Extracting a Toll From a Patent ‘Troll’,” offers a good and detailed summary (as good as it gets in mainstream media) of the issues at stake in Octane, now up for Supreme Court review.
But it leaves open the most important question. As right as it appears on its face, introducing a predicate for the award of attorney fees to the winner in a litigation amounts to a strong disincentive even to justified litigation. It’s a slippery slope.
Who wants to slip on a running machine?
MIMI
