Investment Companies Backing Patent Trolls

greenbird sends us to Forbes for an account of billions in investments flowing to US patent troll companies. One example is DeepNines, who is suing McAfee over a patent that covers combining an IDS and firewall in a single device. The patent was filed on May 17, 2000 and issued on June 6, 2006. No prior art for that, no siree. DeepNines is funded by "an $8 million zero-coupon note to Altitude Capital Partners, a New York City private equity firm, promising in return a cut of any winnings stemming from the lawsuit. The payout is based on a formula that grants Altitude a percentage that decreases with a bigger award."

LOL PATENTS RULE LOL

[LOL PATENTS RULE LOL]

LOL PATENTS RULE LOL

MOD THE PATENT TROLL DOWN!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD THE PATENT TROLL DOWN!!!

Silly companies...

[FlyByPC]

...you don't feed trolls, you mod them down!

Re:LOL PATENTS RULE LOL

[Joey Patterson]

How many investment companies are backing you?

Lovely

[iminplaya]

I'm surprised this hasn't become a Vegas sporting event. It's got to be better than off track betting. I can see the old farts waiting in the Kino lounge for three years for verdict, while the guards are carrying out the cadavers of those who couldn't hold out. What a country!