The House of Trolls in Marshall, Texas
8/12/2011 3:10 PM
East Texas in general and the town of Marshall in particular were immortalized last month on the weekly public radio show This American Life. Unfortunately, it was not fame that was bestowed on us, but infamy.
This particular episode was devoted to patent trolls, which the show's host, Ira Glass, defined as "companies that make no products, but go around suing other companies that do make products, over supposed patent infringement."
According to Glass, "Patent lawsuits are so common now that it's hard to find even one
semi-successful startup in Silicon Valley that has not been hit with a suit, which slows
innovation, makes it harder for companies to prosper, hurts our global competitiveness [and] costs us all more money when we buy the stuff these companies sell."
The trail of one such troll led the show's reporters to 104 E. Houston St. in Marshall -- the Baxter Building, "a nondescript two-story building on the town's main square, two doors down from the federal courthouse."
A company called Oasis Research is allegedly headquartered there, in Suite 190. Only there were no lights on in their place of business, in the middle of a work day, and no one responded to the reporters' knock. Phone calls defaulted to an answer machine and were not returned.
Other, similar companies apparently make their homes in the Baxter Building.
"All the other doors looked exactly the same: locked, nameplates over the door, no light coming out. It was a corridor of silent, empty offices," the report said.
What gives?
"It turns out, a lot of those companies in that corridor -- maybe every single one of them -- are doing exactly what Oasis Research is doing. They appear to have no employees. They are not making new inventions here. They're filing lawsuits for patent infringement," the report said.
This is not news to us, of course, but now, to our shame, radio listeners know that East Texas has become a mecca for patent trolls. Legislative action needs to be considered to curtail such practices that stifle business creativity and kill job growth.
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Comments on this article
Just completely disregard the inventors..After all
they can't afford to cover the court costs to gain
their rightful recompense for their efforts anyway..
When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you're sore as a boil, it's according to Hoyle
To co ck your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it's easy to blow . . .
It's the hell-served-for-breakfast that's hard.
"You're sick of the game!" Well, now, that's a shame.
You're young and you're brave and you're bright.
"You've had a raw deal!" I know -- but don't squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It's the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don't be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit; it's so easy to quit:
It's the keeping-your-chin-up that's hard.
It's easy to cry that you're beaten -- and die;
It's easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope's out of sight --
Why, that's the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try -- it's dead easy to die,
It's the keeping-on-living that's hard.
What role,,,if any did our shareholder rep play in this fiasco??
It would seem that he was,,,"ON DUTY" during this time..
This was all allowed to happen because of the GAG provisions of the
Master agreement..
Anyone who would view this entire landscape,starting with the MA and
the NDA's through the 'secrets' that were kept from the shareholders
by the various entities involved in the licensing ,would "NOT" fail to see a
Plan that was devised to "RIP OFF" CHUCK MOORE,and the shareholders of PTSC.!!
It seems to me that if it weren't for the apparent serendipitous
discovery brought to light by an infringee,We would still be selling
Licenses,while getting virtually NO income to the S/Hs..
One important question that must be answered is this: Was anyone at PTSC,
Past or present "IN ON" this conspiracy for their personal enrichment??
We seem to be getting little bits and pieces of this puzzle as time passes,
and it is adding up rather quickly to a picture of deceit and dishonesty by
a 'group effort',since any reasonable person would NOT see how the various
participants would NOT be aware of the glaring discrepancies in the division
of the MMP income..
It would be reasonable to conclude that the purchase/acquisition--(There
are lawsuits that idicate that these purchases by Leckrone were NOT properly consumated)--of these other entities,(Core flash,etc),was to provide a vehicle to aid in the accomplishment of this--"RIP OFF"-- of the shareholders..(Just used as a temporary prop to facilitate the transfer of funds).
In addition to the question of the cheating of PTSC and/or Moore,there is
the possibility of a IRS TAX Liability shortfall,which might bear A look-see..
Feel free to add to or embellish these peculiarities..
Some of you really should review court documents. I have held back too long on this one. From the declaration of Carlton Johnson in the PTSC vs TPL litigation. It is obvious that he suspected commingling long before the 2010 complaint was filed. Why didn't our BoD do anything at that time?
"In late 2008, I learned of negotiations underway between TPL and a third party leading to settlement of one of the patent Infringment litigation matters. In that same case, the MMP portfolio was the primary focus of litigation, but that defendant had also sued TPL for declaratory relief that it was not infringing on TPL's Core Flash patent portfolio in which Patriot had no involvement The case settled by negotiated terms of MMP and Core Flash patent licenses to the third party. During the course of that negotiation, I observed firsthand that the numbers changed such that the settlement consideration paid by that defendant became more heavily weighted in favor of the Core Flash portfolio and away from the MMP component. I asked questions about this of Mr. Leckrone and never received satisfactory answers."
Declaration of Carlton M Johnson, Jr., dated April 21, 2010
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