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Memorial Day 2017

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I sat down this morning to write a Memorial Day column, and discovered that I like last year’s better than what I had going for this year. And, also, that there’s a problem with the site’s WordPress installation that I’ve already spent an hour on and may be messing with all day. I’m not normally into “recycling” columns, but this time I’ll make an exception. So:

This Memorial Day, Remember the Victims of Democide

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SCOTUS: Patent Trolls’ Loss is a Win for Honest Commerce

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English: The Supreme Court of the United State...
The Supreme Court of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On May 22, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously — and correctly — on a fairly obscure case that nonetheless has huge implications in an area where millions or even billions of dollars are frequently at stake. In TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, the Court came down against the practice of “forum shopping” in patent disputes. Hopefully this will reduce the incidence of “patent trolling.”

“Forum shopping” is the practice of filing suit in the court where you think you’re most likely to get the result you want. It’s a neat trick if you can get away with it, but in the normal course of things suits must be filed in the jurisdiction where the defendant resides.

Patent trolls exploited a loophole under which they could pick any jurisdiction to sue in so long as they claimed an infringement occurred there. Federal courts in Texas and Delaware became the patent litigation capitals of the US due to their troll-friendly reputations. The Supreme Court ruling restores the requirement that you must sue people where they live, not wherever’s most convenient.

So, what is “patent trolling?”

Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution empowers Congress to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” For better or for worse (opponents of “intellectual property” as such say worse), copyright, trademark, and patent are longstanding features of US law pursuant to that power.

Here’s the way patents are supposed to work: You invent something. You register your invention with the US Patent & Trademark Office, and for 20 years after that only you, or people who receive permission from you, may manufacture that invention (if it’s a physical thing), use that invention (if it’s a process), etc.

Here’s the way patent trolling works: The troll procures ownership of a patent by filing it directly with USPTO or purchasing it from its original filer. Then the troll goes around accusing companies of infringing that patent and demanding “licensing fees” or other payoffs on threat of being sued. The troll neither produces, nor pretends to want to produce, anything useful. He’s just running a scam.

Often the victim will pay up on the reasonable supposition that doing so is cheaper than going to court. And of course each victim who does pay up makes the patent troll’s potential legal case against other victims a little more plausible.

Patent trolling works best with very vague, broad specifications. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Stupid Patent of the Month” award recipients include, recently, a patent on dispatching taxi cabs, a patent on storing files in folders, and a patent on carrying trays on carts.

Obviously a little more common sense on the part of the Patent & Trademark Office would go a long way toward ridding us of patent trolls.

Failing that, the Supreme Court’s ban on “forum shopping” will at least make it harder for patent trolls to cash in. That’s a good thing.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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Donald Trump and the Politics of Whine

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“No politician in history, and I say this with great surety,” US president Donald Trump told Coast Guard Academy graduates on May 17, “has been treated worse or more unfairly” than himself.

A day later, in the wake of the US Justice Department’s appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of “Russian meddling” on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election, Trump once again offered a grandiose reference to his place in history, this time via Twitter: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”

Poor, poor Donald.  Nobody likes him, everybody hates him, guess he’ll eat some worms. And apparently he’s never heard of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, or Bill Clinton, each of whom enjoyed “witch hunts” of their own, with varying justifications and outcomes .

For decades, Trump publicly epitomized Barry Switzer’s observation that “some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” Now he’s finally made it to the big league and it turns out his whole skill set consists of kicking dirt at the umpire and trying to empty the dugouts for a brawl every time a fastball gets past him.

Irony break: One of the loudest blocs of Trump supporters in last year’s presidential campaign consisted of voters outraged by decades of identity politics and what they considered the Democratic Party’s abusive use of victim groups to gain and hold political power: You know, those spoiled African-Americans whining about being shot dead by police, those evil gay couples demanding to be treated equally in matters of marriage (never mind that The Donald is the most openly pro-LGBTQ candidate ever elected to the office — he came out for marriage equality years before Hillary Clinton did, and draped a rainbow flag over himself at a campaign rally; logic is not those particular supporters’ strong suit), etc.

So here’s their anti-victimhood hero, Little Donald, sitting in the corner of the Oval Office screeching his lungs out, waving his rattle, and waiting for Kellyanne Conway to change his diaper, give him his ba-ba, and rock him to sleep.

That’s not to say that Trump’s complaints are wholly without merit. The “Russian meddling” thing continues to run on fumes and the fervent hope of Democrats that at some point evidence will show up to substantiate it.

But every president has complaints. Pardon us for expecting presidents to handle those complaints like responsible adults instead of like spoiled toddlers.

The Constitution requires the president to be at least 35 years old. Perhaps we need a new amendment likewise requiring the president to act his age. Time to grow up, Mr. President.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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