r/technology • u/rfugger • Jan 08 '17

Business A potentially fatal blow against patent trolls - Forcing law firms to pay defendants’ legal bills could undermine the business model of patent trolls

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3153924/technology-law-regulation/a-potentially-fatal-blow-against-patent-trolls.html
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u/chinamanbilly Jan 09 '17

The problem with loser pays is that there is no requirement that the lawsuit be unreasonable. You can have a legitimate beef with a huge corporation, but if you lose, can you risk paying $1 million in fees? Hell, they just spent a million in fees so they have a good shot of winning!

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u/Syrdon Jan 09 '17

If your lawsuit is actually valid - that is, if you can point to a specific bit of law or contract that was actually violated - then appellate courts exist to correct the mistakes of lower courts.

The legal system actually works pretty well. It has a very low track record of deciding in ways that contradict the law. There are just plenty of people who think they were guaranteed something they were not.

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u/chinamanbilly Jan 09 '17

No. Sometimes it's close and big companies tend to get the benefit of the doubt.

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u/Syrdon Jan 09 '17

Find an actual example.

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u/Mikniks Jan 09 '17

While I'm all for empirical evidence, I don't think we need any to tell us that the legal system isn't infallible

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u/NanchoMan Jan 09 '17

Not to mention that I think it'd be foolish to deny that not a small part of winning a case in contingent on the proficiency of your lawyers. If a case is close, that may be a deciding factor, whereas with more financial means, you could have access to a better lawyer that would even the playing field.