Patent issues can be expensive

07.05.2008

The patent infringement suits filed in a Missouri district court by 1st Technology this week against seven more online gambling companies (see previous InfoPowa report) has already triggered extensive Internet blog comment, including some interesting observations at Covers.com.

Poster Freedom@stake, who appears to have some expertise in the intellectual property field, observed that by concentrating on mainly offshore casinos, 1st Technology has shrewdly targeted managements that may have reasons not to visit America, adding a level of complexity to "...a defense which the outdated American patent system already makes pretty difficult."

The poster goes on to explain that the [US] system is set up very much in favour of the patent-holders, and "defending a suit can get very expensive in a hurry."

"A company can easily get wrongfully included in a patent suit, and still have to spend $100K or more just to get their name taken off the suit - and there is zero hope for a return of court costs," the poster observes, before informing readers that patents are only applicable in the countries in which they are filed.

"However, as the Bodog situation proved, that doesn't mean that foreign companies can simply ignore any lawsuits and be damned with the results," he cautions. "As Bodog learned when it lost its domain to 1st Technology, there are many ways in which compensation can be applied. Furthermore, many countries have treaties where legal judgments entered in one country can be enforced in others.

"So, no matter where you are, you still need to file a defense, no matter how much of an expensive nuisance it is," Freedom@stake concludes.