We have to give former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz credit—he’s nothing if not interesting. After all, how many Fortune 500 presidents resign via Twitter haiku?
Schwartz now occupies his time blogging and commenting on the latest tech trends. His most recent post on the increasingly litigious nature of Apple caught our attention.
Buried towards the bottom, he notes the danger of NPEs and the threat they posed to Sun during his tenure. He goes on to link to a pending patent, which he defines as “an application to patent the act of trolling.”
The actual patent needs to be seen to be believed. Essentially, if Troll A owns this patent, and Troll B sues Legitimate Company C for infringement, Troll A could turn around and sue Troll B for violating its trolling patent. As Schwartz puts it, “it would give the patent holder a reciprocal claim against a patent troll.
If that’s not strange enough, get this—the patent applicant is service provider and government contractor Halliburton. Yes, that Halliburton.
Take a look at the patent application – it’s good entertainment value.