Last week, Microsoft got taken to the
cleaners in an East
Texas patent infringement case to the tune of over $100
million. With the patent system in
shambles, these days even six figure damages don’t come as much of a
surprise.
It’s when you dig deeper that the case
becomes
interesting. The plaintiff in the case is the previously unheard of
VirnetX. Boycott
Novell, among others, has identified
them as a classic troll. Not surprisingly, they’ve never sold a product.
The
five year-old company has but 12 employees.
However, most of the NPEs we’ve
encountered have unleashed
their broad patents to take out a slew of large companies—sometimes up
to 20 or
30. However, VirnetX doesn’t fit this mold. As Seattle PI points out,
it appears to have been formed for the express purpose of suing
Microsoft—and
only Microsoft—regarding VPN technology patents.
Indeed, just a week after its big win,
VirnetX is going back to
the well. They’ve filed yet another infringement
suit against Microsoft, this time
over Windows Vista and XP. And sure enough, they’re counting on the
District of
East Texas to double down on its unwavering support of troll behavior.
