Pueblo Native wrote:
John W. Kennedy wrote:
Pueblo Native wrote:
jonathon wrote:
You are forgetting the anti-SLAPP statutes. Any patent
related litigation on unenforcible patents will be viewed as
being nothing more than a SLAPP.
Isn't that assuming that the case will be filed in a California
court? There is no such SLAPP law on the federal books.
No, but there are common-law rules about frivolous and vexatious
suits, waiting to be applied, and we can all pray that SCO v. IBM be
the occasion of these rules being reawakened.
The closest thing on the federal books is Noerr-Pennington, and if
Microsoft somehow manages to convince a judge that they are acting "in
good faith", that goes out the windows.
And frivolous and vexatious are not terms that are just thrown out
there. They are one of the most grave insults a judge can throw on
you. It's not just that you lack merit; it's saying "go back to the
short bus and quit wasting our time." As such, it's not a common
charge. Given that, I'm not about to think Microsoft's attorneys are
that stupid. If they do go to court, I'm sure they've gone through ALL
the due dilligence required and then some.
I'm afraid I no longer have that much confidence in the system. An
attitude has grown up in some circles that the tort system can be
effectively used in a protection racket. (That is, after all, what the
anti-SLAPP laws were designed to fight.) I /suspect/ that Microsoft is
planning to do just that, and I /hope/ that the court in SCO v. IBM is
going to respond to SCO's bare-faced effrontery in a way that will
result in a permanent change -- well, as permanent as these things can
be -- in the legal climate.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want Microsoft to win (or even think it has
a chance), but I think that it might be a lot easier to either dismiss
those patent claims as invalid for vagueness or non-enforcement than it
would be to launch an offensive effort such as a SLAPP.
My best-case scenario is that ruinous sanctions against SCO and their
lawyers will put the fear of God into Microsoft first. I wish for that,
not only for the sake of IBM's present position, not only for the effect
it may have on Microsoft's plans, but because I am sick to my stomach
when I see the Law's majesty treated as a whore.
--
John W. Kennedy
If Bill Gates believes in "intelligent design", why can't he apply it to
Windows?
* TagZilla 0.066 * http://tagzilla.mozdev.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
