EFF: Trolling Effects - New Web Resource Launched to Shine Light on Patent Trolls

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Contact:

Adi Kamdar
   Activist
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   adi@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x144

Julie Samuels
   Staff Attorney and The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   julie@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x112

Trolling Effects: New Web Resource Launched to Shine Light
on Patent Trolls

Coalition Led by Electronic Frontier Foundation
Crowdsources Demand Letters

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
and a coalition of organizations and law schools today
launched the newest tool in the fight against patent
trolls: Trolling Effects (trollingeffects.org). The online
resource aims to unite and empower would-be victims of
patent trolls through a crowdsourced database of demand
letters and to serve as a clearinghouse of information on
the troll epidemic.

"Patent trolls will no longer be able to hide under a cloak
of legal darkness," EFF Activist Adi Kamdar said. "Trolling
Effects will shine a light on companies that abuse the
patent system to shake down innovators."

Patent trolls use the threat of expensive and lengthy
patent litigation to extort settlements from innovators
large and small. Because the majority of these threats
never become lawsuits, most of the threatening letters
never show up in public dockets.

In June, the White House joined calls from Congress for
more transparency around demand letters. Trolling Effects
aims to provide that transparency. The site will allow
demand-letter recipients to post the documents online, find
letters received by others, and research who is really
behind the threats. The site also features comprehensive
guides to the patent system and a blueprint for patent
reform. Journalists, academics, and policy makers will find
the site a one-stop resource for researching the patent
system.

"Trolling Effects began with the idea that people need to
come together to defeat patent trolls," said EFF Staff
Attorney Julie Samuels, who also holds the Mark Cuban Chair
to Eliminate Stupid Patents. "Innovators who previously
would have had to face the troll threat alone can use this
new collaborative tool to share information and
intelligence."

Other members of the Trolling Effects coalition include:
Application Developers Alliance, Ask Patents, Engelberg
Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU School of Law,
Engine Advocacy, Public Knowledge, PUBPAT, and the
Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at
Berkeley Law.

Trolling Effects is one of several ways EFF is combating
the troll plague on the U.S. patent system. Currently, EFF
is collecting information on legislative proposals as part
of its Defend Innovation project and will publish a report
later this year. EFF also recently launched an effort to
challenge patents held by Personal Audio, a notorious
patent troll that has been shaking down podcasters across
the country.

"The tide is turning on patent trolls," said EFF Staff
Attorney Daniel Nazer. "The more people learn about their
business practices, the more pressure we're able to put on
them. It's time to shut down this business model once and
for all."

For this release:
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/trolling-effects-new-w...

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading
organization protecting civil liberties in the digital
world. Founded in 1990, we defend free speech online, fight
illegal surveillance, promote the rights of digital
innovators, and work to ensure that the rights and freedoms
we enjoy are enhanced, rather than eroded, as our use of
technology grows. EFF is a member-supported organization.
Find out more at https://www.eff.org.


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