This guy...
http://www.aful.org/pipermail/patents/2000-January/000286.html
...has the craziest high tech business plan ever. He wants to search for
prior art on various companies' patents; short their stock or buy put options
on it; sue his victims to have their patents invalidated; laugh all the way
to the bank!
Cruel, elegant, and ingenious.
The nice thing is, one doesn't even have to join his company. All one
would need to do is watch whom he's going after. If his theory proves
correct with his first several victims, simply start copying his
investing behavior. If he becomes wildly successful, simply the fact
that he's suing a company should be enough to make their stock take
a bath for a while, whether or not he wins.
I originally sent this to a certain group of colleagues, but then I
realized that this guy's plan has a further-reaching significance so
I'm forwarding this to a broader audience. If frivolous patents benefit
the companies filing them at the expense of the common good, but now
lawyers can tear them to shreds and make a quick buck doing so, what
other instances of Tragedy of the Commons can this approach help solve
in a non-regulatory manner?
What if somebody forms a law firm that files class action suits on
behalf of exploited workers? Or property owners in areas that are
suffering from illegal toxic dumping by companies? Or individuals who
were harrassed or discriminated against by a particular institution?
Heck, there already are organizations like that out there-- why are
most of them non-profits? Theoretically they should be rolling in the
dough from a cut of the settlements (and from shorting the stock of the
companies they are targetting, just like Aharonian is proposing to do).
What am I overlooking?
--terrorism Special Operations Group terrorism Why are the above words in my signature? Check out: http://www.echelon.wiretapped.net
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