So-called patent trolls are often
Ottawa-based e-commerce software company Shopify said Wednesday that patent trolls often target small businesses and startups that can’t afford to fight or lose a legal battle, thus stifling innovation.
"Shopify and our entrepreneurs are builders and innovators. They spend years, sometimes their entire lives, creating products designed to improve the world," said Shopify general counsel
"Patent trolls? They lazily sit back, burying hard-working entrepreneurs in piles of legal paperwork ...They want to destroy and stifle. And Shopify? Well, we’re done with this game."
She added people funding lawsuits pursued by patent trolls often "hide cowardly in the shadows," but in the majority of cases exact a quick payout.
Research Shopify pointed to showed companies settling or losing patent troll cases reduce investment in research and development by an average of more than
It also said 90 per cent of patent litigation cases filed each year are abandoned or settled, "making 'winners' out of the patent trolls, and victims of the forward-thinking businesses who put in the work to create and innovate."
As a result, Hertz said Shopify is pursuing litigation that will identify who is funding patent trolls in cases lodged against the company.
Hertz used the LinkedIn post to announced Shopify filed a motion Wednesday in a
In court documents, Shopify indicates publicly available documents indicate Lower48 may be receiving funding from a third-party for some or all of Lower48's legal fees.
Shopify alleges sent Lower48 a letter on
Shopify said it followed up on
Lawyers representing Lower48 in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)
© 2023 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source