They approached the companies with the infringment fact and the companies refused to sign. There have been at least 3 companies that have settled thus far with Apple being one of them. I think that Dell may be another one at this point, however. I did see that Disney settled with them, but I did not see Tyco settlement news. We know that both Tyco and Disney have settled with us. So many of the same companies and with James Ottenson as the attorney--there has to be dots. Maybe this is why we changed legal rep. rather recently--Otterson was already prepared for the battle. I have highlighted the sections below

http://tacticalip.com/2011/04/15/walker-digital-sues-the-bejesus-out-of-everyone/

Thalwitzer

Walker Digital, an R & D lab for tech patents, known mostly for founding Priceline.com, has sued some really big computer/internet companies (and some others) for allegedly unauthorized use of its IP rights.

“We are disappointed that after reaching out to so many companies in an effort to secure reasonable licenses, we were consistently told that without litigation our requests would not be taken seriously,” Walker Digital CEO Jon Ellenthal said.

I don’t doubt it.

Walker Digital holds over 400 patents (over 500 if you believe Wikipedia) which each year generate over $200 million in direct licensing revenue. And it means to keep it that way.

On April 11, 2011, it filed 15 lawsuits, suing over 100 companies, including Apple, BMW, Google, MapQuest, Mio Technology, Tom Tom, Telenav, Blusens Technology, Microsoft, Avaya, Amazon, eBay, MasterCard, American Airlines, Facebook, Citigroup, Activision Blizzard, MySpace, and Samsung.

Honestly, I have no idea whether Walker’s patent claims will hold water. I do know that deep-pocketed companies will tell competitors to pound sand if someone has the audacity to offer its intellectual property for their use, irrespective of the validity of its claims. Litigation gets the problem out of the executives’ hair, for a while, and for multi-billion dollar companies, even million dollar litigation is not a major concern.

“Few inventors can bear the costs of patent lawsuits and most large companies know they can take advantage of smaller inventors who cannot afford the millions of dollars that just one patent lawsuit can cost,” said Ellenthal.

Ellenthal tries to paint Walker Digital as David to the defendants’ Goliath. I’m not buying it. Walker Digital’s value is hard to pin down, but Priceline.com alone is worth over $22 billion (Shatner’s toupee is worth half that on its own!).
“At Walker Digital, we don’t believe that less innovation or more litigation serves anyone’s long-term interests. However, the unwillingness of those companies using our property to enter into joint commercial agreements has forced us to take an action that we had hoped to avoid.”

That I believe.

“This is a plain and simple case of some companies taking advantage of the high costs and built-in delays of the U.S. legal system with their refusal to negotiate,” said Erich Spangenberg, CEO of IP Navigation Group, who is Walker Digital’s IP advisor.

IPNav’s involvement, or shall I say, influence, on Walker Digital is ably described by Patrick at Gametime IP. Patrick believes that IP litigation like this may become extinct if patent auctions profligate – and I hope he’s right. On the other hand, and you can call me a cynic or closed-minded, but I don’t think so. Why pay for a slice of the pie when you can fight and win for the whole thing? The deep pockets aren’t shy about throwing money at a problem, but old-fashioned pride and greed (it’s mine, all mine!) could derail such market-driven alternatives from achieving their full potential. Time will tell.

GL, ads