Question: Recently, Uniloc brought a lawsuit against Laminar Research for its X-Plane app based on patent infringement. Please explain to readers how, when a routine source code technology in which all android apps are based, a company like Uniloc can make such a claim.

Austin: Since I am being sued now, I cannot talk about the specifics of this lawsuit.

The best article that I can point you to, though, is this one, if the readers wish to understand how someone could file a lawsuit based on commonly-used technology.

Question: Most companies settle because of the expense involved in defending such a lawsuit, you are willing to spend potentially 1.5 million to defend the X-Plane app than to settle for much less. Why? What is your ultimate goal by fighting the lawsuit?

Austin: This is an email someone sent me, and it explains how one company settled with a patent troll… and then was promptly sued for many MORE “infringements”.

While I cannot talk about my specific case since it is in litigation, let me ask you a hypothetical question: If someone sues you for nothing, should you pay them money, so they have the incentive to do it again?

Question: How might initiating this White House petition assist in possibly changing the current patent troll process? Where can the reader go to find out more the petition?

Austin: Go here. 

This will force trolls to pay the defense cost of the other side if they file a suit that has no merit. And, if you want, you can help me defend against Uniloc.

I am sorry my replies are brief, and link to articles or statements made by others, but since I am being sued now, my ability to discuss specifics is limited.

austin

January 24, 2013, Columbia, South Carolina. A White House Petition has been launched by Laminar Research, creators of the world renowned X-Plane Flight Simulator. The purpose of the petition is to persuade the government to make it more difficult for companies known as patent trolls to file frivolous patent lawsuits. A lawsuit was recently brought against Laminar Research by Uniloc (a company that has filed countless lawsuits, but does not have any history of developing or selling flight simulators), claiming that X-Plane for Android infringes on “their” ideas.

A patent troll is a company that files or purchases patents (often from failing or bankrupt companies) with the sole intention of suing companies that exercise common practices described by those patents. Estimates on patent infringement cases filed by patent trolls has risen from only a few percent in recent history to an estimated one third of all current patent lawsuits, costing businesses billions of revenue lost to these frivolous lawsuits.

Austin Meyer, Laminar Research and X-Plane Founder, stated during a recent CBS This Morning interview regarding the lawsuit filed against his company, “It’s the technology on which all Android apps that I know of are based … I will spend everything I have or will have because I believe this is wrong.”

The White House Petition’s goal is to raise 100,000 signatures, which will result in the White House issuing an official response to the petition and raise awareness among elected officials.

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