Is Joltid's using the world's best patent troll law firm?

Ronald A. Katz may be one of the most successful patent trolls, bringing in about one billion dollars in license fees.

His counsel? Hennigan, Bennet & Dorman, a Los Angeles law firm. HBD is the same firm that filed for Joltid Limited in the US District court against Skype Technologies S.A.; Skype Inc, eBay Inc., Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures Management, S.A., Mike Volpi, Andreessen Horowitz LLC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and investors to be named later 16 September 2009.

Roderick G. Dorman is the partner heading up HBD’s Patent and Technology department. Lawrence M. Hadley has experience with "federal copyright litigation involving peer-to-peer software and technology." Ms. Mieke K. Malmberg appears to have had hands-on with Katz's interactive call processing pursuits.

"HBD represented Sharman in the post-Napster copyright wars over peer-to-peer file sharing brought by the recording and motion picture industries against Sharman."
Key Victories, Patent and Technology, MGM v. Grokster.

From HBD's patent litigation practice:

The vast majority of patent rights are not determined through litigation, but are instead resolved privately through patent licensing.  We have assisted our clients to enforce their patents and patent portfolios through licensing programs, in which the patent is offered for license on reasonable terms to all companies in a particular industry or a group of similarly-situated companies.  Such licensing programs involve substantial analysis of the patent and its claims before initiating such a program and involve engaging potential licensees in face-to-face meetings to discuss the technical and legal issues involved in a company’s choice between litigation and licensing.

Sound familiar?

Great directors say "casting is everything." Seems like Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis found the right team for the job.

tags: skype, ebay, joltid, niklaszennstrom, janusfriis, litigation, suit, patent, patenttroll, troll, dorman, hadley, malmberg, volip

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Lawyers are cheap

With billions at stake (dollars, minutes, users) you can see why a few Skype co-founders and Joltid owners are suing Skype. Again.

If they can spoil the deal for a few million in legal fees, maybe eBay puts Skype back on the market. Clint Boulton gets it.

tags: skype

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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The Skype's Not Falling

On behalf of headline writers everywhere, sorry for the fear escalation.

Take a deep breath.

Skype is not shutting down.

All's running well.

Skype remains very profitable. Likely more than $100 million this year.

Skype has at least 10 months until a court date.

Joltid must prove to a judge that Skype broke a contract.

Joltid must prove the breach in one part of the contract was big enough to justify voiding the whole thing.

Joltid has to prove they were harmed by whatever they claim Skype did.

Joltid has to prove the proper remedy is killing the goose that laid Joltid's golden egg.

Not easy to do.

But let's say Joltid beats Skype/eBay in court.

Let's say the judge tells Skype: stop using Joltid's code and pay a fine too.

That probably won't matter.

Skype's busy making new code.

Skype may even buy code from a Joltid competitor.

Code to swap out sometime in the next 10 months.

So even if Skype loses in court, users keep on Skyping, Skype keeps making money, and everyone's happy except for the people at Joltid.

Skype knows this.

So they're working hard to be ready.

In the middle of next year.

Four seasons from now.

So don't panic.

Don't fret.

Sleep well.

Keep Skyping.

And don't forget your towel.

tags: skype, joltid, dontpanic, towel, pin

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.