REAL Patent Held Up as Example of Need for Patent Reform

Just to let folks now I’m still on the this story, today I found an editorial from Ann McQuaid, general manager in Hewlett-Packard’s Nashua, NH office, in the Union Leader (NH) arguing that the U.S. Patent System needs changing. She holds up the Diane Sarkisian/REAL lawsuit as evidence of the broken system spurring many unnecessary lawsuits:

There are many examples of the growing patent lawsuit industry. One is the lawsuit filed last year by a patent holding company against a Philadelphia-area real estate agent, Diane Sarkisian. The patent-holding company, REAL, claimed that by using an online multiple listing service, Sarkisian was infringing on a patent it held—essentially suing her for using a map. Never mind that the patent REAL claimed covers Internet searches was awarded in 1991, well before anyone envisioned the Internet as we know it today.

And never mind that multiple listing services are used by virtually every real estate agent in America, and have been for years. Sarkisian was targeted with a demand for $10,000 for one simple reason: REAL thought she would pay. REAL’s calculation was that since it would cost far more for Sarkisian to defend herself from a lawsuit than the $10,000 it demanded, she would choose to pay for the lawsuit to go away. Sarkisian instead decided to fight the claim, but REAL was right about the cost—it has been reported that the National Association of Realtors has contributed more than $800,000 for Sarkisian’s legal defense.

This story has every element that defines abusive patent lawsuits: an absurdly broad patent held for many years before an infringement claim is made; a holding company whose entire purpose is to leverage legal settlements out of defendants rather than invent or produce; and a target that is perceived by the patent holding company to be an easy mark.