Trolling Effects is a new clearinghouse for information about patent trolls, inspired by the excellent Chilling Effects, which meticulously tracks bogus takedown and censorship efforts. Trolling Effects will track legal threats and extortionate demands from patent trolls, establishing the first really good look at the scope of the problem. It was created as a joint effort between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several other organizations; and they want your patent-threat letters to help them build the record; they will keep the important details private, and your contribution will help keep the momentum up to end patent-trolling.
If you have received a patent demand letter, submit it to Trolling Effects. The site has measures built in so particular items information can remain private.
Back in June, President Obama joined key members of Congress in calling for "demand letter transparency to help curb abusive suits." Trolling Effects can help provide that transparency, which currently is all but nonexistent. A combination of trolls who send demand letters but rarely sue, scheming businesses that transfer patent ownership to shell companies, and poor record-keeping infrastructure and practices has resulted in a hazy patent system where the lack of transparency has become a competitive tool.
We're joined by a great group of partners: App Developers Alliance; Ask Patents; Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU School of Law; Engine Advocacy; Public Knowledge; PUBPAT; and the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law. Together, we've created a simple tool that will take away one of the patent trolls favorite tools—secrecy.
(via Techdirt)
