This is a wonderful, heartwarming story about how online computer hardware retailer NewEgg fights back and destroys patent trolls who routinely get away with bullying and extorting money from businesses under the guide of legal threat.
NewEgg has long been a fantastic website to buy computer products from (and find product ratings by informed technical users) -- but this article casts NewEgg in a whole new light -- as a company with a personality and a fighting spirit.
.. it's a huge validation of the strategy the company decided to pursue back in 2007: not to settle with patent trolls. Ever. We basically took a look at this situation and said, 'This is bullshit,'" said Cheng in an interview with Ars. "We saw that if we paid off this patent holder, we'd have to pay off every patent holder this same amount. This is the first case we took all the way to trial. And now, nobody has to pay Soverain jack squat for these patents.
Nice part on page 2:
Ars: Why is Newegg able to pursue this strategy where other companies feel they shouldn't or can't?
We're majority-controlled by an extremely principled guy, our founder [Newegg CEO Fred Chang]. We have always been willing to sacrifice tactical gain for strategic success. We're successful because, since 2001, we have taken really good care of our customers.
Also, a lot of our systems are homegrown. Our CTO [James Wu, who testified at trial] wrote this code from complete scratch, without knowing about these patents or anybody else's. His approach to coding is different. In the Soverain case in particular, it gave us a tremendous advantage in being able to explain that we didn't infringe. Our shopping cart is architected differently.
And we'll take a case through trial as a matter of principle because we want to accomplish the purpose of making good law. Like eBay did, like Quanta did when they challenged LG. It's part of our duty as a good corporate citizen to try to accelerate the rationalization of patent law.
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