Re: Great day for crony capitalism !
I see where this is going. Don't think of this in terms of the big boys suing you (in which case the onus falls on them) but rather them unilaterally usurping a patent and leaving the original inventor in the lurch. These firms can hire legal terms in the tens if not hundreds of lawyers, each of which can pick apart certain aspects of state and federal law to get what the firm wants. And they're not cheap. California and US Circuit cases both upheld judgments where the rates were both estimated and generous, which in the case of a defendant with a large team of lawyers all paid at least $150 an hour, let's just say the numbers add up: the bigger the firm, the bigger the bill (which also raises the chance of the defense winning the case AND having it upheld on appeal--both the aforementioned were upheld on appeal, too).
So if Google's defense team is some 50 seasoned lawyers all demanding $200 an hour, that's $10,000 an hour in legal fees throughout the trial, and if the trial goes on for a long time, the plaintiff runs a very real risk of being bankrupted if he/she loses (a risk a 10 or 11-figure defendant would not face even with a huge judgment against it).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
