Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Newegg Puts Muscle Behind Anti-Patent Troll Effort

Los Angeles-based online electronics e-commerce giant Newegg said it is donating proceeds from a sale of T-shirts, to help defend what it says is a patent troll victim. The company has been adamant in attacking "patent trolls"--patent holders who have been suing companies, usually small, over usually dubious patent claims that they own solely to sue other people. Newegg said it is selling t-shirts to support Jordan Gwyther, the founder of Larping.org, and an online reseller of foam-tipped arrows used for live action, role playing. Newegg said that Gwyther has been sued by Global Archery Products, which claims the arrows he is reselling infringe on its patents. Newegg called the lawsuit an "abusive overreach of intellectual property rights" and said it will provide assistance to Mr. Gwyther, including donating profits from the sale of a anti-patent troll t-shirt to his legal defense fund. Newegg also is helping to promote Gwyther's GoFundMe page.

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