The (FindThe)Best Bet

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The (FindThe)Best Bet


It is an old story, with a twist on the ending.

Lumen View Technology, a shell company with a patent on “multilateral decision–making,” sued start–up FindTheBest, attempting to extract a $50,000 nuisance value settlement.

Instead of paying, FindTheBest fought back—filing a RICO lawsuit (unsuccessful) and seeking to invalidate the patent (successful). The presiding judge noted that Lumen View was trying to patent matchmaking, a practice already antiquated by the time of Yente’s first appearance in Fiddler on the Roof.

More to the point, in the first–of–its–kind implementation of the fee–shifting standards set by the Supreme Court in Octane Fitness and Highmark, it now appears that Lumen View will bear the costs of FindTheBest’s successful defense. Finding the suit a “prototypical” exceptional case, Judge Cote found that the question was “not close,” and that fee shifting will serve as an instrument of justice. Since FindTheBest’s legal fees will be several times the cost of the nuisance value settlement sought by Lumen View, one may hope that this will serve as a warning shot for other shell companies that file complaints without any reasonable pre–suit investigation.

Posted by Stacy Stitham

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