Realidad y ficción

En el libro Makers de Cory Doctorow se plantea la posibilidad de crear un fondo de inversión para demandar a una empresa y repartir el beneficio del litigio. Cuando lo leí me pareció algo increíble.

Hoy confirmo que esto es real. Leer para creer (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=358&bpid=25043&nlid=2897)

The fund troll: Many patent suits these days are backed, if you can figure out who the backers are, by specialized funds. These are “venture funds” that collect money from LPs like traditional investment banks and use that money to identify and buy promising patents and set up/manage litigation against significant players to “make” the fund. These cases are sometimes on contingency, and usually on partial contingency with capped fees (half of fees paid, with a 15-17% contingency). The guys running these suits from the funds are usually very sophisticated, and have very specific ways of evaluating cases and deciding settlement amounts. They usually won’t sue anyone too small to defend themselves, because it doesn’t make financial sense. They also don’t let their lawyers influence settlement discussions. In my experience, they are the most reasonable people to deal with in settlement, but at the end of the day you’re still paying the toll.