Patent Troll Wins In Court Against Samsung Over Bluetooth

Patent suits are common in the tech world and sometimes the trolls win in court. One of the oldest and most successful patent trolls out there is a company called Rembrandt IP. Rembrandt was in court in East Texas recently in a suit that it had filed against Samsung over products that Samsung makes using Bluetooth communication.

Considering that most tech products today use Bluetooth, the potential for Rembrandt to sue other tech firms making devices using the standard is massive. Rembrandt had patent holder Gordon Bremer on the stand who claims to own patents that relate to Bluetooth.

Rembrandt was able to squeeze $15.7 million from Samsung in the jury verdict and Bremer gets 2.5% of that amount. The trial lasted for a week in a courtroom in Marshall, Texas and focused on patents held by Bremer numbered 8,023,580 and 8,457,228. The patents have to do with different types of modems and connect to applications going back to 1997.

This particular trial only listed Samsung as a defendant, but reports indicate that Blackberry was also mentioned in documents. Blackberry may have its day in court against Rembrandt next. Bremer has been working as a consultant for Rembrandt since 2004B and has over 100 patents to his name. Rembrandt provides the legal muscle to sue companies in court and Bremer collects his 2.5% for acting as a consultant, being deposed and testifying in court. Bremer does admit that it was the Bluetooth Special Interest Group that came up with version 2.0 of the specification and he did not contribute to the standards body.

SOURCE: ArsTechnica