Adam Carolla continues his battle against the patent troll, Personal Audio, LLC. So far, Carolla has spent more than $450,000 in attorney fees. The result? There has been enough discovery for Carolla to determine that Personal Audio does not have a case against him. The lawsuit, however, is still proceeding against Carolla.[1]
But there is some good news. Jay Leno has reached out to Carolla and offered to help his fight against Personal Audio. Carolla also plans to have another benefit concert, this time with Hanson and Kelley James.[2] Carolla is adamant about not settling with Personal Audio and was vocal about Personal Audio making the mistake of messing with the wrong people, i.e., the Adam Carolla Show.
According to Rich DeMuro, a guest on the Adam Carolla Show and tech reporter for KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles,[3] one of the problems with the current patent system is that sometimes the involved judge, jury, and lawyers do not adequately understand the underlying technology at dispute. Although expert witnesses assist the judge and jury in understanding the underlying technology, expert witnesses are costly, as it has been in Adam Carolla’s case.
For patent reform, DeMuro mentions the concept of awarding attorneys’ fees to defendants if a judge rules that there was no reasonable basis for a patent infringement lawsuit.[4] Carolla has an additional patent reform idea that borrows from California’s Vexatious Litigant List, which is a list of litigants that have filed numerous lawsuits in the past.[5] Under that law, a California court may enter a prefiling order that prohibits a vexatious litigant from filing any new litigation in California without first obtaining permission from the court.
DeMuro says that Personal Audio has, in the past, sued Apple, Samsung, and several other companies for technology that involve playlist systems and podcasts. Although Adam Carolla’s lawsuit was not filed in California, Personal Audio has probably made it onto Carolla’s personal list of trolls that need to be banned.
[1] Rich DeMuro, The Adam Carolla Show (July 1, 2014), http://adamcarolla.com/rich-demuro/.
[2] Carolla held a concert in March at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center as part of his legal defense crowdfunding campaign on FundAnything.com.
[3] See Rich DeMuro–Tech Guy, http://richdemuro.com (last visited July 7, 2014).
[4] See also the patent bill that was removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s agenda on May 21, 2014. Michael Pham, Removal of Patent Troll Bill, WinTech Blog (May 28, 2014), http://www.wintechblog.com/2014/05/removal-of-patent-troll-bill/.
[5] Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 391.7; Vexatious Litigant List, California Courts, http://www.courts.ca.gov/12272.htm.