(UPDATED December 30, 2011)

We thought it was interesting when we read that PIEtech, Inc., a company in Powhatan, Virginia, actually asked to be a defendant in a patent infringement lawsuit that involved one of its clients.

In August, PIEtech's competitor (and neighbor in Richmond, Virginia) Wealthcare Capital Management, sued the large Wall Street firm UBS Financial for infringement of patents for a “Method and System for Financial Advising”. Both patents were issued last summer.

In legal battles pitting a patentee David against an accused infringer Goliath, there is a tendency to assume that the little guy is virtuously and reasonably enforcing its valid rights against a giant, evil scum-sucker. Well, not always. (TecSec, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corp. et al.)

Once upon a time, a patentee that prevailed in an infringement suit was awarded a permanent injunction barring the scum-sucking, bottom-feeding defendant from committing further dastardly acts of infringement. Automatic; no questions asked. Then, the Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, handed down its eBay decision, under which a patentee which does not practice the patented invention – an N.P.E. or, depending upon your point of view, a Patent Troll – is simply not going to receive an injunction.

(March 30, 2009) Microsoft and TomTom, the Amsterdam-based GPS manufacturer, have settled a patent infringement lawsuit concerning 8 Microsoft patents that allow global positioning systems (GPS) to connect to the Internet, run multiple applications and provide a smooth navigation experience.

The US District Court for the Central District of California has thrown out Gibson's lawsuit against Activision Blizzard (ActiBlizz), the maker of Guitar Hero.

Gibson filed its lawsuit in March 2008, alleging that Activision infringes Gibson's patent for devices with which a "musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers."