Judge Denies Netflix Request to Have Blockbuster Anti-Trust Claims Thrown Out

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Federal Judge William Alsup has denied a request by Netflix to have Blockbuster's anti-trust claims thrown out of court.

U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup's ruling was procedural and didn't decide the merits of the case.

However, the San Francisco-based judge wrote that Blockbuster had found "potential bad faith" by Netflix, including that Netflix may have failed to disclose earlier patented technology when applying for its patents.

If Blockbuster's charges are proven true, it could amount to an antitrust violation, the judge wrote.

Thanks to Eric for sending this in.

Comments

[MikeT]

Nicely done. Sure will be rather intriguing to see how this will all play out.

[CJ]

Folks, in case you haven't heard - the U.S. Patent System is totally broken. It's the Wild, Wild West out there in patentland! Netflix wouldn't be delivering value to the shareholders if they weren't claiming patent territory that may or may not be legitimate, and then defending it against any and all claimjumpers. Now it boils down to whoever has the best hired gun (i.e. attorney)...

[NetflixShill]

Very well stated, CJ. The patent system is a nightmare and needs to be fixed or abolished before it drags our country down with it. It is causing more harm than good, holding back innovation and allowing companies to block a competitor. Patents and other rights MUST be beneficial to the PUBLIC, not just a wealthy corporation or individual. They are a social agreement, not a divine right. We now have a lop-sided system that ignores public good.

[gir]

I have mixed feeling about this. While I think the patent system has become an economic black hole, this is about BlockBuster suing NetFlix for anti-trust. Specifically about letting BlockBuster proceed with the suit.

Instead of having one company sue another for patent violation, then the second company counter-sueing for 'patent abuse', they should throw out both cases. As it stands, it sounds like they're going to proceed with both suits. So NetFlix and BlockBuster take money out of our pockets and give it to the lawyers. And the black hole gets that much bigger.

[Old Timer Too]

gir, you are absolutely correct. The only winners are the lawyers. Prime example of misuse of the legal system is the SCO-IBM Copyright and related litigation over Unix/Linux et al. SCO never had a case and may never had any real rights in the case (for on-going details, visit groklaw). The concept of patents was to protect an invention as a whole and rapidly (long before my time) dropped into the bits and pieces of an invention and then the vagueness of "IP" or intellectual property. Both copyright and patent protection have dropped into the quagmire known as an attorney's gold mine.

[gir]

SCO didn't just miss-use the legal system, they used FUD to extort protection money out a huge number of companies. "Pay us now and we won't sue you when we win the case." Darl McBride should be sent straight to prison for that little scam.