Dallas' Erich Spangenberg is Very Proud to Be America's Biggest Patent Troll | Dallas Observer
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`DALLAS' ERICH SPANGENBERG IS VERY
`PROUD TO BE AMERICA'S BIGGEST PATENT
`TROLL
`
`BY ERIC NICHOLSON
`
`MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 | 2 YEARS AGO
`
`Erich Spangenberg, like others in his trade, would prefer that you refer to his stable of
`companies as "patent assertion entities." But he has a thick skin; you're more than welcome
`to call him a troll, so long as you point out that he is, in fact, the world's biggest.
`
`Over the past five years, Spangenberg's IPNav has sued 1,638 companies alleging patent
`infringement. Countless others -- Neiman Marcus is one recent example -- have been on the
`receiving end of not-so-subtle offers to settle claims out of court, thereby avoiding costly
`litigation.
`
`By any rational standards, the vast majority of the lawsuits are utterly frivolous. The holder
`of an obscure patent on some ubiquitous IT process or bit of bit of software code hires
`IPNav, which then goes after alleged violators with all the restraint of a rabid pit bull.
`
`See also
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`He demonstrated a bit of his technique for a
`weekend.
`
` profile that ran over the
`
`Mr. Spangenberg is likely to open the conversation on a diplomatic note, but if you put up
`enough resistance, or try to shrug him off, he can also, as he put it, "go thug."
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`Coalition for Affordable Drugs VI LLC (Petitioner) v. Celgene Corporation (Patent Owner)
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`

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`Dallas' Erich Spangenberg is Very Proud to Be America's Biggest Patent Troll | Dallas Observer
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`He demonstrated what that sounds like in a brief bit of role-play recently, sitting in the
`apartment he is renting for the summer in Paris near the Arc de Triomphe. His voice
`dropped, the curse words flowed, and he spoke with carefully modulated menace.
`
`"Once you go thug, though, you can't unthug," he explained, returning to his warm and
`normal tone. "Actually, you can unthug, but if you do that, you can't rethug. Then you just
`seem crazy."
`
`It's a practice that has become increasingly widespread and has been widely cited as
`evidence that the U.S. patent system is badly in need of an overhaul. Spangenberg, of course,
`disagrees. He asserts he is simply protecting his clients' intellectual property rights.
`
`That argument's just a tad bit self-serving. The patent-trolling business has been very kind to
`Spangenberger, whose self-spun, oft-repeated origin myth involves walking into the
`Versailles-like office of a patent-assertion firm in the 1990s. He says he now makes $25
`million a year and owns one of the most expensive homes in Dallas, and, until recently, six
`Lamborghinis. His French apartment is his "Paris office."
`
`Though clearly proud of his acquisitions, he tells the
`modest lifestyle.
`
` that he is embarking on a more
`
`As money poured in, he went through an acquisitive phase that he characterized as a
`combination of "nouveau riche on steroids" and midlife crisis, which is how he ended up
`with 16 cars and a mansion with a gold leaf ceiling and a Baccarat chandelier. He snapped
`out of it a few years ago, after he bought so much wine at a Christie's auction that it was
`delivered in an 18-wheel truck. His son said he'd need to live to 200 to consume all of it.
`
`He and his wife have since moved into an apartment, a 2,000-square-foot two-bedroom
`in Dallas, and he sold off all but one of his cars, a Ferrari. But he's hardly depriving
`himself; he's currently in the market for a Monet.
`
`One imagines that Spangenberg's success in the patent game will be rather fleeting. He's
`simply exploiting the failure of the patent system to keep up with technological innovation,
`something that should, at some point, be remedied. Then again, IPNav's been around for a
`decade, and the patent-trolling business seems as lucrative as ever. So, maybe he'll be
`perched on his throne for a while still.
`
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`Dallas' Erich Spangenberg is Very Proud to Be America's Biggest Patent Troll | Dallas Observer
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