A long-time successful company “A” sued upstart company “B” after B was found to be using an algorithm A had patented 23 years before. In those 23 years, dozens of other companies had violated the patent in the exact same way as B, well prior to B’s existence. Because they did not threaten the success of A (as it took many more novel innovations and techniques to outdo A), A did not sue them. B was beating A, so A sued B. B showed the 23 years’ of violations in patent court to judge, but the judge still found for A.
B had to come up with a new algorithm for two years, til the patent expired. B paid A many dollars in damages to settle the suit. A and B had mutual customers, who read the filings and understood A had chosen to retaliate rather than innovate further. A has since fallen further behind, still profitable, but a relative dinosaur, while B has flourished.
A long-time successful company “A” sued upstart company “B” after B was found to be using an algorithm A had patented 23 years before. In those 23 years, dozens of other companies had violated the patent in the exact same way as B, well prior to B’s existence. Because they did not threaten the success of A (as it took many more novel innovations and techniques to outdo A), A did not sue them. B was beating A, so A sued B. B showed the 23 years’ of violations in patent court to judge, but the judge still found for A.
B had to come up with a new algorithm for two years, til the patent expired. B paid A many dollars in damages to settle the suit. A and B had mutual customers, who read the filings and understood A had chosen to retaliate rather than innovate further. A has since fallen further behind, still profitable, but a relative dinosaur, while B has flourished.