Monday 15 March 2010

Violence not condoned -- but is Hitman a hit?

PatLit's curiosity was stirred by an invitation to visit Patent Hitman, a website which purports to assist actual or threatened defendants in patent litigation suits. According to the rubric:
"Alleged Infringement:
If you are currently being sued or being threatened of being sued (cease and desist letters, patent trolls) for patent infringement anywhere in the world, contact me. Chances are I can remedy this by providing prior art (patents, non-patent literature) to invalidate or weaken the corresponding patent and its claims potentially through reexamination at the USPTO. Depending on the urgency of your request, prior art can be located within days.

Provide me the troublesome patent(s) causing the lawsuit (or threat thereof) and I provide you the prior art. New search technology now exists which gives me powers not found at the USPTO which is capable of searching databases examiners never access.

Competitive Strategy:
Relevant prior art can also be located to weaken or invalidate your competitor's broad patent(s) which are limiting your company's strategy. It's possible and it's legal. You've just got to find the right person to locate the prior art.

All correspondence is strictly confidential.

Software patents. Business method patents. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents. Medical device patents. Etc.

PATENT HITMAN DOES NOT CONDONE VIOLENCE".
Patent Hitman appears to be a US-directed operation but, prior art being what it is, his services would presumably be relevant in any jurisdiction. The sort of services described are those which are generally undertaken by professional representatives acting on behalf of a defendant, though there is nothing to say that Patent Hitman is professionally qualified. While "All correspondence is strictly confidential", can it be assumed that communications between the threatened party and this service -- which are to be initiated via an email address or telephone contact number -- will enjoy privileged status?

If any readers of this blog have any information concerning Patent Hitman, can they please share it here?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of the services provided by the "Patent Assassin" which have recently disappeared from the web (the address http://www.patentassassins.com/ was working until a few months ago).

Is it possible they have just reappeared under a new name?