This week I’m sharing a link to a blog post discussing patent trolls, home inspectors, and infrared cameras. This was originally posted on September 2nd, 2013 at Energy Vanguard.
A year or two ago, I remember getting trapped in my car one evening listening to Ira Glass’s show This American Life. It was an episode titled When Patents Attack, and I was riveted. They described how a seemingly small change in the US patent office’s protocol led to the growth of an industry that siphons money from tech companies through legal, but sketchy, license fees and lawsuits. It seems that some in our industry were paying attention to Nathan Myhrvold’s shenanigans and are now going after home inspectors and energy auditors.
HomeSafe Inspection, Inc. files a lawsuit
HomeSafe Inspection, a Mississippi company that has several patents covering various uses of infrared cameras, filed a lawsuit against Assured Home Inspections of Tupelo, Mississippi, and its owner, Charles Russell. Their claim is that the defendant has willfully and deliberately infringed on three of their patents (patent numbers 7,445,377 B2; 7,434,990 B2; and 7,369,955 B2).
Please click this link to read more: Patent Troll Tactics Target Infrared Camera Use of Home Inspectors
UPDATE 02/09/2014: News Story
Author: Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections
Allison A Bailes III
September 10, 2013, 7:45 pm
Thanks for posting the link to this article, Reuben. I’ll be following up on my first article about this story soon.
Reuben Saltzman
September 11, 2013, 4:31 am
Thanks for writing about this, Allison. If I come across any new news on this topic I’ll be sure to share it with you.