More of the same on the patents front in Germany where patent trolls seem to have the upper hand over local courts. Companies no longer compete on the market. They go to their favorite plaintiff-pro patent court to obtain rights over competitors.
Caroline Gabriel has the story at Rethink Wireless in HTC faces German ban and market nerves - Rethink Wireless where she writes:
"Despite new products up its sleeve, HTC has suffered a new setback in Germany, where it has withdrawn its appeal against the injunction awarded almost three years ago, by a Mannheim court, to local patents hoarder IPCom. The smaller company says it will now enforce that ban "in the shortest possible time". It added in its statement: "We will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season."One can see from that statement that patents are being used by patent trolls as weapons of extortion to skew markets, artificially reduce competition and harm national economies.
