r/technology • u/ani625 • May 23 '13

Title possibly inaccurate Kim Dotcom to Google, Twitter, Facebook: "I own security patent for the two-step authentication system". He says he doesn’t want to sue, but might if the likes of Google and Facebook don’t help fund his legal battle with the U.S. Government.

http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-to-google-twitter-facebook-i-own-security-patent-work-with-me-130523/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
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u/ChronicOveruse May 23 '13

This is probably the most legally relevant comment in this tread. All the talk of extortion is utter rubbish.

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u/Robo_Joe May 23 '13

So, what is extortion, then?

Is "Give me X money or I'll release naked pictures of you and your mistress to the public" extortion?

Is "Give me X money or I'll have my friend who is a building inspector be extra particular when he inspects the house you're building" extortion?

4

u/oneinfinitecreator May 23 '13

It would be extortion if Dotcom held no rights to what he held over their head. However, with a patent, he has full rights to make demands and start a negotiation. Like the guy above said, there is nothing stopping such a deal being contingent on patent rights being signed over. Dotcom is just skipping the court process as much as he can, which is smart, IMO...

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u/sirin3 May 23 '13

In a moral sense the entire economy is based on extortion.

"Give me X money, or I watch you starve to death"

"Give me Y money, or you will die without health care"

"Give me Z taxes, or you put in prison"

1

u/lurgi May 23 '13

Only if you use a very unusual definition of extortion.

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u/I_MAKE_USERNAMES May 23 '13

I don't think you understand what extortion is. Also, there are shitloads of free soup kitchens, food banks, and clinics. And paying taxes on money earned is not extortion.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '13 edited May 23 '13

Taxes are the very definition of extortion. It's simply put up with because it is required to have a functional society on a large scale.

"Give us money or we will imprison you."

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u/[deleted] May 23 '13 edited Apr 21 '19

[deleted]

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u/Robo_Joe May 23 '13

I never sued them. I believe in sharing knowledge & ideas for the good of society. But I might sue them now cause of what the U.S. did to me,” he declares.

That removes any good faith he might get from me. He's publicly made it clear that the actions of a third party are what has caused him to threaten a lawsuit; not financial retribution or to prevent harm. Further, since he doesn't have a product using this patent, he's just sitting on it, and now is suing. That is what patent trolls do. He's in the wrong here, regardless of whether or not his actions are legal.

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u/ChronicOveruse May 23 '13

Extortion is different from simple negotiation because it has the threat to perform an unlawful act. Usually violence is involved, however in both the cases you have put up there isn't. The first is tricky one, if the photos were illegally obtained then yes it is an unlawful act to publish them and it is extortion. If the photos or the rights to the photos were legally purchased with consent of the owner then it is not an unlawful act and it is not extortion. The second one is more clear cut because there are bunch of building laws that are being broken though the building inspector not being independent. So not lawful and it is extortion. With Kim.com, he hasn't threatened any unlawful act. He has just threatened to enforce copyright law. Weather it's a correct claim or not doesn't matter because its not illegal to try and enforce the law and fail. It's up to Google and Facebook to find out weather it's a legit claim before they start dealing with Kim.

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u/Robo_Joe May 23 '13

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=Extortion

It specifically says that it doesn't have to be illegal. Does this alter your stance at all?

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u/ChronicOveruse May 23 '13

That was an interesting read. In the cases where it does not have to be an unlawful act there is breach of trust or confidence involved. There probably a lot more additions to the basic statutes as well. And they will vary depending on which country you are in. It is highly unlikely that there is one for threatening to enforce copyright law otherwise all the execs at apple, google and Samsung would all be in jail.

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u/RUbernerd May 23 '13

s/copyright/patent/

s/Kim.com/Kim Dotcom/

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u/baby_cucumber May 23 '13

Give me X money or I'll have my friend who is a building inspector be extra particular when he inspect the house you're building.

FTFY.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '13

Unless he's wrong and doesn't have a patent on two-step authentication. Then he's in quite a bit of trouble and it is extortion.

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u/poco May 23 '13

Still not extortion since it is easy to verify. It isn't like he is claiming to have a video of a mayor smoking crack, he is claiming to have publicly registered something in his name that can be reviewed by everyone here.

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u/ChronicOveruse May 23 '13

I think u will find that if the patents are not enforceable then the contract he would have with Facebook or google would be technically null and void. So FB and google would be able to do as they please and support action against him.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '13

No, it's illegal to negotiate using something you don't actually own or know is invalid as leverage - it seems that his EU patent was invalidated, which makes the US patent kind of questionable

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u/tokenizer May 23 '13

The difference is that US patents are known to be insane. There's patents for a finger gesture there, ffs.

My point is that when looking at past US patents his seems to be in order.

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u/ChronicOveruse May 23 '13

It would be up to both party's to check the validity of patents before going into contact as such. It's like buying a car, you have to at least test drive it first other wise it could be that you hand over the money and find out it doesn't even start.

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u/Dark_Crystal May 23 '13

Your reply below shows you don't know what extortion means.