Patent Baristas

A new film, tentatively entitled ‘TROLLS‘, is currently in pre-production and into fundraising on Indiegogo.  Apparently, the film is a feature length comedy (comedy? really?) about start-ups, crowdfunding, and patent trolls.

Understandably, the working title of Patent Assertion Entities! was probably not such a great idea.  Whether or not you believe that patent trolls are (quote) an ugly, stinky zit on the face of the American legal system (unquote), I have to applaud their moxie.

From Indiegogo:

Filmmakers in Austin, TX are using crowdfunding to bring their new comedy film to life. ‘TROLLS’ will tell the story of one tech start-up that’s ruined by a patent troll, but figures out a creative way to fight back!

Lex Lybrand, the writer/director of the new feature comedy film, writes:

I wrote the script after months of research that included getting first-hand accounts from residents of Marshall, TX, stories from entrepreneurs that have been (or are still being) sued, and stories from the various podcasts that have been involved with trolls in the last few years. I’m hoping to shine a bright light on the ridiculousness of this whole industry with this film.

Enter, Trolls.

According to the press release:

Trolls tells the (fictional) story of a tech start-up in Austin, TX that invents an amazing new product — the NeverCharge Battery. Their device uses a combination of magnets & wireless charging to instantly bring any cell phone battery to a full charge… forever. Naturally, their invention takes the world by storm & they shatter every crowdfunding record. Everything is great until they’re served with a lawsuit by a patent troll. They lose everything when a shady judge in Marshall, TX uses an even shadier interpretation of an outdated intellectual property law to enforce a patent that the troll owns.

This sounds absurd, but it happens every day.

Trolls aims to bring this issue to an even wider audience, and Lybrand hopes his satirical profile of the industry will help move Congress in the right direction. “I can’t do anything about it, legally… But maybe if I make fun of it then somebody who can do something about it will do something about it.”

You can find out more and contribute to the Indiegogo campaign today at:   http://www.indiegogo.com/at/TrollTheTrolls.

Here is the press release for the film:  http://www.prlog.org/12465997-indie-comedy-film-trolls-takes-on-patent-trolls-via-indiegogo.html