Daily Archives: 2020-03-17

Article note: So, not only are they being douches about the patent situation in the face of life-saving measures that aren't a threat to their business, it has in the process been revealed they are charging $11,000 for a piece of plastic that can be produced quickly for $1 on low-end manufacturing equipment, and _just might_ be basically running a con in general, which is a threat to their business. I understand everything costs more than manufacturing cost because of development overhead, medical stuff costs more because of testing and compliance, and medical stuff costs way more because of inherently opaque pricing and an extremely captive market, but that is some ethically indefensible markup.

Article note: Looks like I have a new hobby "Explaining why LockDown Browser is futile snake-oil, will be overall harmful to attempt, and generally how young people communicate in the modern era".

Article note: How to get caught being a patent-trolling scumbag: Use the remnants of a discredited biotech huckster to threaten firms working on a public health crisis.

Enlarge (credit: BioFire)

Back in 2018, the disgraced biotech company Theranos sold its patent portfolio to Fortress Investment Group, a division of Softbank. Now two of those patents have wound up in the hands of a little-known firm called Labrador Diagnostics—and Labrador is suing a company called BioFire Diagnostics that makes medical testing equipment.

And not just any medical testing equipment: BioFire recently announced it had developed three tests for COVID-19 using its hardware—tests that are due out later this month. But Labrador is asking a Delaware federal court to block the company from using its technology—presumably including the new coronavirus tests.

As Stanford patent scholar Mark Lemley puts it, "this could be the most tone-deaf IP suit in history."

Article note: This is going to be a fuckin' adventure. I expect to be giving the "Lockdown browser is harmful snake-oil" lecture a lot in the next few weeks.