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"COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) -- Jamie Richardson, the vice president of corporate relations at White Castle System Inc. -- the fast food hamburger chain known for its \"sliders\" -- never thought his company would be the target of so-called \"patent trolls.\"<br /><br />Patent trolls -- the derogatory term given to some patent assertion entities -- are companies that purchase groups of patents without an intent to market or develop a product. The companies then target other businesses with lawsuits alleging infringement of the patents they bought.<br /><br />Banks and tech companies like Google and Apple, yes. But a 93-year-old, family-run restaurant chain?<br /><br />\"We never expected we'd encounter something like this,\" said Richardson, who has been with the company for 15 years.<br /><br />Richardson said it started last year when the company received a letter about a QR, or quick response, code it had put on some of its packaging as a promotional tool.<br /><br />\"Next thing you know, we had a letter demanding large sums of money, saying we were encouraging our customers to infringe on this company's property rights,\" he said.<br /><br />Then, another letter came -- this time, telling the Columbus-based White Castle that it was violating a patent by giving out a link to a news story in an email correspondence to customers.<br /><br />But this letter wasn't a demand letter. It didn't even give the restaurant chain an option to pay up and settle.<br /><br />\"They basically said we're a part of this lawsuit. We weren't even given an option,\" Richardson said Monday.<br /><br />\"Talk about incredibly aggressive.\"<br /><br />As if that wasn't bad enough, White Castle got hit again by a third patent assertion entity. This time, over their digital menu boards.<br /><br />Such boards don't require an employee to physically change out menus. Instead, the menus are updated via the company's main headquarters.<br /><br />\"We received a letter basically demanding payment not for the technology in the board itself but the process of our sending the information out to the menu boards,\" Richardson explained.<br /><br />The letters, he said, all were very difficult to decipher -- a common complaint of those targeted.<br /><br />\"Let's just say, they don't come with a Rosetta Stone,\" he said. \"They make it really difficult to even understand the nature of the claim -- to the point you can't tell if it's legitimate or not.<br /><br />\"And while we have incredible legal counsel, we only have two attorneys, not 22, like some companies.\"<br /><br />So that means seeking outside counsel specializing in patent law, Richardson said.<br /><br />\"And, of course, that's costly,\" he said.<br /><br />Not only have the incidents been an unexpected hit to the company's budget, but they've also forced it to reevaluate its marketing strategies.<br /><br />\"It's made us really gun-shy, to be honest,\" Richardson said.<br /><br />\"We're a family-owned business. We don't have the global resources that some companies do. So it's really slowed us down. We're definitely a lot more reluctant to try new technology.\"<br /><br />It's even affected the company's relationships with third-party providers, such as advertising agencies, Richardson said.<br /><br />\"Now, it's not just about the caliber of the message or the marketing strategy itself, but it's a matter of worrying about, 'what happens if we get a patent troll?'\" he said. \"Now, we have to ask if these third parties are willing to indemnify us against possible future lawsuits.<br /><br />\"It really stifles creativity.\"<br /><br />In November, Richardson <a href=\"http://mainstreetpatents.org/userfiles/white%20castle%20testimony%20for%20website.pdf\">testified</a> on behalf of the National Restaurant Association at a hearing before the U.S. House's Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation titled, \"The Impact of Patent Assertion Entities on Innovation and Economy.\"<br /><br />While Richardson said White Castle supports U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte's Innovation Act -- which overwhelmingly passed the House in December and is now being carefully considered by the Senate -- he noted his company also has a \"deep reverence\" for intellectual property rights.<br /><br />\"Hopefully, lawmakers can get to the core issues without being burdensome to innovators and inventors,\" he said. \"We recognize there is a delicate balance.<br /><br />\"But one thing we know is that these trolls are hiding under a bridge. Congress really needs to put the burden of proof back on these organizations that, we think, are being irresponsible.\"<br /><br /><em>From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at patents@legalnewsline.com.</em>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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