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Innovative Patented Technology Asserts Patent Not Invented By Scott Harris

By Troll Tracker

I reported here that Innovative Patented Technology LLC, a James Beauregard Parker company, existed solely to assert the patents invented by former Fish & Richardson partner Scott Harris. So imagine my surprise when last Thursday, Innovative Patented Technology, represented by Niro Scavone, sued ICON Health & Fitness on a patent invented by Gary J. Colassi, a different Niro Scavone client. Correction: Innovative Patented Technology exists solely to assert patents it didn't invent, just like many others are doing. Hey - it's the American way. (Yeah, let's not "cause harm to the current regime" and "destabilize" this wonderful system of ours).

Colassi, from Norton, Massachusetts, owns the World Gym in Foxborough, home of the New England Patriots. According to the Boston Globe, he sued Cybex International in 2002 on a "Treadmill Belt Support Deck." Three years later, Colassi's lawyers at Niro Scavone won a $2.5 million jury verdict for him ($2.63M including interest). Judge Rya Zobel (D. Mass.) granted a permanent injunction in favor of Colassi. That verdict was affirmed on appeal on February 14, 2007. The Federal Circuit issued its mandate on March 30, 2007.

Curiously, despite this tremendous victory, Colassi wasted no time getting rid of his patent. Before the Federal Circuit even officially affirmed the district court, Colassi assigned the patent (which had been 6,123,646, but reissued in 2006 as RE39,180). Innovative Patented Technology became the owner of the '180 reissue patent as of February 28, 2007. That's now two Niro Scavone clients who "found" James B. Parker to continue to assert their patents.

While the Colassi v. Cybex lawsuit was filed in Boston, and went through an extensive Markman hearing and ruling with Judge Zobel there, along with extensive motion practice, a jury trial, and post trial motions, Innovative Patented Technology sued ICON, a Delaware corporation with Utah headquarters, in West Palm Beach, Florida. That's near where Parker lives, but otherwise has no connection to the case.

Why would Gary Colassi, fresh off a $2.6M verdict and permanent injunction, affirmed on appeal, then sell his patents to another Niro client, James Parker? Could it be that Parker is funding the expenses for the probably contingency-fee lawsuit and Colassi gets a cut? For Colassi's sake, I hope so. But it's an interesting strategy, with these Scott Harris and now Gary Colassi cases coming to Parker and then being filed in South Florida. I don't pretend to understand it yet, but there's something about this strategy that just cries for investigation by a real journalist.

Full post as published by Patent Troll Tracker on January 29, 2008 (boomark / email).