Re:Already extorted? (Score 1)

when you settle a patent dispute, you don't usually get the chance to make your payment conditional on the patent remaining in force forever. So Forgent can take the money from Motorola etc and run. In the UK, there was a case where a patent was ruled valid and infringed but before the judge decided on the level of damages, someone else knocked the patent out. When the judge eventually decided on the level of damages, the first company still had to pay because the infringement/validity finding was final and it's not in the public interest to allow 'double jeopardy' where someone has already been through the mill and won. See http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2004/03/yes-you-can-i nfringe-invalid-patent.html