DB you wrote:

Yes i can see waiting for the markman. However the settlement in the first case was thier first from a court case and we can look back and see the road from there....pretty bumpy, it might have been wise for them to do so at the time.

They could still settle before the markman......IMO....and it still be favorable. That is only if they settle for much more than the first case, and just a lil ways from the top had they gone all the way to a Markman or further.

Db they did go all the way on the first Markman. It was considered favorable but we settled because as DL said the risk was too high in the risk reward scenario. IMO the validity of the patent would have been challenged in the court. I read some where that the patent could lose claims in the court system that the USPTO would not now be able to consider in exparte reexamination. Corrections welcomed.

The bumpy road that followed was that the patents were in exparte reexamination by the PTO. We survived an onslaught of challenges and now have true validation. Very few companies were stepping forth to license during this phase and the few that did were offered sweetheart deals to keep us afloat IMO. The MMP is waiting this final hurdle of the Markman which IMO is very favorable considering the previous Markman and the success in the PTO.

I think the patent enforcement procedure has run its course and we are finally at the end game of this long drawn out legal procedure. I had a person tell me about another company with a patent and just laughed and said no thanks. Partly because they are just starting the game.

The infringers have been on notice and once this last hurdle is out of the way I am sure they will come in waves.