3D Modeling Glasses Software Company, Patent Battle Going Up Against Big Corporation Health Insurance Company WellPoint Company–Subsidiary Watch

Here’s one that got by me and I don’t catch them all but try to advice when I find perhaps less notable subsidiaries of health insurance companies that are perhaps a few links down the daisy chain.  This is the story of a patent battle of the little company versus the subsidiary of WellPoint.  Ditto, the small company states they had their patent covered and the subsidiary of WellPoint, 1-800 Contacts is suing them in court and will probably kill the small company.  Ditto has even asked to license it, and you don’t get much better than that as you still get money for goodness sakes.  Glasses.com the subsidiary of 1-800 contacts, the subsidiary of WellPoint bought a patent years ago and filed the lawsuit at the same time they brought out their 3D software for glasses.  You can read the entire article at the bottom link but normally lawsuits only end up when licensing won’t take place for the most part, so again is this the big guy against the little guy here over glasses software?  BD

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Ditto is a 15-person eyewear startup that utilizes remarkable software — a 3D modeling system that  replicates the buyer's face — to let customers try on glasses virtually before purchasing them. Unfortunately for Ditto, its innovative software has put the company in the crosshairs of Glasses.com.

Glasses.com is owned by 1-800 Contacts, a much larger online eyewear retailer that recently purchased an old patent from a defunct company (U.S. Patent 7,016,824 covers selling glasses online based on 3D models) and announced its own version of 3D try-on software for glasses - while simultaneously filing a patent-infringement lawsuit against Ditto. 

1-800 Contacts claims that it plans to its own service as an iPad app sometime soon. But this plan was first publicized on April 17, 2013, while Ditto launched its version a year ago.

Making things even more expensive, 1-800 Contacts is suing California-based Ditto in its home state of Utah. Whatever the outcome of the suit, the most likely result is the depletion of Ditto's cash reserves and the destruction of the company.

The EFF was not impressed: "1-800-Contacts says it is not a patent troll. Sure, the company is not a classic patent troll - a shell company that does nothing but buy patents and sue - but it's little better."

http://readwrite.com/2013/04/29/weaponizing-the-patent-system-a-tiny-eyewear-startup-faces-financial-extinction