Patent troll hits medical tablets

Dell and Motion Computing have been sued for patent infringement by a patent troll working alongside a small tablet PC maker.

The troll, Typhoon Touch Technologies, makes no products of its own, and is in the business of acquiring and licensing patents, according to its web site.

The co-plaintiff is Nova Mobility of Phoenix, which specializes in ruggedized tablets and recently hired Bob Saucedo from Wavelink as its new President.

At issue are two patents, numbers 5,379,057, issued in 1995, and 5,675,362, both titled "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same."

The plaintiffs' lawyer is Craig Weiner of Hofheimer, Gartlir and Gross in New York, which lists him as a specialist in "Legal Issues Facing High Net Worth Individuals and Venture Companies."

Both patents were originally assigned to Microslate, a small Canadian maker of rugged PCs for police and military use that went under in 2005. 

The suit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas at Tyler, a favorite court for patent plaintiffs. The patent reform act passed by the House, and now before the Senate, would eliminate such forum shopping.

Dell is the big pocket defendant in the suit, but its co-defendant is Motion Computing, which makes the Motion C5 medical tablet.

The suit will take years to litigate, assuming it goes to trial, and is unlikely to impact equipment buyers directly.

It is interesting, however, that the medical industry has been fighting patent reform, and here its members are being impacted by a technology patent suit of the type reformers seek to eliminate.