'Patent troll' lawyer Ray Niro 'Patent troll' lawyer Ray Niro dies at 73
August 11, 2016 By CLAIRE BUSHEY
Raymond Niro, a larger-than-life lawyer who some called the original patent troll and who called himself the defender of the American inventor, died Aug. 8.
The Chicago patent litigator had a heart attack while on vacation in Italy. He was 73.
Niro made his name representing plaintiffs suing companies for patent infringement, often representing “non-practicing entities”—or “patent trolls,” as opponents dubbed them. But Niro said he was protecting inventors from the greed of corporate giants like Apple and Google, and he criticized legislation that he said damaged the American economy by undercutting their ability to profit from their work.
Christopher Lee, a Chicago attorney who worked with Niro before opening his own shop, wrote in an online tribute that the man was "a trailblazer" who "helped transform patent rights into a legitimate asset class."
"He was an early and dedicated champion of 'the Little Guys' by representing them against some of the largest corporations in the world," Lee wrote. "He opened the door to the exclusive club of patent litigation—often called 'a Sport of Kings'—for all deserving patent owners. Ray fought for them fearlessly in court, in the boardroom, in the classroom and in the press until the day he died."
Born in 1942 in Pittsburgh to Italian immigrants, his background as the son of a bricklayer influenced him to represent underdogs. He earned a degree in chemical engineering but then decided to go to law school, graduating from George Washington University Law School in 1969. He founded his own firm, Niro Law, in 1976.
He won more than $1 billion in settlements and jury verdicts over the past two decades. He was a skilled trial lawyer with the intelligence and charisma to sway a jury even in highly technical intellectual property cases, said Patrick Solon, a partner at the firm. Trying a case with him was “the same joyful experience every time.”
..Niro's law firm has shrunk since 2014, going from 30 lawyers down to 14, and now 13. Niro said in 2015 that the firm was taking more cases related to breach of contract, nondisclosure agreements and misappropriation of trade secrets, after two Supreme Court cases and the 2011 America Invents Act made patent litigation a riskier undertaking for plaintiffs.
“The (patent troll) propaganda has worked,” Niro said in a July interview. “The bad part is the American inventor is shut out of the system. Nobody's going to represent them. They're done.”..
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160811/NEWS04/160819963/patent-troll-lawyer-ray-niro-dies-at-73
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