Man At Center Of Digital Signage Patent Scraps Sued For Racketeering

December 29, 2014 by Dave Haynes

Florida’s State Attorney General has filed racketeering and fraud charges on the guy broadly regarded as digital signage’s patent troll, alleging David Gothard stole millions of dollars from victims by making false promises and offering stocks that turned out to be worthless.

A story in the Naples Daily News alleges that since 2003, Gothard and his companies engaged in racketeering and other illegal activity in Florida, and that it is still going on.

Gothard is the man behind Activision TV and a series of similar sounding companies that have in recent years been filing patent infringement court actions against companies in the digital signage eco-system, as well as their end-user customers.

The defendants transferred patents between themselves, solicited investors by using false representations about patents, their “alter ego” companies and products, which produced no sales, the lawsuit says, alleging they then created bogus documents to operate a “patent assertion entity,” collecting millions in illegally-obtained funds.

“These investors believed they were investing in companies that sold products and had an intellectual property portfolio,” the lawsuit says. “Gothard would receive these monies, deposit them in his personal account and use them for his own purposes.”

The against Gothard, corporate officer Denice Hetkowski, Activision TV Inc., Activelight Inc., Activelight TV LLC, Ad Media Displays Inc., Activision Displays Inc., Connect HDTV Inc. and ADCO Financial Corp., all of which operated on Yahl Street and Pine Ridge Road.

Gothard, it is reported, invoked his right to remain silent when deposed by state attorneys.

More interesting detail on this in DailyDOOH …