Farm victim of ‘patent troll’ lawsuit

An Oregon farm that sells organic foods and other products online is accused of patent infringement in a “patent troll” lawsuit.The vaguely threatening letter over alleged patent infringement that Azure Farms received last year didn’t make much of an impression on David Stelzer.Stelzer, the company’s founder and CEO, consulted with his information technology employees, who assumed the letter was a scam.“I didn’t give it a second thought,” he said.Now, the Oregon company is the defendant in a lawsuit that alleges its online website for selling organic food and other products has violated a patent for automated financial transactions owned by Landmark Technology LLC of San Diego, Calif.Stelzer said his website isn’t much different from multitudes of others that sell products online, making him think the plaintiff has filed a “nuisance lawsuit” aimed at a quick settlement.“I have no clue what they are after,” said Stelzer, who farms nearly 2,000 acres. “They’re basically saying because we have a working website, we have patent violations.”