Is Patent Trolling A New Thing Now?

Ten years ago, Lori Cheek had a lightbulb moment that moved her to leave a secure, six-figure job in her field of training (architecture) to build an online dating business: Cheekd.


The idea "reimagines online dating with a new app that makes missed connections obsolete. Cheekd uses a cross-platform low energy Bluetooth technology, which fosters hyper local engagement." The app connects people in real time. Connections begin in person, explains Cheek, that's why Cheekd helps you to take the next step and continue the conversation online but in real time. With the app, "if you're near a potential spark, Cheekd makes sure you know about it." Think of it as online dating but backwards.

Just a few short months after the launch, Cheekd was on the cover of the Styles Section of The New York Times. "Move over, Match.com, this is the next generation of online dating." A few days later, she got a call from Oprah Winfrey's Studio asking for an interview. At that point, Cheek knew "I had gold in my hands."

After four rocky years marked by partners that didn't work, decisions that proved to be terrible and some serious rookie mistakes, Cheek landed a spot on Shark Tank. She got strongly worded "no"s from the Sharks across the board. But in the 48 hours after the show aired, Cheekd.com had 100K unique users and Cheek's inbox was filled with thousands of supportive emails. "A little under 50 of those emails were from interested investors," Cheek says.

Since the Shark Tank episode aired in February of 2014, Cheek has raised five times more money than she was even asking for on the show, and she's gotten a CTO on board who's helped facilitate and finance the new face and technology behind the new Cheekd, Cheek says. "The app now allows users to solve missed connections with a new technology that was not available when the patented Cheekd idea was launched in 2010. It was only a matter of time and I'm thankful I didn't take the Sharks advice to quit and move on."

Then, in June of 2017, things went horribly awry. Cheek received an email from a lawyer representing a man named Alfred Pirri Jr. It was a million-dollar lawsuit. "Pirri was claiming he had the idea for my business in 2006, told his therapist about it in late 2008, and that she had then told me—even though I've never met the therapist in my life and we have both sworn via affidavit to that."

Cheek and her attorney then immediately sent back an email with evidence of the URL registration and emails about the business going back to early 2008. But Pirri and his lawyer moved forward nonetheless. It took more than $50,000 and ten months to get it thrown out in pre-trial conference, Cheek says. "But it didn't go far enough to get thrown out with prejudice. It was debilitating and completely distracting from any progress I could make with our business; it was the worst year of my life. It took a real health toll on me; I was just walking around in shock every single day."

After it was over, Cheek was sure the lawsuit would be gone forever. But Pirri has returned with a vengeance, this time suing Cheek, her business, and the therapist containing the same allegations for more than $5 million. The suit also requests inventor's rights to her patent as well as asking not only for a "cease and desist" order for Cheekd, but also for her startup business spinoff Networkd, a Bluetooth networking app. "Our legal fees are nearing $70K fighting this. Our business is still a free app. So, we're not making a dime right now."

Cheek is now once again fighting to protect everything she herself has created, "potentially spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that I do not have in order to save what is mine. So now I'm having to do ridiculous things to pay for my legal fees," like her Lawsuit & Libations Guest Bartending Fundraiser. She's started a GoFundMe to help cover legal expenses as well.

"I've got no idea how this is even happening but apparently you can sue anyone for anything," Cheek says. "I'm a victim of putting myself out there and trying to build my dream. It's heartbreaking but you can mark my words, I will never give up and this battle is only fueling me more to succeed."

Cheek intends to make this case and the man pursuing this case as public as possible. She also intends to expose anyone else looking to "extort others in similar fashion," Cheek adds. "I want to shed light on the fact that this is happening to entrepreneurs nationally on a regular basis. Indeed, several other Shark Tank entrepreneurs have also been similarly singled out for attack. But from my conversations and investigations, it is clear that this type of 'trolling with intent to steal' other people's startup ideas is an epidemic that even the best PR support, strategic advisors, and board of directors cannot overcome." And while an employee of a company is protected, Cheek explains, an entrepreneur is "virtually unprotected from the absurdity of lawsuits claiming that your idea is not actually yours."

She has now joined forces with a group of New York inventors. "We're building a coalition and plan to meet with U.S. Congressman Jerrold 'Jerry' Nadler—member of the House Judiciary Committee, including its subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet—next month in efforts to restore stronger patent rights not only for our own inventions, but for all those inventors following in our footsteps."

Still, she says she has no regrets about going on Shark Tank, other than the lawsuit, of course. Her appearance on the show was actually incredibly fruitful, she says, and has led to a variety of amazing opportunities. "It's hard to say [if I would do it all over again] if you'd told me I'd be dealing with this for over two years and that I'd be shelling out nearly $100K to fight this lawsuit". Cheek says she's not at all worried about losing the lawsuit because she has "all of the evidence in the world to prove the truth." But the financial toll is devastating.

Despite it all, Cheek says she still believes there's no such thing as bad press. "If I hadn't gone on the show, I imagine he'd never had known about the previous dating card version of my business. The idea that failed and that we don't even use anymore. He's still coming after me after claiming he came up with the idea in 2006 and 13 years after 'coming up with the idea,' hasn't lifted a finger to build anything remotely related to a dating business."

She really couldn't have done anything differently, she says. It was simply being on national television that made her a target for this attack. "I covered my bases out of the gate. When I launched in May of 2010, I 'did it right' by putting the trademarks, technology, and patents in place to ensure I was protected. I also had partners and strategists, not to mention my own grit and passion, as a foundation."

But Check doesn't want this to be just another cautionary tale. She believes you should still put yourself out there when it comes to pursuing your dreams. But be sure to get a patent and take care of trademarking your ideas. She even asked her attorney if there was anything she could have done differently. But he says it's merely a case of going public with her idea and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The moral of this story? Cover all your bases and get ready for battle. There is always someone waiting in the wings looking to profit off the sweat of others, even if it means lying cheating and stealing. But that shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams. Allowing that to happen is allowing the bad guys to win—and strong women never bow down to weaklings…


WRITTEN BY

Jenny Block