Legal Geek No. 122: Mr. Smith takes on Washington for a Back Rub

Welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, we start the new year with a fun one, as we summarize what immediately became my favorite Complaint filed in federal court in 2017, a case entitled Lathan Smith vs. the United States, the Secret Service, and the President Trump.

https://archive.org/details/LegalGeekEp122

Lathan Smith is an individual living in the San Francisco bay area, and he filed a Complaint in December that has made the rounds in IP legal circles for its quirkiness. Mr. Smith is certainly not the first person to file a kooky Complaint against the government, but this one has some nuggets that are too rich not to share.

The supposed facts stated in the Complaint are as follows. Mr. Smith claims to have created a new automotive motor, crank, generator, and engine, as well as fire resistant sheet rock used in buildings and toilet paper that is allegedly used by the federal government and city offices. He also claims that the government is messing with his ability to get a job, his ability to use his phone to call relatives in North Carolina, and has arrested and tried to murder him on numerous occasions.

After stating those facts, Mr. Smith sets for the legal claims he is making, and they include attempted murder and patent infringement. Yes, he has mixed those two in the same Complaint. For the attempted murder, he argues that the government has stabbed a knife into his neck, has hit him in the face with a passing truck, and has taken his child away. For the patent infringement, he claims that the secret service had the patent pushed through and then realized the product would work through computer realization.

At this point, you may just want to write this Complaint off as a sad story from a troubled man, but then we close with the demand for relief. Mr. Smith asks for the following, and I quote:

"I want all my patent from the first one to the last. I want all the money made from them. I also want to be exempt from taxes on my employment and whatever I build through the patents for the rest of time. I also want the United States to stop using my patented ideas. For all the stress I want them to provide a full body massage the rest of my life daily."

So while Mr. Smith wants an injunction against patent infringement like most plaintiffs, he also wants to never pay taxes again, a la the Armageddon movie script, and a full body massage every day from the government. One would think someone who has escaped numerous murder attempts wouldn't let the government near his body anymore, but here we are.

So here's to you, Mr. Smith of San Francisco. Your prayer for relief is one we patent attorneys have never thought to ask for, but a daily massage sounds pretty good to pay us off for patent infringement.

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