The Genius Behind CALMARE and CTTC: Meet Giuseppe "The Vulture" Marineo

I've not mentioned CALMARE in quite some time.  First, I had one of its ardent supporters ask me to please "leave me alone," and the whine rang through the writing such that I felt guilty for the poor man. Then, my disgust having reached such an acidic state, it was either fork over another $100 for stomach medication or ignore the scam, ignore the scammers, including poor Joey and his "leave me alone" [sniff, sniff].

Actually, what came first was an extraordinarily prayerful woman badgering me on YouTube -- so well known for the quality of its commentary -- when I did not praise her Lord and sign up for Calmare treatments immediately.  They cured one of her offspring, you see.  She repeated a bunch of FDA rubbish, then some VA rubbish, then plain rubbish.  Then she got personal.  Anyway.

I conducted myself with my usual bendy, bendy politeness, and watched as she moved on to praise her Lord in the comment section of other people suffering with CRPS.  It was almost as if she were paid to do it, or something.  Anyway.

CTTC is the corporate entity that markets CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy as a cure for various neuropathies, including CRPS, post-herpetic neuralgias, and the nerve pain that can be engendered by chemotherapies.  It's crucial that the public understand that CTTC does nothing but coopt the patents for various products.  CTTC sells its soul to sell, it does not have any real investment in the product, and in this case, the patients -- just in the public perception of the product, and how cheaply they can buy up patents.

In their fertilization of the advertising world with CALMARE and CALMARE-related pellets of untruth, CTTC peppers social media, patient support groups, and advertisements dressed up as pain management newsletters or health-related articles decorated as actual research.  Videos have been widely distributed, starring cured patients who tearfully recall their prior suffering state, while never documenting that state in the recordings.  The Testimonial approach to CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy duplicates the get-rich-quick late night infomercial -- in methodology as in message (tremendous, too good to believe results with no effort beyond prying loose a credit card from a tight wallet).

I have many favorite lines among the testimonialists.  Right now it's I-am-so-thankful-for-Calmare because (prepare to weep):

"I have an allergic reaction to all medications. I cannot even have chemotherapy with stage 4 cancer."

I am not without a tender heart, as I ponder all the people I have known whose bodies relished the poisons of their chemotherapies and who never had any distressing reaction to the harsh chemicals coursing through their systems, at all.

The Straight Dope message board, my source for straight dope messages, once briefly contemplated how these remarkable testimonials come to life:

User ARCHETYPE, a naive sort, starts the conversation:

Infomercial testimonials
How do they get people to so convincingly testify in those infomercials?
Some (especially the latest ab gadget or those get-rich-quick products) are scams and the thing that gets me most is how they get these people to so convincingly testify. Some infomercials even state that their testifiers are not compensated.
It boggles me in three levels:
1) You KNOW the product can never work as advertised.
Home-based businesses. After researching some of the home-based business on the net and discovering how their scams actually work and reading unfortunate purchasers' stories you know it is not as simple as "making $12,000 for a few hours of work in my spare time in my underwear."
The latest ab gadget. Losing weight involves diet and much more significant exercise, cardio, etc. than just crunching the damn machine 5 minutes a day.
2) This applies more to products that are brand new in the market (I can't think of any specific ones at this moment!). But how do they find the people who have used a certain product it for X amount of months or years when you know that this is the first time it is being advertised?
Now, I'm aware of such things as test markets but how do they market to those test markets? And how do they find people who had success with their products when it clearly cannot work and convince these people to testify for their product?
3) What's in it for these testifiers? Is it a lot of money? Aren't they afraid their friends and family might see their testimony?

So how do they get these testimonies? Are they all lying and/or are paid actors despite the disclaimers that they are not?

ARCHTYPE receives many thoughtful responses, but I think the essence of them all is best encapsulated by user T-BONHAM:

They lie. LIE.
After all, if you are ripping people off by selling them a product that does not work, why would you hesitate to lie about testimonials?

Think of the marketing of CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy as some sort of magic act.  Most such performances rely on distraction, sleight of hand, a spot light drawing the eye from the unlit area of ruse.

Most recently, I came upon a much-marketed CTTC/CALMARE/Scrambler Therapy saleswoman who has done her bit with a series of videos, and for the cream and cherry on top, she has a blog.  What's fascinating is that her blog, with scant entries over the years, never mentions her intense suffering from a "pain condition," until CALMARE enters the textual scene.  And, then, she does not mention CRPS! It's as if she and her corporate backers are afraid of being too specific.  She gives a semi-accurate description of CRPS but doesn't want to worry her readers or cause friends and family to fret by saying exactly what horrid "pain condition" is beleaguering those poor legs of hers... Good thing that her bogus treatments worked wonders, though she adds that indelible soupçon of believability by mentioning that she may have to have "booster" treatments.

Her name was Amanda, Amanda Something.  For some sick reason, whenever I look up her name, Phil Ochs' song "Miranda" * jumps my brain, and I find myself humming along with my sober researching. 

In the beginning, much was made of the inventor and original patent holder, Giuseppe Marineo.  He was called, falsely, "doctor" and "professor."  As he became more of an embarrassment, he received more in the way of money and CTTC got more in the way of "ownership" of the miracle device, so the marketing geniuses could begin to fashion the background into which he might fade.

As various gynecologists and chiropractors, stethoscopes slung rakishly about their necks, receptionists shadowing them in short white coats, took over the public face of CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy -- along with some of the strangest testimonial-givers on the planet -- the "scientist" behind the earth-shattering souped-up TENS unit was cast into oblivion.

No one bothered to answer questions relating to his claims and intentions.  

How did this machine come to be a treatment specific for intractable neuropathic pain when it began as Giuseppe Marineo's personal brand of woo, wrapped in a fake curriculum vitae, protected and obscured by Delta R&D, his "bioengineering research centre with a unique history."  Marineo's goal was apparently the creation of a device in the tradition of the Fountain of Youth, a modulated electric buzz that would retard aging at the cellular level.

Woo, woo. A quick woo primer:

Woo generally contains most of the following characteristics:

• A simple idea that purports to be the one answer to many problems (often including diseases)
• A "scientific-sounding" reason for how it works, but little to no actual science behind it; for example, quote mines of studies that if bent enough could be described in such a way to support it, outright misapplication of studies, or words that sound scientific but make no sense in the context they are used in
• It involves the supernatural and paranormal (not necessarily)
• A claim of persecution, usually perpetrated by the government or the pharmaceutical, medical, or scientific community
• An invocation of a scientific authority
• Prefers to use abundant testimonials over actual scientific research
• A claim that scientists are blind to the discovery, despite attempts to alert them
• A disdain for objective, randomized experimental controls, especially double-blind testing (which are kind of what makes epidemiology actually, y'know, work)
• And, usually, an offer to share the knowledge for a price.

Oh, the woo you are about to muddle through!

Put on your waders, and unpack this introduction to how Marineo went from a one-man show to an incorporated one-man show with a tenuous connection to a research university.

[Delta R & D] was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing.

This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model.  

Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility.

In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy.

The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.
In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected.

In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced.

In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community. 

I dare you to unpack this into meaningful language reflective of actual science, or even good business.
Or this, from a website now removed, written by the great Marineo, himself:

The assumed pre-coding capacity is a more logical explanation than stochastic fluctuation (which in this case must be re-interpreted as a consistent modification of the information content per stimulus/time) the different discharge time characteristic used by the receptor for the same stimulus if this occurs in sufficiently short time intervals. In this perspective, to return to our model, the comparator?? Is the arbitrary module that sorts the information, compares it with a short-term memory and if it recognizes a stimulus similar to the preceding one, modifies the gain data and the information property which it passes on to the amplifier/attenuator (synapsis), a vital element that controls the passage/non passage of the “decoded” information stripped of spurious signals, associating it with the correct degree of intensity. Again with reference to the model, the noise and stochastic variations are separated since, in my analysis, at least some of these fluctuations actually consist of sub-information capable of modifying the learning capacity and sensitivity to the stimulus if repeated over short time intervals. If the data are reinterpreted in this sense, frequency modulated discharge sequences immediately took on a different significance when combined with the “pseudo-noise” modulation accompanying them and which became an essential element of the “primary” information. At this stage I considered that I had all the elements required to materially construct a pain scrambler (technically an information mixer), that is, a system capable of “masking” the pain signal.

Here's another, still extant (if badly translated by Google -- I apologize for my lack of skill in Italian) version of the the birth of the great regenerative process, the Scrambler Therapy.  Marineo simply MUST have a genetic link with the superb Ponce de Leon.  This comes in an English version... already cited.  It was fascinating to pick my way through the Italian, which bears little to no relation to its bastard English cousin.

In the mid 80s I completed the development of a theoretical model that interpreted on the basis of biophysical dynamics of chronic-degenerative disease processes, and more generally of an aging workforce. On the basis of this theoretical model I have subsequently developed a technology (Systems Entropy Variation Delta-S) in accordance with these principles that was potentially able to reactivate regenerative processes of tissues and organs without the use of stem cells.
In 2003, this research has received European approval for use in ambulatory and hospital liver cirrhosis. The results of phase II studies have been published in the Annals of the Academy of Sciences in New York and in other publications indexed. Despite this initial success, for reasons related to the lack of industrial sponsors, I found myself in substantial economic impossibility of progression in phase III clinical trials.
This research dissemination in the scientific community was so overcome by what I later developed the chronic pain, now known as the Scrambler Therapy ®. Contrary to what many believe, the "Scrambler Therapy ®" was born almost accidentally and indirectly from my studies on regeneration, although initially considered (sbagliandomi) only support the latter.
In particular in the field of regeneration in the late 80s I developed two lines of experimentation leading to verify if the theoretical assumptions that I had assumed were actually used in the clinic even humans. The first line of research related to cirrhosis of the liver, where the chances of success were predictably higher for most hepatic regenerative capacity of the organ.
The second line of research instead on the regeneration of nerve fibers, almost a complete utopia in those days, even if Rita Levi Montalcini had just got the Nobel (December 1986) for the discovery of 'NGF, the growth factor of nerve fibers . Inevitably occupandomi nerve injury I got in touch with what is, by definition, considered the worst form of chronic pain that is known in medicine, neuropathic, which essentially prevented the possibility to study the possibilities of regenerative nerve damage. Initially I sought the help of specialists in pain, but when I spoke of neuropathic pain were more discouraged me.
For a long time I turned to all sorts of pain specialist, seeking solutions also in acupuncture and hypnosis clinic, but the pain seemed to resist any attempt at treatment. I was about to resign myself to this situation by deciding to continue my research only on cirrhosis of the liver, where although always of limited series, I had already obtained preliminary results very encouraging, and free of the problems related to chronic pain that I met in nerve damage.
Just a few days as I was maturing this decision, an 'association of ill asked me to attend one of their meetings. I accepted, and put it back in the face of so much suffering and hopes of these people, I decided that if there was still no effective treatment for these types of pain, this does not necessarily meant that it was impossible to do so.
My knowledge of neurophysiology were already quite wide and deep, I was not so difficult to integrate with the specialized knowledge of the pathophysiology of chronic pain. Just as approfondivo this knowledge met the Gate Control theory, that is the dominant model and commonly accepted understanding of the mechanisms of pain perception. With some surprise I immediately realized that this theory was applicable only in acute pain. Conversely, I could not find at all its logical application in chronic pain, although conventionally accepted in the scientific community.
I understood that my assessment was practically heresy given the importance of this theory, the weight of scientific authors, endorsements obtained from its inception, and subsequent to the full consecration obtained after the seminal article published in Science in 1965. Then Thinking that he had missed something, I continued to deepen my studies, but most did this, the more my belief dell'inapplicabilità of this theory to chronic pain (especially neuropathic) prevailed.
I can say that it is exactly at this moment that comes Scrambler Therapy ®, because by identifying what I thought an error, I also found the way to a possible solution, which is now a clinical reality no longer experimental

About had enough?  Take a break from this thick, smarmy scientific writing and read something uplifting.

Calmare for Nobel Prize: Calmare Inventor Giuseppe Marineo is recieving some groundswell of support for a Nobel Prize this year, in the Physics, Chemistry, and Medical categories (he can only win one category) due to his invention of the Calmare medical device which cures pain without the side effects of narcotics.

Damn the limitation that keeps Giuseppe from winning in every category.  It makes a mockery of the man's work.

Or you can slog on, maybe picking up a copy of the story of his AIDS cure, available on eBay at the moment:  Dall' Altra Parte (The Other Side) for a mere 9 Euros.  There are other stories, besides his own tale, of his electromagnetic cure, notable at the time as it was being "tested" on poet Dario Belleza, and resulted in a charge of practicing medicine without a license and vaguely familiar charges of "totally inconclusive data."

Denying he had AIDS, commonplace enough for the times, Belleza told interviewers:

"The treatment was reserved for a group of five people," concludes Dario Bellezza "because the machine was not powerful enough. No one was tied to the bed, as it was written, it only used electrodes and patches to apply them."  

The electromagnetic machine, which worked through patched electrodes... WAIT!  That sounds VAGUELY familiar!  Could it have been, GASP, just an earlier version of the scrambling pain-hexer, the miraculous Calmare, now being snake-oil-marketed by Calmare?

It was further described in the press as witchcraft and charlatanism. 

Granted, what Marineo and the dead poet brought up in a war fought in the courts as well as the press, that people have the right to "diversity" of treatment, and to treatment considered "alternative," is a valid argument.

It's just painful to watch a vulture move from one corpse to the next, one hopeless illness to another, reaping, reaping, hopping away, with strips of flailed skin flapping from its beak, feeding itself... and divesting its prey of all humanity.

Is that over the top?  
Is it, really?

* Miranda lyrics, so that you, too, may hum along:

Do you have a problem,

Would you like someone to solve them,

Would you like someone to share in your misery?

Now, I don't know the answer, but I know a flamenco dancer

Who will dance for you if you will dance for me

[Chorus:]

Her name's Miranda

She's a Rudolph Valentino fan

And she doesn't claim to understand

She bakes brownies for the boys in the band.

Early Sunday morning

When the sermon lines are forming

And Saturday night is the memories that it gave.

She's busy in the pantry, far away from Elmer Gantry

Who is busy baking souls that he may save.

Everybody's soul but Miranda (Chorus)

The dice of death are calling

While the truck of time is falling

By the thumb stuck out on the highway of the years.

The tollgate at the turnpike is ignored by those who hitch-hike

And the Howard Johnson food is made of fear

But not Miranda 

(Chorus)

The sun burnt skin is peeling

On the doctors who are healing

And the license plates are laughing on the car.

The pain is so exciting

And everyone's inviting

You to look upon their operation scars.

But not Miranda 

(Chorus)

The condiments are clashing

While commercial planes are crashing

And the music of the evening is so sweet

Now fully in agreement

Oh, their feet have found the cement

And they all believe the signs are on the street

Her name's Miranda 

(Chorus)

In the bar we're gin and scotching

While the FBI is watching

They are tape recording every other word

The bartender is bleeding

Pardon me, I just was leaving

as another clever voice repeats absurd

But not Miranda 

(Chorus)

(repeat first verse)

© 2013 L. Ryan

The Shell Game for Shills: CTTC Has a New CEO

The Shell Game

Good morning, Dear Readers.

Without the least bit of a gloat and nary a reminder of the soul-sucking, money-stealing, totally bogus health claims made by CALMARE/Scrambler Therapy adherents, the "technology" that has kept CTTC (Competitive Technologies, Inc.) in the top spot of my list of CRPS Scams, I come before you with a heavy heart to announce that the robust company stock is for sale today at a steamy rate of .0553 -- that's per share, not the discounted price for the whole snake oil business, you chuckleheads!

As you know, I keep one ear to the ground -- not by choice, of course; it's more adherence to gravity -- and the word is that tomorrow is BOGO Day for CTTC.

On a more serious note, Competitive Technologies, "patent" capitalists, has come up with another filing to submit to the SEC.  I knew they'd get the hang of notifying the SEC of every smarmy, desperate move one day, after all that time of being unable to throw together something as simple as an earnings report equipped with super-glued pasties spinning the rip-off of people in severe and constant pain.  Just as they circle the drain, they master the art of big business!

It has to do with some staffing issues.  Here's the press release version of it:

FAIRFIELD, CT--(Marketwired - Oct 4, 2013) - The Board of Directors of Competitive Technologies, Inc., (OTCQX: CTTC) (CTI), today announced the appointment of Conrad F. Mir as President and chief executive officer, with full responsibility for running the corporation, and as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Mir will also serve as interim chief financial officer while the Board of Directors commences a search process to identify a suitable candidate to fill the role on a permanent basis. 

"With Mr. Mir's expertise in the micro-cap biotechnology space, along with his experience turning around distressed biotech companies, CTI has the right leadership in place to execute its corporate reengineering plan and enhance long-term shareholder value," said Peter Brennan, chairman of the Board of Directors of CTI. 

Mr. Mir has been mandated to implement a corporate reengineering plan (Plan), which he designed and presented to the Board of Directors. The Plan reengineers CTI's core business, cuts expenses, develops the wound care and bone technologies, and furthers our flagship Calmare© platform. 

The Board of Directors also announced the acceptance of Carl O'Connell's resignation as CEO. Mr. O'Connell has chosen to pursue other business opportunities, but will remain on the Board of Directors to provide continuity and ensure the Plan's success. He has agreed to serve as a special advisor to CTI in various medical technology capacities, including the ongoing development of Calmare. 

"Carl has a wealth of knowledge in the medical device field and will continue to be an instrumental part of the CTI team through his direction and guidance in the board room," added Mr. Brennan. 

In addition, CTI will not extend its consulting agreement with Johnnie Johnson, chief financial officer and consultant to CTI. The company is indebted to his hard work and wishes him success in future endeavors. 

About Mr. Mir
Mr. Mir has over twenty years of investment banking, financial structuring, and corporate reengineering experience. He has served in various executive management roles and on the Board of Directors of several companies in the biotechnology industry. Most recently, Mr. Mir was CFO of Pressure BioSciences, Inc., a sample preparation company advancing its proprietary pressure cycling technology. Before that, he was chairman and CEO of Genetic Immunity, Inc., a plasmid, DNA company in the HIV space, and was the executive director of Advaxis, Inc., a vaccine company. Over the last five years, he was responsible for raising more than $40 million in growth capital and broadening corporate reach to new investors and current shareholders. 

Conrad has worked for several investment banks including Sanford C. Bernstein, First Liberty Investment Group, and Nomura Securities International. He holds a BS/BA in Economics and English with special concentrations in Mathematics and Physics from New York University. He is a classically trained pianist and teacher, and a student of the martial arts. He is married with two children, alumni council chairman of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity - Tau Alpha chapter (NYU), and a member of NIRI. 

About the Company
Competitive Technologies Inc., (CTI) is a biotechnology company developing and commercializing innovative products and technologies. CTI is the licensed distributor of the non-invasive Calmare® pain therapy medical device, which incorporates the biophysical "Scrambler Therapy"® technology developed to treat neuropathic and cancer-derived pain by Professor Giuseppe Marineo.

[I eliminated the "Forward-Looking Statements" pro forma paragraph because of the dangers it imposed on readers -- a possible choking hazard, a means to the inadvertent snort of hot coffee into sinus cavities, etc.]

The Calmare device is currently being manufactured for sale by GEOMC Co., Ltd. of Seoul, South Korea.
Scrambler Therapy®: www.scramblertherapy.org/english.htm
Calmare®: www.calmarett.com
CTI: www.competitivetech.net 

Contact:Competitive Technologies, Inc.
Conrad Mir
President and CEOEmail Contact
973.798.8882 

JV Public Relations
Janet Vasquez
Managing DirectorEmail Contact
212.645.5498

Feeling duly diligent, I looked into the health of the boat from which Conrad Mir debarked. Pressure BioSciences, Inc and its 12 employees can boast a net profit margin for this year's second quarter of -297.99% , quite the decline from the -278.64% deficit for all of 2012.  They did post an improvement in operating margin, tightening that figure to a satisfying -239.84%.  Remember that old adage:   "If your business sustains a negative operating margin for too long, you might need additional funding"!

Oh, and if you are a neophyte investor, like me, you might want to heed Investipedia's advice about profit margins:

• This ratio is not useful for companies losing money, since they have no profit.
• A low profit margin can indicate pricing strategy and/or the impact competition has on margins.

Now, I have to say that Pressure BioSciences, Inc has much more interesting language in its "Forward Looking Statements" section than does poor Competitive Technologies, Inc.  For instance:

Further, given the uncertainty in the capital markets and the current status of the Company’s product development and commercialization activities, there can be no assurance that the Company will secure the additional capital necessary to fund its operations beyond September 2013 on acceptable terms, if at all. 

Not to sully the fine name of Yankee's pitcher Mariano Rivera, I am wondering if we might not hang the moniker of "The Closer" on Mr. Mir. Given that his tenure with Pressure BioSciences began in December 2012 and ended with such a huge leap up the rungs of corporate laddership in September 2013, we might even extend that nickname to another favored by that awesome relief pitcher:  "The Sandman."

Oops!  And "oops" is never a good omen!  I incorrectly calculated the time Mr. Mir spent leading Pressure Biosciences.  He managed to serve as CEO of another biotech endeavor, Genetic Immunity, Inc, in his free time before landing at CTTC.  Genetic Immunity, Inc is a subsidiary of Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. [O Lord, take me now!] Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc is trading today at a whopping four cents.

Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc., (PDV), incorporated on August 17, 2006, is a holding company focused on technology acquisition and development enabling the delivery of concepts and ready to market products to the international market place. The Company develops, acquire, license or co-develop technologies that originates exclusively in Hungary... As of December 31, 2011, the Company had only realized limited revenues from its discontinued TothTelescope project and had not realized any revenues from other inventions.

The keenest review I could find for the TothTelescope was on a forum for telescope enthusiasts.  Rick said:
"I would be *HIGHLY* (I can't emphasize "HIGHLY" enough) suspect of this scope... The comments I have seen on Astromart and Yahoo BinocularAstronomy about this product echo this....someone even thought the website was meant to be a joke. I'm afraid it is meant to be a scam."

A joke.
A scam.
My, but the world is round, and the bean shuffled seamlessly from one shell to another, confounding even the most keen-eyed players of the game.

At least, in Mr. Mir's past, the sham toys don't seem to be aimed at desperate people living lives of declining quality, full of intense and unrelenting pain.  The pain to which he has limited himself -- until now -- appears to have been the familiar marketplace woe of separating a person from his or her money.

In keeping with my consistent attitude of respect for CTTC and their pseudoscientific, testimonial approach to business, tempered with the ardent compassion of a mature Marquis de Sade, I bid adieu to Carl O'Connell.  He's been the subject of much awe, proving worried parents of college students wrong by audaciously turning a degree in psychology into the fodder needed for growing companies in the related fields of "Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics-Spine, ENT and Dentistry." You've got to figure Carl will land on his feet.








© 2013 L. Ryan

CTTC and CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy: The Devil's Details

Money Drain

i don't have it in me to elaborate -- and lord knows, i should not have to, if you've been following my one-person campaign against CTTC, the patent monger and soul-sucking corporate face of CALMARE / "Scrambler Therapy" -- snake oil salesman to people desperate for relief of their CRPS pain (and countless other types of neuropathic pain).

but, while finally deciding to peer over my pirate's eye bandage to see if my stocks had bottomed out since last friday (they're not doing well, darn it all), i did my usual check on under-the-counter-over-the-barrel penny stock CTTC, and found it at its usual sky-rocketing 0.16 with no shares having exchanged hands as of 3 pm.  still, knowing that there are "entrepreneurs" out there dicking around with it, day-trading on minuscule changes - a cent here, a cent there - that amount to twenty and thirty percent gains, it makes me nauseous that it's still trading at all.

out of habit, i looked to see if there was any "news" driving this cruel company's latest blandness, and lo! there was a bit of something.

they say the devil is in the details.  there is one glaring detail that caught part of one of my errant eyes!

CTTC filed another Form 10-Q on august 13th and in the meandering nonsense most would overlook in their brief historical rundown of their desiccated cardiac function, it is worth noting that the "inventor" of CALMARE therapy, Giussepe Marineo, is no longer referred to as an engineer, a doctor, a holder of a doctorate, or even as a professor - as in times past. "in times past" meaning times as recent as a month ago.

Sales of our Calmare device continue to be the major source of revenue for the Company. The Company initially acquired the exclusive, worldwide rights to the Scrambler Therapy� technology in 2007. The Company's 2007 agreement with Giuseppe Marineo ("Marineo"), the inventor of Scrambler Therapy technology, and Delta Research and Development ("Delta"), authorized CTTC to manufacture and sell worldwide the device developed from the patented Scrambler Therapy technology;

that's a pretty huge fall from grace.  no more prefixes or suffixes for poor marineo.  and many, many
questions as to previous claims and accolades about the man.

as for their raw financial news, it does cheer me.  i managed a smile on my bandaged face -- and just to drive home more about the misery of CRPS, as that's my job in life (ar ar ar!), my skin peels off with the tape holding the bandages down, and i've now several raw craters on my CRPS-afflicted face.  yes, i know, and i say it along with you -- who the hell knew it could impact the face?  and such a lovely face it once was, too.

really.

kind of cute, even.

anyway -- feast your eyes on this financial wizardry:

We incurred a net loss of $677,000 or $0.04 per basic and diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to a net loss of $942,000 or $0.06 per basic and diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2012. As explained in detail below, the net loss reflects an increase of $28,000 in gross revenue, an increase of $73,000 in gross profit from product sales and a decrease in other expenses of $238,000.

oh, what the heck.  i am so weird that i enjoy meetings;  i watch school board meetings of my former school district employer;  i keep robert's rules of order at bedside for a rip-roaring good read when bored.  get ready to laugh/cry at the remaining financial assessments:

Revenue and Gross Profit from Sales
Revenue from product sales: In the three months ended June 30, 2013, we recorded $136,000 in revenue from the sale and shipment of 2 Calmare� pain therapy medical devices, with a cost of product sales of $46,000. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, we recorded $63,000 in revenue from the sale and shipment of one Calmare� pain therapy medical devices; with a cost of product sales of $45,000.
Other Revenue
Retained royalties for the three months ended June 30, 2013 were $4,000, which was $48,000 or 92% less than the $52,000 of retained royalties reported in the three months ended June 30, 2012. The 2012 amount included the receipt of a $40,000 royalty payment received for 2011 which was greater than our original estimates.
Other income for the three months ended June 30, 2013, was $10,000, including payments for training and the sale of supplies such as electrodes and cables for use with our Calmare� devices ($2,000) and rental income ($8,000) from customers who were renting Calmare� pain therapy medical devices from us. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, other income was $8,000, including payments for the sale of supplies such as electrodes and cables for use with our Calmare� devices ($5,000) and rental income ($3,000) from customers who were renting Calmare� pain therapy medical devices from us.
Expenses
Total expenses were $781,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $1,019,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, a decrease of $238,000 or 23%.
Selling expenses were $36,000 in three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $94,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012. The decrease of $58,000 reflects an increase of $16,000 in commission expenses due to the sale of an additional Calmare� device in 2013, which was offset by a decrease of $9,000 in domestic patent legal expenses as well as a decrease of $14,000 in foreign patent legal expenses related to the joint venture with XION Corporation to develop the melanocortin technologies combined with a decrease of $51,000 in patent and translation fees related to working with the inventor of the Calmare� device resulting from the transfer of the contractual obligation to pay patent costs back to the inventor.
Personnel and consulting expenses were $279,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to $502,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, a decrease of $223,000 or 44%. Personnel related expenses were $218,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to $146,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, an increase of $72,000 primarily due to the addition of a new CEO in November 2012, as well as the expense during the three months ended June 30, 2013 ($17,000) related to the granting of 1,000,000 options to our CEO during the three months ended March 31, 2013. No options were granted to employees in 2012. The increased personnel related expenses were offset by reductions in consulting fees ($295,000), primarily due to the termination of services related to obtaining private insurance and Medicare reimbursement approval for our Calmare medical device ($178,000) as well as the termination of the contract for the Managing Director for International Business Development ($77,000); in addition, the management services fees for our former contracted CEO ($30,000) were discontinued when the employee CEO was hired in November 2012.
General and administrative expenses were $413,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, a decrease of $11,000 from $424,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012
The change reflects increases in travel expenses ($26,000) due primarily to the increased travel of the new CEO during the quarter, offset by reductions due to the departure of one nurse trainer in the three months ended June 30, 2012; increases in directors fees and expenses, including liability insurance ($8,000); increased investor and public relations expenses ($3,000); increased investment banking expenses ($3,000); increased corporate legal expenses ($3,000); increased audit and tax services fees ($6,000) both related to the timing of activities; increased marketing expenses ($7,000) and increases in postage and delivery supply expenses ($5,000). These increases were offset by reductions in legal fees associated with litigation ($38,000); rent and associated expenses due to closing the North Carolina office during 2012 ($7,000); proxy and annual meeting expenses, due to reductions in the contracted services ($8,000); financing charges ($7,000); miscellaneous expenses, banking fees, miscellaneous taxes and other fees ($4,000); depreciation expense ($1,000); and a decrease in bad debt expense due to expenses related to a former employee which were incurred in the three months ended June 30, 2012 and did not recur in 2013 ($7,000).
Interest expense was $44,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $13,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, an increase of $31,000 due to an increase in the use of debt financing.
Unrealized loss on derivative instrument of $9,000 in three months ended June 30, 2013 as compared to the $14,000 gain recorded in the three months ended June 30, 2012, reflects the difference in the portion of the Class C Preferred stock which is based on changes in the price of the Company's common shares at the end of each period (see Note 12 for details).

just slipping in under the radar is this coy little come-hither:  "At June 30, 2013, we had outstanding debt in the form of promissory notes totaling $2,630,000."  it's at this point that the 10-Q confronts the failure of its first bail out attempt:  the "Factoring Agreement with Versant Funding, LLC," according to which "Versant agreed to advance 75% of the face value to the Company, and to submit a percentage of the remainder to the Company upon collection on the account."

if you were wondering what the "news" was for this 10-Q SEC filing, i guess this is it.  Versant having seen them as crap, they've now turned to this arrangement:  "During the fourth quarter of 2012, the Company ended its Factoring Agreement with Versant and entered into a new Factoring Agreement with LSQ Funding. The Factoring Agreement with LSQ Funding provides for an 85% advance of factored accounts, lower fees, a faster payout of both advances and balances due, and the possibility of over-advances."

there is even a jovial mention of judicious use of the company's NOLs.  an NOL is something from RomneyWorld, but certainly not reflective of any corporate sense of entitlement, oh, no!

'Net Operating Loss - NOL'
A period in which a company's allowable tax deductions are greater than its taxable income, resulting in a negative taxable income. This generally occurs when a company has incurred more expenses than revenues during the period.
The net operating loss for the company can generally be used to recover past tax payments or reduce future tax payments. The reasoning behind this is that because corporations are required to pay taxes when they earn money, they also deserve some form of tax relief when they lose money.

remember that corporations are people, too.  CTTC finds itself, corporately, in something akin to the position of many red, white, and blue-hearted americans:  "At June 30, 2013, the Company's balance sheet showed cash of $24,000."

at the tail end of this sad document, probably submitted on pieced-together panels of toilet tissue to save the big bucks, CTTC pretty much announces that it probably won't make it into 2014 -- unless the miraculous therapy catches hold in some new demographic as yet to be snoockered. 

to those who continue to want giussepe marineo and CALMARE to be a valid technology, let me simply leave you with the final stage directions in this sad Everyman Medieval Play that has been performed in various chiropractors' offices and, for a still unfathomable reason, embraced by obstetricians and gynecologists... for these are the closing words of the SEC filing from tuesday:

In January 2011, the Company entered into a two-year lease effective February 1, 2011 for additional office space for the sales and training staff in Charlotte, NC. Obligations under this lease averaged $27,000 per year for the two-year term. The Company closed that office in July 2012 and closed out the lease, agreeing to forfeit the security deposit and pay the landlord a fee of $15,000 of which $9,000 remains unpaid at June 30, 2013.

please, lord, let this bilking of people in horrid pain finally cease. i picture CTTC now as a host of half-packed cardboard boxes on a utilitarian indoor-outdoor carpet with torn threads and an occasional dividing line of duct tape... in a room with flickering fluorescent lights and a dead cockroach or two in the corners.  the landlord glances in about once a week, sighs, and counts the days until he can file suit.

© 2013 L. Ryan

Given My Recent Rabidity: "Compassion in Business"

Lifted shamelessly from The Charter for Compassion folks:

Olivia McIvor’s four part series on Building a Culture of Kindness – Part 1
Olivia McIvor’s four part series on Building a Culture of Kindness – Part 2
Olivia McIvor’s four part series on Building a Culture of Kindness – Part 3
Olivia McIvor’s four part series on Building a Culture of Kindness – Part 4

Compassion and Kindness in Business "In the midst of global crises such as pollution, wars and famine, kindness may too easily be dismissed as a soft issue or a luxury to be addressed after more urgent problems are solved.  But kindness is in the greatest need in all those areas, kindness toward the environment, toward other nations, and toward the needs of people suffering.  Simple kindness may be the most vital key to the riddle of how human beings can live with each other and care properly for this planet we all share." --  Bo Lozoff, founder of the Human Kindness Foundation. The above quote by Bo Lozoff is used by Charter Business Partner, Olivia McIvor, to start of the first part of a four part article: "Building on a Culture of Kindness."  Olivia is one of our business partners involved in the Charter's Business sector.  This sector is one of the newest to be added to out Charter programs.  Learn more about our partners, and take a look at  our Business Compassion Reader.  You'll find articles on leadership. ethics and how to apply compassion to organizations.

One Woven Tangled Web: CTTC (CALMARE/Scrambler), Tonaquint, and Utah Resources International, Inc.

No longer circling the drain, CALMARE's patent-guarding company, Competitive Technologies, Inc. has been sucked into the pipes... out of sight.

CTTC filed one of those ubiquitous, but always interesting Form 8-Ks with the beloved SEC, a retrospective announcement -- that's their style -- about entering into a Material Definitive Agreement with the real estate company, yes, the real estate company Tonaquint, itself held by Utah Resources International, Inc.

(I'm sure we can find a Romney in there somewhere, though this is slim pickings for a venture capitalist. Maybe it's a practice toy for a Romney grandson or something?)

Stand back in awe, here it comes:

On July 16, 2013 Competitive Technologies, Inc. (the "Company") entered into a securities purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with Tonaquint, Inc. ("Tonaquint"). Pursuant to the agreement, Tonaquint will acquire a $112,500 convertible promissory note in consideration for $100,000. The note is convertible at a conversion price of $0.30 per share.

Item 9.01. Exhibits. The following exhibits are included herein: Exhibit no. Description 10.1 Securities Purchase Agreement between Competitive Technologies, Inc. and Tonaquint, Inc. dated July 16, 2013

Shares convertible at .30?  Why, someone is making out like a retarded bandit!

Here's the exciting details about Tonaquint:

Company Overview  Tonaquint, Inc. engages in real estate development. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois. The company operates as a subsidiary of Utah Resources International, Inc.

No, wait!  Don't fall for the "real estate" gag!  I mean, another of its recent investment/acquisitions is Silver Dragon Resources to whom it offered a cool 2.5 million in "convertible financing." Their gig? Silver Dragon's goal in corporate life?

 It is management's objective to grow Silver Dragon into a significant silver producer by developing the Cerros las Minitas project in Mexico, its six Sino-Top properties in China (particularly Dadi and Laopandao), and its Erbahuo Silver mine (via its Chifeng Silver Dragon subsidiary), also in China.

To restate Tonaquint's reality:

Tonaquint is a privately held investment company with a primary focus on real estate and oil and gas interests in the western United States.

Mr. John Fife is the CEO, there is no Board of Directors.  But wait... Mr. John Fife is also CEO (wouldn't YOU like to be MR. JOHN FIFE?) of United American Healthcare (UAHC:OTC US) -- last trading at 0.03 on a volume of zero.

The tantalizing tease on Utah Resources International, Inc?  Are you sitting down?

UTAH RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL INC is in the Land Subdividers and Developers, Except Cemetaries industry in SAINT GEORGE, UT. This company currently has approximately 1 to 5 employees and annual sales of Under $500,000.

Yes, URI actually manages to somehow have a subsidiary, the rock solid investment company and real estate/oil and gas developer, Tonaquint.

High finance!  Big stakes!  Snaking down the pipes, CTTC's only hope now is RotoRooter.

A common trait among these financial giants is a tendency to be unable to file their 10-Q on time with the SEC.  They have bigger fish to fry?  Better things to do?

Go long on CTTC, now that it is so amply shored up.  Go wayyyyyyyyy long!  Go ahead, I dare ya! CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy, you remember that scientistic garbage, filed as "equivalent" to a "TENS Unit"?  By all means, throw your money away on that, too!  The non-doctorate holding, non-professorship holding, patent phenom Giuseppe Marineo has got your back!  BELIEVE in it enough and it will reduce your CRPS pain (so long as it is very limited, preferably to one foot or one hand) and there is no diagnostic criteria or documentation of pre- or post-  treatment changes necessary!



© 2013 L. Ryan

[updated] CALMARE / Scrambler "Therapy": Its Validity Assessed in Graphic Form

Information copied from Yahoo! Finance at time of publication.
ADDENDUM 26 July 2013:  Day traders and other yahoos are having fun with their tiny, tiny, wee little... quickie investments!  A mere 24 hours later... CTTC opened at 19!  Then plummeted to 15!  Tidy little profits for marketeers of CALMARE, made off the pain and psychological confusion of CALMARE users/proponents.  They've petitioned the SEC for more public shares.... keep the scam alinve!  Keep the scam alive!

To see all SEC filings (good reading!), click HERE.

Company Profile:
Competitive Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiary, Vector Vision, Inc., provides patent and technology licensing and commercialization services worldwide. It identifies and commercializes technologies in life sciences, including medical testing, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnologies, medical devices, and other medical or biological applications; physical sciences comprising chemical, display, and environmental applications; electronics, which include communications, semiconductors, Internet related, e-commerce, and consumer electronics applications; and nanotechnologies that comprise the manipulation of microscopic particles into useful arrangements and novel materials. The company commercializes technologies originally invented by individuals, corporations, and universities. It serves product inventors, manufacturers, and distributors. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Fairfield, Connecticut.

[EMPHASIS MINE.  Recall that Giuseppe Marineo, the Italian "inventor" of CALMARE,  -- originally marketed as a treatment to increase one's "longevity" -- turned out to have falsified his CV, being neither an electrical engineer nor a professor, as claimed, but an EXCELLENT patent producer.]

Competitive Technologies Inc. (CTTC)

 -OTC Markets

0.1430  0.0469(24.70%) 11:49AM EDT

Competitive Technologies Inc. (CTTC)

-OTC Markets

Prev Close:	0.19
Open:	0.14
Bid:	N/A
Ask:	N/A
1y Target Est:	0.85
Beta:	N/A
Next Earnings Date:	N/A

Day's Range:	0.1430 - 0.1430
52wk Range:	0.13 - 1.04
Volume:	5,000
Avg Vol (3m):	29,181
Market Cap:	2.34M
P/E (ttm):	N/A
EPS (ttm):	-0.20
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A

© 2013 L. Ryan

CTTC: Ask not for whom the Trolls Troll...

From InvestorsHub June 4, 2013, CTTC Chart

Too late to protect the itty-bitty minded investors in CTTC,  and all the real (non-testimonial inclined, but REAL) sufferers of severe and unrelenting neuropathic pain who were still stupid enough to pay for "treatments" with a super-duper TENS unit with extra gadgetry and a cool sounding fictive Italian provenance, treatments "personally overseen" by chiropractors and obstetricians, President Obama has announced that he's going after "patent trolls."

Upon the briefest of bleary-eyed inspection, all the CALMARE claims of "FDA approval" and "VA administration vendorship" go *poof* and turn into multicolored dried fairy turds that drift down upon us all, midst squeals of "Ew, what is that crap?"

But whatever else they've done, they've reaped the profits of their soul-sucking patents, knowing how to fill out those forms!

I'm no longer a participant in the earth-shattering dialogues taking place over at Investors Hub Competitive Technologies Inc (CTTC) Stock Message Board, where the crap flies without benefit of multi-colored, sparkly, fresh baked muffin scented fairy large intestine beautifications.  But I continue to read it, marveling at the right wing tactic adopted by the losers still defending this "company."  Lie, lie, lie, and lie again!  Fellatio in fellowship, sucking every last drop, never allowing the thought of real people, suffering, to get between the suction of their deep throats and the possibility of a few more bucks off of... not CALMARE, not "Scramber Therapy" or any other made up curative for the most difficult to treat pain dysfunctions known to medicine, from diabetic neuropathy to chemo-induced addlepating allodynia, to my personal favorite, CRPS -- no, none of that trivia.  They're sucking up the goodness of the coming dollars and euros made in strange contracts over... patent rights.  (What I don't get is why a good lawyer couldn't tear those contracts and deals apart by claiming false representation, because hasn't it been made clear, even to the most deftly daft, that Guido Marinara has misrepresented himself and his qualifications so many times that it's now a running joke?  But... Guido Marinara is something of a genius in these schemes, so he's probably avoided signing anything with his personal DNA smeared on it.  Sigh.)

French in Uproar....

I'd like to share with the evil people still supporting CTTC that I am now screaming in my sleep.  Okay, truth be told (they may need to look it up -- that's T as in Testimonial, R as in Rigmarole, U as in Unsubstantiated, and so on, ending with the big H of Hypocrisy) -- Truth be told, I've been screaming in my sleep for years, but there is a difference, qualitative and quantitative.  Now, I wake myself up as well as everyone else in The Manor, and I also require assistance to straighten my legs, turn a bit, and adjust matters so that there might be a modicum of relief.  I am unable to help myself now that my screaming has turned so bitter.  The pain tablets have to be placed in my mouth and my "Hillary for President" water bottle has to be brought to my lips.  It's humiliating, and it's scary terrifying to the people who love me.  The cats, also, are not amused, as they wish to be sole patent-holders of middle of the night caterwauling.

Anyway, from President Obama's lips and signatory pens to your investment "strategies," CTTC-ers and all your loathesome ilk:

Oh, I should say this.  It's only my theory that "patent trolling" is behind CTTC's bizarre business model.  I think it may actually have taken place -- but more in the Old Country than here in the New One.  That Italian pseudo-professor, pseudo-engineer may have out pseudo-ed a good many good old boys with a very simple scheme.

But some sort of benefit from what is essentially frivolous patenting, legal patent fraud, has to be behind CALMARE and CTTC... it cannot all be pure evil, a plot to cause those of us who scream in our sleep from pain to fork over the bucks for extra wires and knobs, chiropractors and baby-catchers.  Can it?

Is it a fluke that in the first paragraph in their forthcoming "About us" section on the CTTC website, the Founding Fathers state, clearly enough for me:

Working across a broad spectrum of disciplines and industries, CTTC provides distribution, patent and technology transfer, sales and licensing services to intellectual property owners seeking to commercialize their innovative products and technologies.

Oh, I forgot!  The company released its fascinating 2012 SEC Form10-K.  I don't know how to decipher these documents but I do recognize old-fashioned silly bullshit when it wafts before moi -- as in... compare some of these claims with the company actually doing the production of this hot product in Seoul, Korea. I did reasonably well in math, and even better in reading comprehension, back in second grade, at least, and I spotted the source of the stink unaided.  Anyway.  I am just hoping there will be some sort of prosecution here on Earth and that the FDA and the SEC don't defer everything to the Heavenly District Courts.  Nothing much approaches the level of gratuitous relief of a Balm of Gilead like indictments and public excoriation...

This article from CNNMoney was written by David Goldman [@DavidGoldmanCNN]  on June 4, 2013: 12:19 PM ET.

Obama cracks down on patent trolls

The Obama administration issued a stern rebuke of so-called "patent trolls" Tuesday, in an attempt to stop those whom the White House says manipulate the patent system for undue financial gain.

The White House directed the United States Patent and Trade Office to take five new actions that would help stem the rising tide of patent-related lawsuits tying up the court system. Many patent-holding companies with no intention of ever releasing products have made an entire business model out of suing other companies for patent infringement.

The USPTO will now require that patent-holding companies disclose who really stands to benefit from a lawsuit and identify the ultimate patent holder for each application and assigned patent. In many cases, patent-holding entities will create shell companies that allow them to hide their identities, the scope of their portfolios, and connections with other patent-holders.

The White House also wants the USPTO to train examiners to cut down on overly broad patent claims, educate small inventors about how to deal with patent trolls, and expand its outreach to inventors to help develop policies and laws.

In addition, the administration ordered a review of the U.S. International Trade Commission, which has the ability to ban imports of goods deemed to infringe on patents. Patent-holding companies are increasingly taking their claims to the ITC, and the White House would like their enforcement decisions to be made more transparent and efficient.

The Obama administration has made patent reform a priority, passing the first major overhaul of the patent system since 1952. That 2011 bill allowed the USPTO to set its own fees, gave patents to the first inventor to file a claim, and aimed to help keep some cases out of the courts. But the president clearly wants more to be done.

On a Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Hangout in February, Obama said patent trolls abuse a system that was designed to protect inventions and foster innovation.

"They don't actually produce anything themselves," Obama said. "They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them."

Intellectual Ventures is a notorious example of a "patent troll" company. The research firm, based around the corner from Microsoft's headquarters in the Seattle area, acquires thousands of patents and has a research lab to develop its own. Yet it has no products to speak of. The company engages in constant patent litigation, and many tech companies have accused Intellectual Ventures of stifling innovation.

Intellectual Ventures said it is reviewing the administration's actions but declined comment for this story. 

The White House also asked Congress to pass laws that would have an even greater impact to curb "abusive" lawsuits. 

Among the recommendations are protections for consumers sued by patent trolls, ensuring that the ITC has flexibility to hire qualified judges, and awarding attorney's fees for court filings deemed to be "abusive."

Many technology giants have supported the administration's actions on patent reform. Tech companies are among the most-sued firms by patent trolls, and many have annual legal fees that outweigh their yearly spending on research and development. Patent lawsuits involving Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Samsung, Google, Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500), Nokia (NOK), Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) make daily headlines, often resulting in payouts totaling billions of dollars.

Google, whose chairman Eric Schmidt is an outspoken friend of the Obama administration, has stated that it will no longer proactively sue other companies for abuse of open-source software patents. A Google spokesman said the company welcomes the White House's actions on Tuesday.

The Association for Competitive Technology industry association, of which Microsoft, Apple, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB) are sponsors, praised the executive actions.

"The patent system is critical to the innovation economy, but patent trolls are endangering startups around the world," said Morgan Reed, ACT's executive director, in a statement.  

Are you an entrepreneur or small business that has dealt with possible bad-faith claims of patent infringement? Email parija.bhatnagar@turner.com and you may be included in an upcoming story on CNNMoney.com.