Friends of Harris say they're neither 'trolls' nor 'shells'

Scott Harris is an attorney who was ousted from law firm Fish & Richardson when his patent was used to sue firm client Google; Raymond Niro is the well-known patent plaintiffs' attorney who represents Harris. Both Harris' lawsuit against his former employer, and the firm's counterclaims against Harris, are ongoing.

Ray Niro doesn't like the term "patent troll," and has taken umbrage when that pejorative is used against his clients. It's not unusual for patent enforcers to ask judges to ban that term from court (as Rambus did recently.)  Indeed, it's increasingly common for courts to police the use of "hot button" words generally.

Now we learn Niro doesn't care for the term "shell entities" either; court documents filed last month lay out his novel attempt to re-align the patent patois.