SanDisk MP3 seizure at IFA overturned

Just a few days back, Sansa-manufacturer SanDisk was shot down by Sisvel and forced to take down its displays at Berlin's IFA expo, but it seems that some fast-acting (and talking) lawyers have somehow reversed the decision just in time for SanDisk to show their products on the final day of the show. Tangled in lawsuits concerning MP3 patent violations, the company still insists its playback technology isn't infringing on any patents, but Sisvel maintains its insistence that SanDisk should be included in the nearly 600 companies that pay royalties to the licensing firm. Apparently SanDisk wasn't the only company forced to put its show on hiatus, as 19 other outfits had products unexpectedly seized for "similar violations." Sisvel isn't going down without a fight, however, as it has already filed an appeal to have the reversed order un-reversed -- while it may seem a bit redundant (to say the least), it's certainly not out of character for the sue-happy Sisvel, who proudly joins the growing list of "you've got to be kidding me" lawsuits.

[LazyMegaMan @ Sep 8th 2006 3:34AM]

This is rediculous. Leave it to big businesses to sue all of the competition instead of fighting it. This is BS! Eventually one company is going to hold all of the copyrights to everything, thus creating a monopoly of overpriced, slave-labor-created MP3 players bound to DRM laws and disgusting technical support (MS and Apple, I'm looking RIGHT AT YOU). I say the companies band together and we have an all out Player vs Player brawl, like the blu-ray vs hd-dvd wars. At least then each company could either find it's place in the market, or they'll settle their differences. But this pathetic guerrilla-style sue-a-thon is just not gonna cut it.

Which leads me to another point, the copyrights and patent system we use now-a-days is corrupted. With patents like the iPod exististing as a vague "small, flat, round corned rectangular device with a display screen", an extreme multitude of products can fall under such a catagory, including every tablet PC, laptop, and even LCD screens in general (yes, I understand that isn't the entire patent). The patents are so vaguely described, even my English teacher would fail them as "not enough detail". I'm in English 3, HIGH SCHOOL. Lawyers should be able to do better than me by far. If you ask me, there needs to be some new rules regarding the patent processes. Sure, it may take decades to implement, but if things go as they are now, by 2010 Apple will own the lowercase "i" and Microsoft will own the letters "MS". Open source will be non-existant, as it's not gonna be able to circumvent through the barriers of ownership to words. The next Linux distribution codenamed "kjlajfieajfilsf" because all other words are owned.

I'm sorry, I may have trailed, but this is a total waste of our time. We need this money spent on better and safer products SONY BATTERIES , who cares who owns the rights to it?

[tekdroid @ Sep 8th 2006 8:46AM]

http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/

In the end, somebody always pays for patented codecs.

[Roland McIntosh @ Sep 8th 2006 3:52PM]

How ironic that the CNET article was written by Erica Ogg . You listening SanDisk? Support patent-free codecs like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC!

And stop that annoying "must convert video" habit -- play some XviD and H.264 (or other MPEG-4) directly and get with the times, thanks.