Nigerian firm sues Negroponte, OLPC for patent infringement
By Darren Murph 
posted November 28th 2007 7:10AM
posted November 28th 2007 7:10AM
[Image courtesy of Konyin and Digital Crusader]
posted November 28th 2007 7:10AM
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"LANCOR is a pioneer in the development of advanced physical multilingual keyboard technology using four shift keys and characters with combining properties to allow for direct access typing of accents, symbols and diacritical marks during regular typing. LANCOR's technology named Shift2 keyboard technology has been used to create a new class of region specific based keyboards called KONYIN Multilingual Keyboards, which are currently on sale globally. (http://www.konyin.com) "
You peopole should start reading source material.
What they are suing over is the use of the layout which Lancor created. The combination of key presses to create region specific accents and such for native writing.
They created the keyboard specifric to the regions native languages which was completely overlooked by US, EU and Japan based computer companies. OLPC is using want Lancor created without permission. If OLPC is keepuing costs low by stealing other IP then don't expect them to be artound long.
Keyboards with multiple shift keys have been done before just look at the 360 chatpad or the space-cadet keyboard from decades ago.
getting reverse engineered is like not covering your paper for your classmates to copy!
getting reverse engineered is like not covering your paper for your classmates to copy!
This is why people cant do good thngs any more people who are jackasses and are just jealous of the idea will sue you. And if you are really going to sue over a keyboard you really need to get a life. ITS INSANE!
are you reading the same think i'm reading
(keyboard driver source codes)
It sucks, but nigerians have made such a mess of their world reputation, that whether this case has merit or not, most people will just assume they're scammers, trying to make a quick buck. This time, off the backs of their own children.
Dear Engadget,
PLEASE STOP LINKING TO YOURSELF!
Thanks.
In comparing the KONYIN
http://www.konyin.com/ (Flash required)
and OLPC
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Nigeria_Keyboard
Nigerian keyboard layouts, I notice significant differences:
- OLPC E-cedilla and reversed E are over W and E respectively, KONYIN puts them under E and R, respectively.
- OLPC backwards C is over C, KONYIN has it under L
- OLPC appears to include symbols KONYIN doesn't, examples: N-left cedilla over G and N-right cedilla over N
- KONYIN has symbols OLPC doesn't have: lowercase N with descender under M, Greek "nu" under V
- OLPC has a single alt-gr key on the right and a mode-switch key labelled with "multiply/divide" symbols
- positions of alternate alphabet keys are different - KONYIN's are inside the shift keys, OLPC replaces right ALT key and adds the mode-switch key
Wow, Suing a Charity!!! Awesome :/
My Canadian Compaq F565CA notebook includes accented characters on the keyboard, along with a "double shift key" to allow me to type in English or French. The Nigerian solution is typical of internationalized keyboards. They certainly may have obtained a Nigerian patent for the solution, but OLPC should be able to demonstrate that this is a fairly standard technique. Of course, that doesn't explain the strikingly similar keyboard layout.
OK EVERYBODY JUST HOLD ONTO YOUR PANTS FOR A SECOND.
1) This company does not have an American Patent, it's Nigerian.
2) They filed suit in Nigeria, which makes sense because they have no claim here.
3) It's a design patent, and if design patents in nigeria are anything like design patents here it wouldn't matter if anything was "reverse-engineered" because the patent only covers the DESIGN.
4) A functional patent would never be issued here in America thanks to Apple. For years, a Mac user has been able to use special characters with a second shift key, in MacLand we call it the option key.
5) The company's statement that OLPC reverse engineered it's source code is pointless since their only protection from the patent is design. The two products next to each other should be nearly indistinguishable...ignoring color. Obviously, these keyboards look nothing alike.
You guys ready for this one?
"LANCOR, incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994, is a privately held company headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts and can be found on the internet at www.lancorltd.com"
OLPC is screwed over - ASUS survives because they survived on open source everything and are now releasing the code as we go along.
To LANCOR, are you losing money because of the OLPC project? can you show lost revenue because of it? who talked you into this lawsuit? did you even contact the OLPC project and tell them "hey, we think you got some code in there that we made"? maybe they would have found a lazy programmer somewhere and dealt with it accordingly.
I'm guessing that they only paid attention to it because of all the news coverage OLPC got, and then someone said "hey, that looks like my keyboard" and then someone called a lawyer, and the lawyer said "lets sue them, and find out together".
Now who wants to sign up for the OLPC keyboard layout & keyboard driver reconstruction project?
We're only safest if a standard english keyboard layout is used in ANY and ALL society improving projects from now on. It's really sad that companies choose to hinder progressive concepts instead of compromising with each other and working together.
LANCOR, you've just labeled yourself the Grinch.
Nuke Nigerian and 914 scamming
stupid nigerians!
In Soviet Russia, Nigeria sue YOU!
I find that Nigerian double-shift approach too hilarious. I still prefer the old, proven way of the AltGr key and switching layouts with Ctrl+Shift or Left Alt+Shift - although switching layouts would only be really useful and less prone to ill key-guessing if the Optimus Maximus LCD keyboard were affordable (and if it also offered an extra key between Left Shift and "Z" [or "Y", depending on language] for a total of 105 basic keys (instead of the basic 104 keys as used in US layout), as almost all European keyboard layouts with AltGr use that extra key for extra characters, most notably "" or "\" & "|"). If you look up keyboard layouts on Microsoft's Global Development and Computing Portal (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/reference/keyboards.mspx), you'll see many with such an extra key (and there's even a Brazilian layout, ABNT, that uses yet another additional key between "." and "/" for a total of 106 basic keys!).
Oops, I mean OLED, not LCD.