What would you do if the US patent office gave you the go-ahead on a far-reaching, non-specific application filed for a "mobile entertainment and communication device"? If your answer was that you would immediately draw up lawsuits against almost every major electronics manufacturer that even looked at a smartphone funny, you get a cookie. Yes folks, as impossible as it is to believe, the holders of the aforementioned patent have just sued Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, AT&T, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, and Samsung... amongst others. So eager was this company to sue, in fact, that legal papers were filed a day before the patent was granted, and subsequently had to re-submitted. The real sucker-punch here is that the patent simply combines a list of prior technologies jumbled into one product, a practice which has recently been ruled against by the Supreme Court. Still, we doubt it will stop the holders from trying to nab a few dollars in settlements, staying the work of real innovators, and generally making a mockery of our patent system. Bravo!
[Via
Slashdot]
posted January 25th 2008 11:58PM
well considering that xerox had the mouse and apple took it as their own because xerox wouldn't touch it, I would say that companies should pay apple for using a mouse at all. Just makes sense with that logic...
this news article is any engadget's reader dream coming true :D
come on you know it is.
Sweet! you all owe me for my Blog posting patent.
SCO?
I like how you don't even bother to target Engadget readers with this one :P
And with that, this message board has hit a new low....
Congratulations!
i have a patent on creating patents.
i win the world.
I'm superhuman, I hatched out of an egg.
Don't know what you're talking about.
*reads up on how eggs are formed*
DAMMIT!
*tells parents to hand over money*
I think the patent system does a fine job making a mockery of itself.
I think I may patent the patent process.
I tried to read the article.
I failed.
I own the trademark on the phrase "See you in court" and expect to be highly compensated once these lawsuits get rolling.
Also, I am the inventor of process by which one uses the tongue, voice box, lungs, and lips to form comprehensible sounds. Pay me, bitches!
Can someone please explain to me what this technology is that is patented...and what this article actually means? From what I understand, someone invented technology and put a patent on it. Then the patent office has allowed mobile devices to use this technology, and now the original patent holder is suing? I'm confused.
BTW..does this have anything to do with that 1.3 million dollar bid for something or the other that requires over 4 million for it to be released?
I'd be really greatful if someone could clear this all up for me and explain it to me in some more detail lol :(
Thanks!
Hit the Read link it has the description of the patent... It describes the concept of what we know today has pmp and pdas... This is madness...
First off to get this out of the way "does this have anything to do with that 1.3 million dollar bid for something or the other that requires over 4 million for it to be released?"
No that has nothing to do with this case, that is the wireless spectrum being auctioned off that has a reserve set for 4.6 "billion".
And as for this farce of a case I took one look and knew this was based in CA, seems every patent troll and get rich quick scheme falls out of that state. The fact that legal documents were filed the day BEFORE the patent was even approved shows this was just a grab for cash. If this is proven to be a scam I would hope these people are thrown out of court, then brought back in for theft of intellectual property, defamation, perjury, and attempt to create public outrage.
How many government systems can be so broke and yet US Citizens just put up with it.
Maybe we should find a way to deal out our own justice for this stupidity. Start with something like posting the faces of the people responsible for this trash patent/lawsuit worldwide to begin a blacklist of crap-ass-people.
Then we can all exercise our right to treat them like crap. Stores can choose not to do business with them. I wonder how long scumbags like this would fair if store owners refused to sell them food.
What a bunch of...
I actually hold the patent for that big green $ sign. Engadget owes me $1000 for every time this article was read. I'm calling my lawyers as we speak!
We are all going to get sued from Al Gore who invented all of this. hahaha
BOOM law-shot
hmnmm i patented the alphabetical system and the air we breathe ... so anyone who uses it owes me $1 :)..
Computers are entertainment and communication devices. As are video game consoles and arguably televisions. What a ridiculous patent.
your crazy like that Austin guy saying he patents everything he hears.
This is the exactly reason why I fully support public stoning against crimes like these.
Stuff like this keeps happening... we the consumers think it's ridiculous... yet people still make fun of Richard Stallman and the FSF. Yes, it's more a hardware patent but I think it still reflects a lose of freedom for us users and inventors alike
You think that sounds big, just wait until my patent for a "process of converting Oxygen and Glucose into Carbon dioxide and Water" gets through.
I am going to sue every person on the planet. One by one.
i think the patent system has to be one of the biggest scams in the US. how can someone hold a patent for something they can't prove they can build??? let me guess they just patent ideas and wait for a sucker to built something similar and sue the heck out of them. i personally thought a smartphone with out the software was just a regular phone and a phone without the hardware is just a of plastic, but i guess the genius at the patent office know more than i do, i hope, because again its not the design the makes it a smartphone its whats running it,
I patented reading comments before you post, why?.... cause every other @$^%#$ comment is loaded with garbage about someone's original brilliant idea of patenting the @$#$%#$ patent system! No really its been mentioned at least 5 times by separate people.
Funny you should mention that...
I patented the act of SAYING you patented something that has already been patented.
Oh wow, you people should read the news postings on the Minerva website, it's almost all about who they are suing. Goodness. :x
This patent claims priority back to 2000 and possibly even 1997. I don't think this stuff was known back in 2000. Can any of you find any proof that a smart phone capable of connecting to the internet and displaying information from either a memory or the internet was around in 2000. They may just have a valid patent here people.
As far as the patent system being broken, you all hate it until you want to use it. Just like lawyers, everyone hates them until they have to get one. Everyone hates patents until they actually invent something. Then every single one of you would run out screaming infringment against anyone who seemed to even remotely be doing something similar to your invention.
Bad news, I have just patented "a way of spreading information digitally all across the globe linking millions of personal computers". If you can read this, pay up $500.