http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
You owe me 5 dollars.]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 1:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Goto Hell

Inventors: Kim; Ki Il (Los Angeles, CA)
Assignee: Minerva Industries, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA)
Appl. No.: 10/719,363
Filed: November 20, 2003

The last paragraph says:

Thus, by this invention a palm-sized device provides wireless communication with the Internet for downloading musical and visual entertainment onto a high capacity memory card that is replaceable with other prerecorded or downloaded memory cards, and numerous other communication, security, safety and similar functions are selectively available to the user.]]>Jan 26th 2008 1:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
And usually if your product is better, people don't bother buying the junk one :]]]>Jan 26th 2008 1:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 6:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
We really don't have any laws here... Its mainly whoever yells the loudest and makes their face the reddest wins.]]>Jan 26th 2008 7:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 10:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://gigatec.com/index.asp
gigatec@sbcglobal.net

Hmmmm.... wonder how many emails their server can handle.]]>Jan 26th 2008 2:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
(Sarcasm)]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
You owe me... money.]]>Jan 26th 2008 1:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Boy, this hat is heavy! (Drops on head) Ouch!]]>Jan 26th 2008 8:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/]]>Jan 26th 2008 2:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
I now own all you Bitchez, pay up!!!]]>Jan 28th 2008 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Wish we could bar this a-hole from any and all technology!]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/US patent office - Zero

Minerva FTW!]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Pay up.


....now.

*just been sued for violating patent on "method for commenting"*

DAMMIT!]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 3:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 3:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Sorry Al, had to do it. I know you are reading this in your digital compound.]]>Jan 26th 2008 9:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
That's right, I'm suing everyone on earth, and maybe some Apes.

That's how generic, vague and ridiculous that lawsuit is.]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
If these dumb ass patent trolls keep this up, it could stifle creative ideas in the future.

I mean, if their idea is so important to patent, why wasn't it important to make it into a usable product or service?]]>Jan 26th 2008 2:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
No, the problem with the patent system isn't that anyone is allowed to patent. That is actually what is good about our system. The problem is that there is no attempt made to check the validity of the patent before granting it. The way the current system works, the patent's validity is determined in court, which means that win or loose the lawyers still get paid, and so are still willing to drag it through the court. This is exacerbated by the number of patent holding firms run by lawyers, who can just make it their career to buy up and then litigate patents. Even if only 1 in 10 gets them a settlement or favorable court judgment, they still make enough money to live for years.

Also, remember, the real "patent trolls" aren't people at all, but companies like Microsoft, RIM, Apple and others, who apply for patents on technology that they know won't stand up in court, just to have leverage on smaller companies that can't afford to fight the long court battles these big companies can. That is the REAL abuse of our patent system, and I often think it is quite entertaining when some guy in his garage will go after these guys using their own game. Remember, RIM patented wireless email, the thumb keyboard, and a clickwheel for navigation, while both Microsoft and Apple have patented hundreds of things that in court would be thrown out for the existence of prior art if anyone ever had the cash to stand up to them.

I am no patent lawyer, but my humble suggestion would be not that we make it harder to keep or enforce a patent, but that we make it harder to get it in the first place by raising the standard of scrutiny and requiring a real panel of experts to vette the application, instead of rubber-stamping every application that is properly written and filed.]]>Jan 26th 2008 3:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Now YOU owe someone money! Not for infringing a patent, but for the time it took to read that essay of yours. Time is money. KISS, k? lol, jk, etc. etc...]]>Jan 26th 2008 3:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/"The problem is that there is no attempt made to check the validity of the patent before granting it."

You make a good point and a lot of other concerns about improving the current patent system, but wouldn't one way of checking the validity of a patent is to see something it's used in?

I understand that smaller companies don't have the cash flow or capital to fund a project based on a patent. But at issue here is the wait, which translates into the money they would receive if they won a lawsuit against a company.

Take RIM for example. I don't know all of the details of what when on, but I understood that the patent owner that sued the company had patented this years ago. Meanwhile, RIM has been around a long time, selling a product. Where was this person (I know he had passed away) and his estate when RIM started to produce the product? Why the wait? If the patent is that important to them, why not sue right away or at least when they realize this product contains patent infringement?

It's the "waiting for the payday" part that concerns me. Regardless of financial gain, isn't it the principal of the patent that should be the biggest issue?

Maybe I'm thinking more technically then financially.]]>Jan 26th 2008 2:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
The whole point being, that had RIM not tried to patent wireless email, and then use that patent to drive other people out of business, he probably never would have sued them in the first place. Personally, if you legitimately invent something that really works, and are actually the first to do it, and can do it in a way that no one can improve on, then I think you have every right to "wait for a payday." A fantastic example of that would be the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper relay, and all the car companies had to pay him millions because they had used his technology without licensing it. The problem isn't people "waiting for a payday," it is these bogus patents that are granted on concepts and business methods like "one click shopping" or "a touchscreen interface for interacting with a phone" or "a multimedia device you can carry with you, that has a menu and can run programs." Those should not be patentable in the first place. You should have to be able to demonstrate a specific and technical innovation, and the method used to achieve that innovation. Patents were never supposed to cover concepts, they were supposed to cover actual physical inventions.
]]>Jan 26th 2008 4:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/"You should have to be able to demonstrate a specific and technical innovation, and the method used to achieve that innovation. Patents were never supposed to cover concepts, they were supposed to cover actual physical inventions."
Agreed. And thanks for filling in the details on the RIM patent case.]]>Jan 27th 2008 9:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
So there.]]>Jan 27th 2008 1:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Looking at the first claim, I can tell you it is most certainly not allowable, probably everyone who visits this blog could tell that as well. ]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 12:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
Agreed, those who patent stuff just to sue for it later and have no plans to productize it are hurting innovation but again, how do you prevent copycats ? Is there a better system. People just go around copying each others ideas. Apple should pay for using a 2 button mouse maybe. ]]>Jan 26th 2008 12:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/Jan 26th 2008 1:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/patent-granted-on-smartphones-everyone-sued/
If the product you make is better, people with not buy something else.

People don't buy crap, they return it, and if the shop doesn't accept a return, you burn it down.]]>Jan 26th 2008 1:12AM