http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/ Engadget Comments for Nintendo ordered to pay $21 million to patent troll 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/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
but i'm interested to see where this whole lawsuit will head.
whatever happened with the midway lawsuit?]]>May 15th 2008 6:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 1:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 1:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Also, I can't help but be a little annoyed by the stereotyping that Engadget just threw at us. It's pretty common knowledge on Slashdot that the patent lawsuits are all filed in a certain county. Which one? I'm not sure. It's a small county that seems to exist only for this purpose. The population is quite low from what I remember.]]>May 15th 2008 7:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 7:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
:)]]>May 15th 2008 8:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
As your congressman why he hasn't been impeached.]]>May 15th 2008 8:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech-Software/wtr_16280,300,p1.html?PM=GO]]>May 15th 2008 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 12:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.altitudecp.com/index.html Enjoy :-p]]>May 15th 2008 6:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 9:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/ That is a really broad patent, it doesn't cover anything real, the company has never produced an actual product. They have no annual budget and they offer no services, nor have they ever attempted to materialize their patented designs, as vague as they are. They don't even have a webpage. The company that is funding them, specializes in the protection of intellectual property. They are the epitomy of a patent troll. They fund the entire lawsuit and take most of the money won.

The point being that they are a blight on the entertainment industry, and though it has no real impact on nintendo this time, we should all remember the death and ressurection of dual shock. They have no right to what they are suing for and such bogus lawsuits should be banned.]]>May 15th 2008 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 9:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/In this case it is merely an idea for some type of controller that vibrates. That is basically what the patent says.
It is equivelant to patenting the idea of some type of container for food and then suing Glad and every china maker.]]>May 15th 2008 9:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Hint: The claim requires more than "Claim 1. A vibrating controller."]]>May 15th 2008 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/(mmmm...can you tast the bitterness?)
]]>May 15th 2008 6:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 6:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 7:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
"No, no, tho i thought of the design and patented it, im all for innovation.
Tho im poor, you can keep your dirty millions"

Buffoon's]]>May 15th 2008 7:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
All the while, their precious patent remains sitting in a dusty cabinet somewhere, unused. Just like the NiMH battery patents that Chevron owns! ;D]]>May 15th 2008 7:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
It's the courts who should take the blame in letting something like this actually pass through. They're supposed to be the checks and balances.]]>May 15th 2008 8:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 9:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Buying patents with no intention to ever produce anything is not in the spirit of things, especially in a country where patents are granted for extremely vague and/or obvious ideas.
]]>May 15th 2008 7:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/

If these patents were of such disdainful merit:

1. Why did microsoft take a license?

2. Why didn't Nintendo just provide the court with the invalidating prior art?

3. Why did 13 people (judge included for JNOV purposes) find the patents valid and infringed?



Or are you guys just spewing propaganda on a topic of which you have no knowledge at all?



By the way, the purpose behind issuing patents is not to "reward innovation". It is to promote disclosure to the public in order to advance the useful arts. The US founding fathers (and the EPO creators) were much smarter than you know-it-alls.


And by using the term "patent troll", you're just another mouthpiece for Cisco and IBM, those same "multi-national corporations" that you hypocrites probably claim to oppose.]]>May 15th 2008 10:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 11:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Actually, I'm one of the big bad corporate IP attorneys for companies like MS, Tyco, Boeing, etc.

However, my favorite work is for small companies and individual inventors who are trying to get "make or break" patents, or trying to enforce those patents that we've gotten for them.

That's why this "troll" stuff bugs me. It's just propaganda (like patent troll tracker, aka Cisco's chief IP counsel) to try and weaken the patent system so that companies like MS and Nintendo can get buy without paying any royalities to patentees. Think about it. If this "investment firm" hadn't spend (on average) 10mil of their own money to litigate this, then Nintendo would have successfully taken someone's work and investment and not paid them for it. Now if the patent system is weakened to the point where Nintendo knows they won't get an injunction against them (already happened in Ebay v. Mercantile Exchange) and they know that treble (triple) damages for willful infringement are unlikely (see Seagate), then why not just steal other people's ideas? No one is going to risk losing 10mil dollars only to get that same 10mil back, and individuals can't afford to do it anyway. If you can't enforce patents, why get them. If you can't protect your ideas, why work on them or disclose them to others? Weak patent systems prevent innovation by the smaller entities which often have the "best" "breakthrough" type inventions.]]>May 15th 2008 11:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/

That never happens. Seriously. Individuals and small companies don't spend 20k+ (we do some in this range, but most firms start at 30k including prosecution and if BPAI action is necessary you're looking at more like 50k) just to get and "sit on" an issued patent.

The usual scenario is that someone gets a patent and then either tries to get investment money for a new company and/or shops the idea to existing companies in the industry if it's really an improvement to an existing, complicated product. If you succeed, you either start making it through your company (see Z4 technologies), or you license it to one of the companies already in the business.


However, the current modus operandi (MO) for large companies is to pretend that these guys and their patents don't exist. They either meet with them and simply steal the idea (maybe try to vary it JUST a tad). Or, they don't meet with them at all because they're going to do as they please in the first place without regard to these "small guys." After all, that guy's not going to put up 10mil to sue anyway, right? Besides, no individual has 10mil laying around to do that.

I personally find value in these "patent investment" companies. They risk LARGE amounts of their own money to enforce someone else's patents. And with the currently reduced value of patents (i.e., no permanent injunctions (thanks ebay) and no treble damages (thanks seagate)), they're essentially going to vegas and dropping 10mil on "black". That's a pretty big risk (albeit somewhat calculated) for a fairly small return on investment. So, these investment companies essentially provide a viable enforcement mechanism (which would otherwise be unavailable) for small inventors and small companies, and I therefore find them valuable.

Again, if you can't enforce your patents, why spend the time and effort to get them? And if you can't get them (i.e., existing players can freely use your ideas), why spend the time and effort to come up with something new?]]>May 15th 2008 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6906700.html

Uhmmm, this patent seems kinda vague....

Google Patent Search reveals nothing...other than the controller...

So if thats the only one I found how can they sue Nintendo for Gamecube's controller? It doesn't use any motion crap in it, does it?]]>May 15th 2008 7:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
]]>May 15th 2008 8:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Instead it goes to someone who has never done more than to file a patent for a vague 'product' they never intended on producing.]]>May 15th 2008 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 8:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
I swear for some of you, if Engadget say its so, then it must be right. Use your brains. There are alots of creative people out there that arn't part of corperate R&D departments that use patents to protect their ideas.

Also Thomas Ricker is bloger writer, what the hell does he know about the law? His 5 minute google research on this case is bullshit. ]]>May 15th 2008 9:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 2:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 2:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
So there's 2 types:

1. I come to you and say, "Look whut I done made!" and you say, "That there's a dumb ideer"... then later you steal it and make it for yourself. That's lawsuit-worthy, no doubt.

OR

2. You invent a video game controller that makes sandwhiches and gives blowjobs at the same time. You're a millionaire. My fat ass sees you on the idiot box with all your millions and I vaguely remember a patent I filed for a rubber vagina mp3-player/toaster that also plays Tetris. Convinced that you must have stole my idea somehow... I sue you. That makes me a worthless human being.

Also see, Gibson Guitars VS Rock Band.]]>May 15th 2008 9:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/
Anything involving rubber vaginas AND sandwiches gets my vote.]]>May 15th 2008 9:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/May 15th 2008 9:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/nintendo-ordered-to-pay-21-million-to-patent-troll/

oh and btw i patent the idea of moving an electron through a metallic conductor, im gonna start suing ppl next week if they don't start handing over buttloads of cash]]>May 15th 2008 9:21AM