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Apple is joining Google and 13 other companies in a combined effort to curb frivolous lawsuits from patent holding companies, reports Bloomberg. Speaking to the Supreme Court justices, Apple said it has been sued 92 times by patent companies in the last two years. It currently has 228 unresolved patent claims and employs two lawyers who are dedicated to responding to royalty demands.
Google, joined by 13 other companies, told the justices that patent-assertion entities have an unfair advantage because they don't make products of their own, leaving them effectively immune from countersuits.
Apple and the other technology companies are asking the Supreme Court to make it easier for companies to collect attorney's fees when patent holding companies lose infringement lawsuits. This allocation of fees, they argue, would cut down on the number of frivolous suits.

Just as Apple moves to seek judicial assistance in addressing patent abuse in the U.S., German patent holding firm IPCom has filed two patent infringement lawsuits in the German court system that accuse Apple of infringing on cellular technology it owns (via FOSS Patents). Both the European and German patents describe methods of managing priority emergency access when wireless networks are overloaded. Apple could pay more than $2 billion in damages if it loses these legal battles.

ipcom-patent-apple.jpg
The patent asserted in case no. 2 O 53/12, in which, inter alia, a partial claim of damages amounting to 1.57 billion euros ($2.12 billion), plus prejudgment interest, has been brought, is EP1841268. This patent has recently (on January 22, 2014) been the subject of a validity decision by the European Patent Office, in the first instance.

In case no. 2 O 95/13, in which no quantified damages claims but requests for an accounting and for declaratory judgment of liability for damages have been brought so far, the patent-in-suit is DE19910239, a German patent.
IPCom obtained both patents from German automotive parts company Robert Bosch GmbH. Apple, Nokia, HTC and others asked the European Patent Office to invalidate the European patent, but the EPO denied this request.

Article Link: Apple Asks Supreme Court to Curb Patent Abuse Amid New $2 Billion Patent Lawsuit
 

AngerDanger

Graphics
Staff member
Dec 9, 2008
5,452
29,002
In related news: Apple patents mitosis. All organisms to pay licensing fees.

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Last edited:

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
Google, joined by 13 other companies, told the justices that patent-assertion entities have an unfair advantage because they don't make products of their own, leaving them effectively immune from countersuits.

Finally all these companies suing each other has a common enemy : patent trolls.
They are the worse.
 

BootsWalking

macrumors 68020
Feb 1, 2014
2,267
14,181
Any company that sues over a 'rounded corner' patent doesn't deserve the right to call any other company a patent troll.
 

3282868

macrumors 603
Jan 8, 2009
5,281
0
In related news: Apple patents mitosis. All organisms to pay licensing fees.

Image

LOL awesome

Seriously though, Myriad Genetics, a company that had been awarded patents on the so-called BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in the 1990s, tried to go further. Surprisingly the [rather conservative leaning] Supreme Court struck it down last year:

But the court said DNA molecules engineered by man -- including so-called "cDNAs" -- are eligible for patents.

"Myriad did not create anything," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for a unanimous court.

"To be sure, it found an important and useful gene, but separating that gene from its surrounding genetic material is not an act of invention."

Synthetic "cDNA" does not present the same obstacles to patentability as naturally occurring isolated DNA segments, Thomas wrote.

However, this blew my mind:

But Myriad "has more than 500 valid and enforceable claims in 24 different patents conferring strong patent protection for its BRACAnalysis test," the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company said in a statement today.

So let's recap:

- A company can have whole or partial claim to DNA and cDNA

- Monsanto, a company that has GMO patented corn and other products, can sue farmlands in which the "patented" product may grow due to pollination. Many farms are folding due to barren crops and climate change, allowing Monsanto to sue, buy and move into the land. As corn is used in a lot of goods, soon Monsanto (and Dow) may be controlling much of the worlds necessary commodities.

Yup, no problems there.
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
As used here, the term "frivolous lawsuits" means lawsuits that the defendants find annoying or irksome. The real meaning of the term is without value or merit. If a patent infringement suit is successful (and many are), this means (by definition) that it wasn't frivolous at all. These companies aren't worried about truly frivolous lawsuits. They are concerned about the ones that have merit under the laws.

Words matter.
 

akm3

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2007
2,252
279
As used here, the term "frivolous lawsuits" means lawsuits that the defendants find annoying or irksome. The real meaning of the term is without value or merit. If a patent infringement suit is successful (and many are), this means (by definition) that it wasn't frivolous at all. These companies aren't worried about truly frivolous lawsuits. They are concerned about the ones that have merit under the laws.

Words matter.

This is the danger. If you are a little guy that legitimately invents and patents something, and big bad Apple or whoever comes in and steals it because they figure you are too small to fight, you are now a frivolous lawsuit. That is wrong. This is strengthening the bad patent system instead of fixing it.
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,144
17,475
Florida, USA
I think patents should be use 'em or lose 'em.

If you have a patent and don't want to manufacture the product, sell it to someone who will. If you hold onto patents and don't make anything using those patents, after some time you lose your ability to defend it.

That would solve 99% of the patent troll problem.
 

phillipduran

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2008
1,055
607
Google, joined by 13 other companies, told the justices that patent-assertion entities have an unfair advantage because they don’t make products of their own, leaving them effectively immune from countersuits.

I dunno, if you're violating a patent that's that. What argument do you have that it's not fair that you don't have the opportunity to dig up some wrong doing on the other guys side to lessen the blow against you? Kinda silly argument if I understand this whole process correctly.
 

iSRS

macrumors 6502
Mar 2, 2010
468
291
Any company that sues over a 'rounded corner' patent doesn't deserve the right to call any other company a patent troll.

Great second post. Welcome. Look forward to more of your insight, nailing something on the head. That is EXACTLY what Apple did. I was riveted by their lawsuit against Dove Chocolate, for their use of rounded corners on those Promises chocolates, and then was so happy when they went after Sunbeam Bread for the rounded corners on their King White Sandwich bread. Next up, is the maker of DVD and Blu-ray cases, and I am really hoping they go after Microsoft for the rounded corners used on active apps in the Window 7 task bar...

As used here, the term "frivolous lawsuits" means lawsuits that the defendants find annoying or irksome. The real meaning of the term is without value or merit. If a patent infringement suit is successful (and many are), this means (by definition) that it wasn't frivolous at all. These companies aren't worried about truly frivolous lawsuits. They are concerned about the ones that have merit under the laws.

Words matter.

Very good point. "Frivolous lawsuits" is lazy. More accurately, it is annoying lawsuits by Non Practicing Entities, who often don't even come up with the idea they buy. This should be better regulated. Here is a suggestion.

I develop a new way of doing something. I patent it, and am awarded such patent. I then have x number of years (2 to start, can be flexible depending on the complexity) to develop into a product. If I succeed? My patent is extended to 5-10 years. Then it is over. If, however, at some point in time I sell my patent to a NPE? That NPE gets exactly 2 years, then they are done unless they, in turn develop it into a product (not wait for someone else to do it, then buy/sue).

Also, all trials should be filed and forced to be tried where the offender is, not in a court that is preferential to NPEs. When I had to take a landlord to small claims court, I was told I should file in the county the landlord lived, not mine. So the case should be tried where the accused is, not some random spot.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Apple is joining Google and 13 other companies in a combined effort to curb frivolous lawsuits from patent holding companies, ...

Talk about hypocrites!

Apple and its pals just took the $4.5B of patents they bought from Nortel, and gave them to a patent holding company that they created explicitly to troll other companies.

That company does not use the patents themselves, and consists only of a small group of engineers who do nothing but comb through other companies' tech to see if they can sue them with some of the transferred patents.
 
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IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
This is the danger. If you are a little guy that legitimately invents and patents something, and big bad Apple or whoever comes in and steals it because they figure you are too small to fight, you are now a frivolous lawsuit. That is wrong. This is strengthening the bad patent system instead of fixing it.

You got it. The courts can already award costs to a defendant if they find that a suit was without merit. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether the standard for awarding costs should be lower than it is today. My problem with this story is that it repeated the industry's spin language without reading the proper meaning into it.
 

Brian Y

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2012
3,776
1,064
The problem is easily solved: you can only claim patent infringement if you a) own the patent and b) actively use it yourself (not licensing).

If you own a patent which you just use, and just license it (i.e. are a holding company) - you should have no right to sue. You thought of the idea, but are not actively using it.
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
Very good point. "Frivolous lawsuits" is lazy. More accurately, it is annoying lawsuits by Non Practicing Entities, who often don't even come up with the idea they buy. This should be better regulated. Here is a suggestion.

As it happens, the unsuccessful plaintiff in one of the suits before the Court couldn't be called a "non-practicing entity" by any definition. They make actual products; they just happened to lose their suit.
 

scoobydoo99

Cancelled
Mar 11, 2003
1,007
353
Live by the sword...........

Exactly! This is a case of the big corporations (Apple, Google, etc) being indignant and outraged that someone else can use their tactics against them. TOO BAD! If the courts allow curbs to patent suits, it will only empower the big guys to operate with impunity in the marketplace without having to pay for their own transgressions.

Their assertion that the patent holding companies are immune to countersuits (since they don't produce products) is very telling. In other words, Apple/Google/et al would use a frivilous patent suit as a weapon if they could, so it's "not fair" that they can't!
 

dustinsc

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2009
230
52
Congress needs to make patent rights usufructuary (big word, but it happens to be the most accurate). That is, if you don't use it within some period of time, you lose it.
 

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
As used here, the term "frivolous lawsuits" means lawsuits that the defendants find annoying or irksome. The real meaning of the term is without value or merit. If a patent infringement suit is successful (and many are), this means (by definition) that it wasn't frivolous at all. These companies aren't worried about truly frivolous lawsuits. They are concerned about the ones that have merit under the laws.

Words matter.

Actually, the determination of a lawsuit being frivolous has nothing to do with the outcome. The determination of a frivolous lawsuit has to be made before it proceeds to trial, or at least when initial evidence is presented.

Of course a lawsuit that wins couldn't be frivolous, but just because you lose doesn't mean it was frivolous.

A judge determines if a lawsuit is frivolous. What these companies are asking for, is that once a judge makes that ruling they should be able to collect more from the plaintiff. This is to discourage people from filing lawsuits that have no chance of succeeding in hopes of extorting money from deep pockets.

I don't believe this has anything to do at all with legitimate claims with the possibility of merit.
 

ChrisCW11

macrumors 65816
Jul 21, 2011
1,037
1,433
LOL that is rich

Apple: "Supreme Court please curb patent abuse"
Supreme Court: "Sure, you first Apple."

Apple can't seriously think they are in the right here when they went after another company for billions in damages because the company used rounded rectangle icons. Also a vast majority of Apple's patents are never turned into products because they are trying to cripple their competition from being able to deliver disruptive products.

How about Apple set an example that the industry can follow.

For now, Apple clearly weaponized the patent to use against the competition and they are getting a little taste of that bitter, bitter medicine and obviously don't like what they started, tough.
 
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jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
15,807
18,310
US
Talk about hypocrites!

Apple and its pals just took the $4.5B of patents they bought from Nortel, and gave them to a patent holding company that they created explicitly to troll other companies.

That company does not use the patents themselves, and consists only of a small group of engineers who do nothing but comb through other companies' tech to see if they can sue them with some of the transferred patents.
Yep! I remember that....they are playing both sides of the fence.....depending on who they are in court and suing at the moment.....
 
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