Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HALT = $$$$chmalt !

They'll get paid and life goes on.

Exactly. While a third of a billion is LOT of money, Apple has lots and lots and lots more. It will be a temporary dent, or maybe closer to a little ding.

Apple has more money than almost anybody.
 
If this company has set a goal of shutting down Facetime, it will effectively make its own technology useless. I don't see that happening. They'll work it out. Everyone will make money. Things will move forward. The days of digging in one's heels are in the past. That costs everyone money and tombstones like Netscape are testament to how foolish it is.
 
Krazy Bill: "Why? Nobody is stupid enough to steal patents you silly old dude."

That's because breaking into the USPTO and changing the name on patents so as to swipe ownership of them is quite an exercise. You'd also have to cover your trail well enough so that when the true owner shows up, he can't prove you stole his patent.

That's why no one steals patents.
 
Message to Apple:
"You reap what you sow"

Here are two attitudes that are deeply irrational and fanboish:

1. "Whenever Apple wins, it is good, and whenever Apple loses, it is bad".
2. "Whenever Apple wins, it is bad, and whenever Apple loses, it is good".
 
Apple has more money than almost anybody.

Yes they do, although over $82 billion of it is stuck overseas and wouldn't be available to pay a fee in the U.S.

Ouch. Who failed here, Apple's lawyers or their engineering team, with regards to seeing if a patent already existed for what they wanted to implement?

No developer goes around checking tens of millions of patents every time they think of a new solution to a problem... something which occurs up to several times a day. It could take years to write each code section instead of minutes, and software would be impossibly costly to create.

That's why it's bogus when someone says "Oh so-and-so stole code from someone else". That very rarely happens in real life. Most often it's just a case of someone independently coming up with the same idea that some big company with time and money had separately filed a patent for. That's partly why software patents are not even allowed in some countries.
 
Here are three attitudes that are deeply irrational and fanboish:

1. "Whenever Apple wins, it is good, and whenever Apple loses, it is bad".
2. "Whenever Apple wins, it is bad, and whenever Apple loses, it is good".
3. "Software patents are bad"

You're welcome

And regarding the infringing software, does any knows yhe status of open standard of Facetime? Or was only a broken promise?
 
Last edited:
Here are two attitudes that are deeply irrational and fanboish:

1. "Whenever Apple wins, it is good, and whenever Apple loses, it is bad".
2. "Whenever Apple wins, it is bad, and whenever Apple loses, it is good".

That's why this is what I go with :

3. "Whenever courts are involved, it is bad".
 
Oh, so when it's Apple that's guilty, the patent is broken... ;)

Software patents are just an abheration.

Needing some review and overhaul? Sure. An aberration (i.e. shouldn't exist at all)? I don't think so.

And people still say that software patents are good

Software patents, like all patents, ARE good. If you don't provide some protection for time and money invested in research and development needed in most forms of the invention process (including software development), then there is less incentive to innovate. In some areas, that incentive might arguably drop to near zero. So, while the software patent process almost certainly needs to be revamped, software patents are, in principle, good things, just like all other patents.

It's broken when Apple wins and broken when Apple loses. The brokenness of the patent system transcends and pre-dates individual rulings.

The fact that Apple or any number of other companies can patent some of the things that they patent is supporting evidence for the need of an overhaul of the patent system. Patents are necessary to protect inventions and innovations but patents are granted with what amounts to arbitrariness in our world of changing technology. The patent system was designed for a much different day and has to be overhauled.

Yes. Nice to see someone else gets it. I would argue that the patent duration should be related to the nature of the patent. Software, an industry that move at amazing speed when compared to other more traditional industries, should arguably be given a protection time that is notably shorter than that provided to patents in other industries. That step alone would be a good start in reforming the patent system with regards to software.
 
in all this hoopla and hootenanies...

Just remember one thing

Analysts estimated that last year alone, over 20 Billion dollars was spent in Patent related purchases and lawsuits.

for the first time ever, this value is believed to exceed actual global Reasearch and Development costs in the tech industry.

Just some food for thought.
 
Ouch. Who failed here, Apple's lawyers or their engineering team, with regards to seeing if a patent already existed for what they wanted to implement?

Interesting..Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

Now pay up, sucker...

Can we please get back to the actual Apple rumors now? So sick of reports of Apple's legal battles!

"I don't caaaaarrrre!!!" -Lloyd (Dumb & Dumber);)

It no longer matters. No matter what you do with software and hardware these days somebody has patented the idea, using very broad and general terms. It's absolutely ridiculous. Whether it works for Apple or against them is not a discussion that I care about. The point is that the system, in its current state, is simply a killer of innovation.

----------

Needing some review and overhaul? Sure. An aberration (i.e. shouldn't exist at all)? I don't think so.



Software patents, like all patents, ARE good. If you don't provide some protection for time and money invested in research and development needed in most forms of the invention process (including software development), then there is less incentive to innovate. In some areas, that incentive might arguably drop to near zero. So, while the software patent process almost certainly needs to be revamped, software patents are, in principle, good things, just like all other patents.

How are they good? Imagine if someone could patent a for loop or a quick sort? Sorry, but the idea is ridiculous and if you actually read through some software related patents, you will see that what people are allowed to patent is asinine. Most patents are so broadly worded that you cannot write software with functionality beyond a fart app without infringing on some patents that you've never heard of. Are you stealing someone's idea? No.

----------

That's why it's bogus when someone says "Oh so-and-so stole code from someone else". That very rarely happens in real life. Most often it's just a case of someone independently coming up with the same idea that some big company with time and money had separately filed a patent for. That's partly why software patents are not even allowed in some countries.

Indeed.
 
Software patents, like all patents, ARE good. If you don't provide some protection for time and money invested in research and development needed in most forms of the invention process (including software development), then there is less incentive to innovate. In some areas, that incentive might arguably drop to near zero. So, while the software patent process almost certainly needs to be revamped, software patents are, in principle, good things, just like all other patents.

For software we have copyright
 
in all this hoopla and hootenanies...

Just remember one thing

Analysts estimated that last year alone, over 20 Billion dollars was spent in Patent related purchases and lawsuits.

for the first time ever, this value is believed to exceed actual global Reasearch and Development costs in the tech industry.

Just some food for thought.

Some incredibly sad food for thought. What is the world coming to :(
 
You reap what you sow. Be interesting to see if Tim Cook mentions anything about copied technology in relation to this, somehow I think not. Hypocrisy in the extreme.
 
Needing some review and overhaul? Sure. An aberration (i.e. shouldn't exist at all)? I don't think so.



Software patents, like all patents, ARE good. If you don't provide some protection for time and money invested in research and development needed in most forms of the invention process (including software development), then there is less incentive to innovate.

Software is protected by Copyright and for some parts, Trademarks (logos, names, etc..).

Patents on software are an aberration and shouldn't exist, software is already protected to provide the incentive to make it.
 
In yet another verdict against apple and the fan boys just bitch about the lost and complain the system is broke. Apple is just as sneaky as the other guy trying to sneaky past paying. Pure greed. Time for apple to shut up, pay, and move on. If apple can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.