iGrip
macrumors 68000
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.
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Apple Hit with $368 Million Judgment in VPN Patent Lawsuit from VirnetX
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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.
Bubba Satori
Suspended
Renzatic
Suspended
Sometimes I like sticking candy corn on my teeth, and pretending I'm a sugar vampire.
johncrab
macrumors 6502
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.
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
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.
gnasher729
Suspended
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".
ReallyBigFeet
macrumors 68030
kdarling
Contributor
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.
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.
Oletros
macrumors 603
You're welcome
And regarding the infringing software, does any knows yhe status of open standard of Facetime? Or was only a broken promise?
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KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
Snowy_River
macrumors 68030
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.
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.
LordVic
Cancelled
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.
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.
theSeb
macrumors 604
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.
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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.
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Indeed.
Oletros
macrumors 603
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.
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
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!
