Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Patent Litigation Updates: Kodak and MONKEYmedia
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Agreed. And by page 3 all the wannabe Ally McBeals have chipped in with their 'expert' opinion.
Apples and Monkeys and Bears, oh my!
Ok, time to copy and paste what is said in every one of these patent case posts:
<Insert company name> are a bunch of patent trolls!
The patent system needs reform.
Apple deserves this, as they are always stealing ideas from others!
Innovate or die! Apple spends the big bucks to make things real and companies leach off of them.
How much money does the government waste on this stuff again?
<Insert name of politician you hate> is wasting tons of government money, so it's not like this is a huge deal.
Isn't Apple already in lawsuits with <company A>, <company B>, and <company C>?
You forgot about <company D> and <company E>! Moron.
I don't know anything about patent law, and I'm going to state something as fact even though I don't know if it is true!
Hey guy who just said something dumb about patent law, I'm a real lawyer and you're completely wrong for reasons 1 through 19. Even though I got my law degree online through a Russian blog!
<Insert location in Texas> is known for its judges that favor patent holders. <Insert corny Texas joke>!
Dude, don't say that about Texas! Jackass. My state used to be a country you know! It's so big! I love it more than <insert family member here>.
Why no flash on the iPad?
Its bc Steve Jobs is a tyrent who rulez our lives and I thinnk Apples should stick to iTouches bc thay are my fav and my mommy bougt me one for xmas last year. IPads are only big IPods u kno.
Dude, you fail the internet.
Why is MacRumors posting about another Apple lawsuit? UHHHGGG!!1! Put this on page 2, GAWD!
Apple is only protecting itself. What do you expect?
I say you get 5 years to make a product and if you don't in that timeframe then patent open sourced! Open source FTW! I love Linux and Android.
Why even post on an Apple site then!? Troll.
Apple in the end will <insert expletive> all of them, even <insert company name>, looser company.
Everyone just chill out. Apple is doing fine, these lawsuits won't change anything. They've got <insert latest figure in billions> in cash! How many companies can say that?
----------------------------
Yeah, I read the forums too much.
Ok, time to copy and paste what is said in every one of these patent case posts:
<Insert company name> are a bunch of patent trolls!
The patent system needs reform.
Apple deserves this, as they are always stealing ideas from others!
Innovate or die! Apple spends the big bucks to make things real and companies leach off of them.
How much money does the government waste on this stuff again?
<Insert name of politician you hate> is wasting tons of government money, so it's not like this is a huge deal.
Isn't Apple already in lawsuits with <company A>, <company B>, and <company C>?
You forgot about <company D> and <company E>! Moron.
I don't know anything about patent law, and I'm going to state something as fact even though I don't know if it is true!
Hey guy who just said something dumb about patent law, I'm a real lawyer and you're completely wrong for reasons 1 through 19. Even though I got my law degree online through a Russian blog!
<Insert location in Texas> is known for its judges that favor patent holders. <Insert corny Texas joke>!
Dude, don't say that about Texas! Jackass. My state used to be a country you know! It's so big! I love it more than <insert family member here>.
Why no flash on the iPad?
Its bc Steve Jobs is a tyrent who rulez our lives and I thinnk Apples should stick to iTouches bc thay are my fav and my mommy bougt me one for xmas last year. IPads are only big IPods u kno.
Dude, you fail the internet.
Why is MacRumors posting about another Apple lawsuit? UHHHGGG!!1! Put this on page 2, GAWD!
Apple is only protecting itself. What do you expect?
I say you get 5 years to make a product and if you don't in that timeframe then patent open sourced! Open source FTW! I love Linux and Android.
Why even post on an Apple site then!? Troll.
Apple in the end will <insert expletive> all of them, even <insert company name>, looser company.
Everyone just chill out. Apple is doing fine, these lawsuits won't change anything. They've got <insert latest figure in billions> in cash! How many companies can say that?
----------------------------
Yeah, I read the forums too much.
Apple is like any other major company - they are routinely sued for all sorts of things.
It does look like more and more news is all about someone suing someone for some useless patent.
Can't wait till the patent system just crumbles over all this useless trolling.
Apple, like EVERY OTHER company creates patents where the ideas never see the light of day in products.
The world does not need patents trolls.
Idiocy
What this demonstrates is why we need to KILL THE PATENT SYSTEM. It has become so abused that the only solution is to kill the entire beast. No patents. No software patents. No patents on life. No method patents. Nada.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. I come up with hundreds of patentable ideas a day. 10 a day are very good. I have time to implement one every few years. Conception, implementation and bringing the idea to market is what should be rewarded. It takes all of that. The idea alone deserves no protection. Trolls should be killed. They do no benefit.
What this demonstrates is why we need to KILL THE PATENT SYSTEM. It has become so abused that the only solution is to kill the entire beast. No patents. No software patents. No patents on life. No method patents. Nada.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. I come up with hundreds of patentable ideas a day. 10 a day are very good. I have time to implement one every few years. Conception, implementation and bringing the idea to market is what should be rewarded. It takes all of that. The idea alone deserves no protection. Trolls should be killed. They do no benefit.
Sorry but that also makes no sense, patents have a reason, but what they need to be is short, say 5 year tops, and then you don't have it any more.
Just like copyright laws, way to much time in control.
Funny that you picked up on the patent being five years and done bit. Out of all of those, I think that one would be me talking. It seems fair enough. Or at least make a company, as part of their application, submit a business plan for it that will be reviewed and a period will be granted for that individual / company to develop something. If they come up empty, then bam, take it away. After further review, of course. But then that would just add more government interference and waste money, lol. So whatev.
If you haven't produced Art of your patent working, it doesn't necessarily go away, but you lose the right to sue when someone ten years later "infringes" on it.
Apple is doing the same thing against Kodak. Apple need to stay out of the Patent trolling business, Kodak was in the Camera game way before Apple was... if anything I hope Kodak wins the suit against Apple to teach them they entered late in the game and I hope all these companies stop suing each other for patents (INCLUDING APPLE).
First, the 5 years thing makes a lot of sense in some technologies where progress is rapid, but not in other technologies where it takes much longer to recoup the investment in R&D. For example, pharmaceutical research is quite different than user interface research.
Also, many top notch universities rely on licensing income from patents on their research. Plus, your proposal would essentially eliminate "garage inventors," the basis of Silicon Valley. Perhaps the requirement should be that you either need to practice your own invention or license it to someone who will practice it.
In the end, however, I don't think anything needs to change. Recent changes in the law have made it much harder for "trolls" to profit from their trolliness.
great
another company that failed to make anything happen and suing those who do.
congratulations monkeys.
another company that failed to make anything happen and suing those who do.
congratulations monkeys.
If you think it is bad now, you should have seen the patent suit storm in the 70s when Japanese automotive manufacturers started to sell in high volumes into the USA. The Big Three started to sue almost any foreign automotive manufacturer and their domestic distributors for patent infringement trying to keep them out of the USA market. Some of those suits were not settled 'til the 90s. This is calm.
I know you are the expert on this one
. I agree that don't think you should be allowed to be granted a patent unless the product is put into commercial use or have a license put it into commercial use. Maybe allow a window of 12months from the patent date to be implement. This prevents stuff like the apple patents on page one of Macrumors from being issued unless they make it into an actual production model. Then if that patented idea is taken off the market by that company or licensese(s), the patent expires in X time, like 12-24 months. This prevents companies like Monkey media from sitting on an unused patent and thus are innovating nothing. It allows other to come in and put those ideas to use again and foster progress and development without needless litigation.
Please elaborate. I'm seriously interested
There have been various changes. One change involved how patent continuations work and the way patent termination dates are filed. Now you have essentially 20 years from the first patent you file on a subject. This helps prevent "submarine patents" where people wait for a product that looks a little like their patent, then go and file a patent continuation with claims directed at the new product.
There also has been a major court decision that makes it nearly impossible for a patent troll (a non-practicing entity) to obtain an injunction preventing the sale or manufacture of infringing devices.
There also has been a major court decision in the Supreme Court ("KSR") that makes it far easier to prove that a patent was obvious, and therefore invalid.
There was also a case that makes it far easier for a company that is being threatened by a patent troll to file for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement or invalidity (and thus choose the venue).
It's also gotten a lot harder to file cases in the Eastern District of Texas unless the defendant really is doing something infringing there.
And the Supreme Court is about to rule on In re Bilski, and, in all likelihood, will make it far harder to obtain business method and software patents.
I know you are the expert on this one
I agree that don't think you should be allowed to be granted a patent unless the product is put into commercial use or have a license put it into commercial use. Maybe allow a window of 12months from the patent date to be implement. This prevents stuff like the apple patents on page one of Macrumors from being issued unless they make it into an actual production model. Then if that patented idea is taken off the market by that company or licensese(s), the patent expires in X time, like 12-24 months. This prevents companies like Monkey media from sitting on an unused patent and thus are innovating nothing. It allows other to come in and put those ideas to use again and foster progress and development without needless litigation.
Your idea would hose over the little guy. You're basically saying only people who have the required ability to implement can patent. Lets say I come up with something really cool, but don't have the capital to implement it as a product. I go to Apple and say hey, you want this in your phone. They blow me off, wait 12 months and then implement it anyway.
to me, it doesn't matter if you think monkey and others are patent trolls, if they hold the patent, they should have that licensed for use otherwise they have legitimate issues with its implementation. Just because you might not have the resources or wants to produce your patented idea, doesn't mean you should be paid for it if someone else wants to use it.
