Apple Shells Out $25 Million to Settle Siri Lawsuit

[MacRumors]

Apple today settled a long-running lawsuit with Dynamic Advances and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over accusations Apple's Siri voice-based personal assistant violated a 2007 patent owned by Rensselaer and licensed exclusively to Dallas company Dynamic Advances, reports the Albany Business Review.

Apple will pay a total of $24.9 million to Dynamic Advances' parent company Marathon Patent Group. $5 million will be paid after the lawsuit is dropped with the rest of the money to follow later. Apple will be granted a patent license to use the technology and under the terms of the settlement, will not be sued again for a three-year period.

Dynamic Advances will pay approximately 50 percent of the money received from Apple to Rensselaer, but Rensselaer has not agreed to the royalty rate proposed in the settlement.

Dynamic Advances expects to pay 50 percent of that money to Rensselaer, legal counsel and the predecessor exclusive licensee of the patents in suit, according to regulatory filings.

Rensselaer has not, however, agreed to the royalty rate proposed in the settlement, according to a document filed by Marathon Patent Group

Had the case not been settled out of court, it would have gone to trial next month. The lawsuit dates back to 2012 and covers U.S. patent No. 7177798 B2, "Natural language interface using constrained intermediate dictionary of results."

Article Link: Apple Shells Out $25 Million to Settle Siri Lawsuit

 

[Shirasaki]

OK. What about another one with FBI?
And some Apple fanboys may think "oh, Apple didn't invent Siri at the first time? Unbelievable!"

 

[garirry]

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

 

[jimbobb24]

Software patents need to be rewritten to be a max of 7 years and only 3 years without a marketed product. This stuff is just ridiculous and a drag. Copyrights are the right way to handle code, not patents.

 

[freepomme]

What can Siri really do? I mean you tell it to do something and it just goes to Google. I mean Google. It's like the 90's. SEARCHING for stuff on Google. Where's the real Internet?

 

[ihonda]

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

While everyone has this mind set about Apple they are CONSTANTLY paying out millions eventually they will feel it.

 

[Gasu E.]

While everyone has this mind set about Apple they are CONSTANTLY paying out millions eventually they will feel it.

And they are constantly making BILLIONS in profits. As a percentage of their profits, this is just a minor cost of doing business. So why would they ever feel it?

 

[Witicas]

You mean Apple stole Siri? Wow! They are just like the government.

 

[campyguy]

What can Siri really do? I mean you tell it to do something and it just goes to Google. I mean Google.

You ought to offer up Bing here and not Google. Siri uses Bing, and Bing Is Not Google.

Unless you instruct Siri to specifically use Google, as in asking Siri to "Use Google to search for _____________".

Or, unless one installs certain apps such as WolframAlpha, and you'll get more granular control over Siri's responses. So many more options with WA/Yelp/Wikipedia installed...

https://techranker.net/how-to-use-siri-siri-commands-list-questions-to-ask-siri-app/ - not picking nits with you, wishing that Apple would drop Bing like the red hot, smelly turd that it is... There's more to Siri here.

Just saying...
[doublepost=1461111504][/doublepost]And, before anyone ranks on Rensselaer because of this, please remember that Ray Tomlinson was a 1963 grad. RIP.

That, and Rensselaer has been at this kind of stuff for about 200 years. Growing up, one of my dream schools, but I opted for civil engineering at University of Portland instead. Sigh.

 

[scuac]

They agreed not to sue again for a period of 3 years? What kind of settlement is that? I think someone at Apple got fired.

 

[freepomme]

You ought to offer up Bing here and not Google. Siri uses Bing, and Bing Is Not Google.

Unless you instruct Siri to specifically use Google, as in asking Siri to "Use Google to search for _____________".

Or, unless one installs certain apps such as WolframAlpha, and you'll get more granular control over Siri's responses. So many more options with WA/Yelp/Wikipedia installed...

https://techranker.net/how-to-use-siri-siri-commands-list-questions-to-ask-siri-app/ - not picking nits with you, wishing that Apple would drop Bing like the red hot, smelly turd that it is... There's more to Siri here.

Just saying...
[doublepost=1461111504][/doublepost]And, before anyone ranks on Rensselaer because of this, please remember that Ray Tomlinson was a 1963 grad. RIP.

That, and Rensselaer has been at this kind of stuff for about 200 years. Growing up, one of my dream schools, but I opted for civil engineering at University of Portland instead. Sigh.

So Siri uses Bing? Like that's supposed to be better? Bing is not even a resource that people use. So what good does that do?

Alphabet probably kicked Siri off of Google.

 

[Kabeyun]

Apple will be granted a patent license to use the technology and under the terms of the settlement, will not be sued again for a three-year period.​

Um... what? Can someone [with knowledge of this] please explain?​

 

[neuropsychguy]

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

So what you're saying is you have a net worth of about $880,000.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Software patents need to be rewritten to be a max of 7 years and only 3 years without a marketed product. This stuff is just ridiculous and a drag. Copyrights are the right way to handle code, not patents.

Why should an inventor have patent rights taken away if they fail to market a product within 3 years? What if the idea is really ahead of its time and the market isn't there for it for 10 years or 15 years?

Also, copyrights aren't for functional ideas, they are for artistic expression. Further, they last much much much longer than patents do.

Um... what? Can someone [with knowledge of this] please explain?​

I think this means Apple licensed the patent for a term of 3 years. After the 3 year term expires, they either have to renegotiate another license or design around the patent so that their product no longer infringes.

 

[joueboy]

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

A $25M is a 25mil not a $40 parking ticket. You're just giving them reason to increase their prices, or take that money back somewhere else through their services and paying customers. If you're an investor part of that would have been given back to you.

 

[garirry]

A $25M is a 25mil not a $40 parking ticket. You're just giving them reason to increase their prices, or take that money back somewhere else through their services and paying customers. If you're an investor part of that would have been given back to you.

I'm relatively speaking.
Apple has hundreds of billions of dollars at their disposal. Paying $25M is pathetic to them. For a regular, fairly high-class person, $40 is pathetic as well.
Of course, I ain't no businessman, so I can't calculate any of that in detail.

 

[cdm283813]

And they are constantly making BILLIONS in profits. As a percentage of their profits, this is just a minor cost of doing business. So why would they ever feel it?

The money train don't last forever. Just ask Microsoft hows Windows Phone is doing. Or Sony and the Walkman. After watching big tech companies bite the dust in the last 10 to 20 years it's only a matter of time. No one stays at the top for long.
When companies don't change with the times they fail. Just look at VR. It's in such high demand right now a $600 Oculus Rift is fetching $1200 to $1500 on eBay.

 

[Jimmy Bubbles]

You mean Apple stole Siri? Wow! They are just like the government.

Apple actually purchased Siri man. Here's one of the many articles on it: http://www.businessinsider.com/appl...t-app-as-war-with-google-heats-up-2010-4?op=1

 

[Thunderhawks]

25 million for something that doesn't really work well (at least for me) and isn't it officially still in beta phase?

 

[73b]

Searching the web for "Find restaurants near me"

 

[2010mini]

You mean Apple stole Siri? Wow! They are just like the government.

Actually Apple BOUGHT the company that invented Siri

 

[jimbobb24]

Why should an inventor have patent rights taken away if they fail to market a product within 3 years? What if the idea is really ahead of its time and the market isn't there for it for 10 years or 15 years?

Also, copyrights aren't for functional ideas, they are for artistic expression. Further, they last much much much longer than patents do.



I think this means Apple licensed the patent for a term of 3 years. After the 3 year term expires, they either have to renegotiate another license or design around the patent so that their product no longer infringes.

Traditionally we did not patent ideas we patented inventions. The reason to punish if no product is made is to cut off patent trolls. Code inventions are written and that is why copyright works.

However, whether or not we have a 3 year cut off the current length of time is far far too long for software.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Traditionally we did not patent ideas we patented inventions. The reason to punish if no product is made is to cut off patent trolls. Code inventions are written and that is why copyright works.

However, whether or not we have a 3 year cut off the current length of time is far far too long for software.

We do patent ideas. Ideas and inventions are really the same thing. If you want to get technical, there must be conception and reduction to practice to get a patent.

The way I remember it this - patents are for anything functional, copyrights are for anything creative, trademarks are for anything source identifying, and design patents are for anything which is nonfunctional but pretty.

Software code can be both copyrighted and patented. The written letters can be copyrighted. The functional design of what the code does can be patented.

I'm all for cutting off patent trolls, but not at the expense of burdening actual businesses and inventors, not at the expense of destroying the value of patents, and not in a way that might hinder investment in new businesses. The use it or lose it idea has been floated for decades now - it would cause a lot more harm than good.

I think a great way to cut off the trolls would be to pass legislation allowing courts to award fees to the defendant if the judge determines that the plaintiff is seeking only a nuisance settlement (aka a low settlement that isn't tied to the cost of the technology, but is rather designed to be just slightly less expensive than litigation). That alone I think will force a lot of trolls out of business. Currently, getting fees awarded is a lot more difficult and rarer.

 

[kdarling]

If anyone's interested, here's the SEC filing that originally begat this news. It's somewhat vague, as the details are said to be confidential.

http://ir.marathonpg.com/all-sec-filings/content/0001104659-16-112286/a16-8674_18k.htm

 

[campyguy]

So Siri uses Bing? Like that's supposed to be better? Bing is not even a resource that people use. So what good does that do?

Alphabet probably kicked Siri off of Google.

Since iOS 7 - http://searchengineland.com/apple-makes-bing-the-default-search-engine-for-siri-162736

I've got nothing more for you in regard to accuracy. I find Bing far more helpful when searching for Windows/Office related issues, getting links directly to TechNet, but that's about it. At the Siri prompt I'll say "use google to search for ________" and I'll get a Safari web page with Google search results - gets me around the Bing thing...