Do the descendants of Joseph Guillotin still hold the patent on his invention? I fancy a scenario unfolding in today's environment that might vastly enrich his heirs.
Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
51–60 of 97 posts
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Politicians created the problem by creating IP laws. If they "solve" it, they will undoubtedly just introduce some new problem.
That's a really cynical view, isn't it? Implying that the people, through their democratically elected governments, can't ever improve upon things that have come before.
Government isn't effective, democratic or otherwise. But I'm not a cynic. I have high hopes for humanity, long term. The sooner we get rid of the institutionalized use of force (government) the better.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe not stupid, but I think their hubris is steadily growing. At some point a patent troll is going to fly too high and set fire to the entire business model.
I wonder if a possible defense would be to intentionally trigger some political response via some patent trolling of your own.
Dang, this is a REALLY good idea. Get a whole slew of companies to combine patents and start suing "influential" people. Call it lobbying with teeth. The EFF could be the "troll" and could take the extras as contributions.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#54Leeches. Someone should destroy these folks. Legally and peacefully, of course. But they must be destroyed.
Not keen on the word "folk" being used to describe them because it has a more homely feel to it, for a common purpose, etc. These people are scum.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#55This is very nice! Politicians will only solve a problem after it becomes a calamity. If the problem gets bad enough, they might start paying attention.
Politicians would notice more quickly if they were ever reliant on coffee shop wireless and not working from expensive Blackberry accounts.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really cynical view, isn't it? Implying that the people, through their democratically elected governments, can't ever improve upon things that have come before.
Cynicism is rarely proven wrong in cases like this.
The cynic can only take pleasure in saying "I told you so," but can never take credit for any improvement, which does occasionally happen against all odds.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#57I wouldn't think they could ever win anything. One of the rules with patents is you can't just kick back and wait for your competitor's product to grow and sue 10 years later. Considering WiFi is almost 20 years old, and has practically surpassed 'ubiquity', I'd say that ship sailed.
That's the beauty of the scheme. They don't HAVE to win anything. They threaten to sue for $2,000 to $5,000 which is less than the cost of hiring a lawyer to defend. 98% of the people threatened pay up. Some miniscule percentage are incredibly cussed individuals who are willing to spend thousands of dollars just to be right... maybe they'll lose those cases. It doesn't matter: they're still making huge amounts of mon…
It makes me wonder how this is not extortion? Pay up or we'll make your life miserable and/or more expensive.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really cynical view, isn't it? Implying that the people, through their democratically elected governments, can't ever improve upon things that have come before.
Cynicism is rarely proven wrong in cases like this.
Maybe so, but I can think of a few high profile examples where things did change for the better. Think civil rights, women's suffrage.
I honestly feel that this current patent perversion is a temporary thing. It just can't be sustainable in its current state.
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really cynical view, isn't it? Implying that the people, through their democratically elected governments, can't ever improve upon things that have come before.
Government isn't effective, democratic or otherwise. But I'm not a cynic. I have high hopes for humanity, long term. The sooner we get rid of the institutionalized use of force (government) the better.
I don't normally press people for alternatives, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
If we were to get rid of "institutionalized use of force", what would we replace it with? Can you give me a single example of a large-scale society without effective government that hasn't devolved into a nightmare scenario?
Re: Patent Troll: Anyone Using WiFi Infringes; Won't Sue Individuals 'At This Stage'
#60After getting sued a good course of action would be to sue the manufacturer for loses incurred. At least that would get their attention. Somebody could start a class action lawsuit agains the manufacturer.
They should be suing the manufacturers in the first place. Even if we were to assume for a moment that this patent has any validity whatsoever, it would not be the users of the wireless router than owe them a royalty payment, but the router manufacturers. And I seriously doubt that a fair royalty on a single router (such as what you might find in one of these small coffeeshops that they are suing) is in the thousands…
Why? It's not just the implementation of a patented idea that's protected; it's also the use.