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Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

blog.comma.ai

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Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#21

Post by georgehotz »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #18

To play devil's advocate, there is nothing about being a patent troll inherently illegal. Hotz feels the patent is invalid, but it might not be. Our system does not require you to ever build the object patented before extracting fees from it. This is in fact the way the US patent system works. One of the patents is here: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 Method, Apparatus and System for Retrof…

The patent in the complaint doesn't even have anything to do with what we do as a company! It describes a system that calls 911 when it detects a crash (like onstar). Ignore the (very generic) title and read on in the actual patent. https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707

We write open source ADAS software, and it doesn't have any functionality like that: https://github.com/commaai/openpilot

But for the purposes of attempting to extract a settlement, it doesn't matter. It will only matter after a long and expensive trial.

(I would like to invalidate the patent entirely, which several of their patents already have been. But even if it is valid, it also has to apply to us)

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#22

Post by sodapopcan »

sva_ wrote: post #16
labrador wrote: post #3

I always thought Hotz an interesting character. This paragraph adds to that impression: "What he didn’t take into account is that comma isn’t run by rational actors in suits sitting on a committee. It’s run by me, George Hotz. I’m willing to lose $1M before I give him $10k. We will hire an amazing legal team, fight this, and while doing so invalidate his patents so they can’t be used against anyone else. Not because…

> It’s run by me, George Hotz. I'm torn between considering it a power move of mentioning yourself and linking to the Wikipedia entry about you, or not. But I appreciate the troll hunt.

When you say you’d lose 1M before paying a trash human 10k and mean it, I’m cool with it.

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#23

Post by btilly »

thfuran wrote: post #14
j-bos wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strikes me that a lot of today's ills would be solved (or replaced) by more individual agency. Gold applause to Hotz.

It seems to me that considerably more of today's ills would be solved by more collective action.

I strongly recommend that you read https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674537514.

It explains the economic reasons why it is hard to get collective action to happen. It also explains why any government organization organized for collective action in time is likely to undergo regulatory capture, meaning that the people you wanted to regulate are in control of the regulations and manipulate them for their own purposes. It also studies the various approaches that have been taken to solve this, and how effective they have or haven't been.

You'll learn WHY we don't simply all self-organize to act in our collective best interest.

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#25

Post by totse »

georgehotz wrote: post #21
etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #18

To play devil's advocate, there is nothing about being a patent troll inherently illegal. Hotz feels the patent is invalid, but it might not be. Our system does not require you to ever build the object patented before extracting fees from it. This is in fact the way the US patent system works. One of the patents is here: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 Method, Apparatus and System for Retrof…

The patent in the complaint doesn't even have anything to do with what we do as a company! It describes a system that calls 911 when it detects a crash (like onstar). Ignore the (very generic) title and read on in the actual patent. https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 We write open source ADAS software, and it doesn't have any functionality like that: https://github.com/commaai/openpilot But for…

No post body was provided.

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#26

Post by kstrauser »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #18

To play devil's advocate, there is nothing about being a patent troll inherently illegal. Hotz feels the patent is invalid, but it might not be. Our system does not require you to ever build the object patented before extracting fees from it. This is in fact the way the US patent system works. One of the patents is here: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 Method, Apparatus and System for Retrof…

The devil doesn't need an advocate.

And at any rate, "illegal" is not the same as "immoral". Even if the troll's actions are within the law, in my opinion they're utterly immoral and scummy.

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#28

Post by btilly »

thfuran wrote: post #17
dymk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You first?

Take for instance the problem of patent trolls, which could be much more comprehensively solved by regulatory/legal reform than by one guy with a well-funded legal team.

The last time Congress took on comprehensive regulatory/legal reform of patents, the result was https://cafc.uscourts.gov/home/the-court/about-the-court/cou....

Most of the problems with software patents trace back, in one way or another, to that court.

What makes you think the current broken legislative system has a chance at a reform that makes things better in a way that you'd like?

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#29

Post by sebastien_b »

georgehotz wrote: post #21
etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #18

To play devil's advocate, there is nothing about being a patent troll inherently illegal. Hotz feels the patent is invalid, but it might not be. Our system does not require you to ever build the object patented before extracting fees from it. This is in fact the way the US patent system works. One of the patents is here: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 Method, Apparatus and System for Retrof…

The patent in the complaint doesn't even have anything to do with what we do as a company! It describes a system that calls 911 when it detects a crash (like onstar). Ignore the (very generic) title and read on in the actual patent. https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/10454707 We write open source ADAS software, and it doesn't have any functionality like that: https://github.com/commaai/openpilot But for…

Once you’re done crushing this patent troll, go after the USPTO for granting bogus patents in the first place - you shouldn’t have to bear the costs of fixing their fuckups.

Re: Patent Trolls Inbound: Our First Lawsuit

#30

Post by jjoonathan »

duxup wrote: post #20
j-bos wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strikes me that a lot of today's ills would be solved (or replaced) by more individual agency. Gold applause to Hotz.

If we all could spend a million on lawsuits… dunno if that is good.

He has explored other heavy hitting strategies too.

Rap Battle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUvuaChDEg

When the rap battle didn't work, (probably) causing a $171M outage and getting away with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_PlayStation_Network_outag...

Absolute legend.

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