41–50 of 72 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is an intermittent windshield wiper really worthy of a 20-year monopoly?
Depends on how much you have invested in it.
I might have invested countless hours in such effort, but that does not grant it any inherent value.
I am glad that a patent troll has directly attacked one of the software giants. Now hopefully Microsoft with its deep pockets and legal team can crush this troll.
It sounds like SurfCast owns some pretty valuable intellectual property. Good for them! Of course, I wonder if they've been paying taxes on that property. If not, then Maine Revenue Services might be interested in the fact that a local corporation has been evading their taxes. On the other hand, if SurfCast is willing to attest to the Maine Revenue Service that their property has no value and should not be taxed, the…
Are you suggesting that IP owners owe (real estate) property taxes?
I'm not asserting that IP owners currently owe property taxes. I am asserting that if they've asked the government to declare that the property is theirs, and they're asking the government to help defend their granted rights, then they should have to pay for the operation of that government.
In short, if you want to have it both ways and receive the patent without paying taxes, fine. Just don't expect to use my taxpayer-supported court system to help you enforce your rights on it.
It sounds like SurfCast owns some pretty valuable intellectual property. Good for them! Of course, I wonder if they've been paying taxes on that property. If not, then Maine Revenue Services might be interested in the fact that a local corporation has been evading their taxes. On the other hand, if SurfCast is willing to attest to the Maine Revenue Service that their property has no value and should not be taxed, the…
An interesting idea, but which Maine tax would apply? I'm not a Maine tax lawyer, but it looks like Maine has plenty of taxes, including a "Blueberry Tax" [1][2], but there doesn't appear to be a general assets tax. Any corporate income from licensing the patent would be taxed just the same as any other income. Maine's property tax appears to apply only to "real property" (land) and "tangible" personal property [3] (…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that IP owners owe (real estate) property taxes?
That would have some interesting consequences. Could I suddenly owe lots of taxes if I get a really great business idea that I think is worth a lot?
See Fig. 1 in the first patent (pg 3) http://www.surfcast.com/images/pdfs/US6724403.pdf
The pictures has some funny Drive names: Bambam, Fatbelly, Bigboss, Hulk.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Welcome to the problem of limited liability corporations in general. You think it's irksome to win a judgment against a shell that has no assets in the patent troll context, imagine it in the environmental damage, shareholder fraud, etc, context.
On the other hand, imagine losing your house, car and savings because somebody finds a bug in your product and sues you...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would have some interesting consequences. Could I suddenly owe lots of taxes if I get a really great business idea that I think is worth a lot?
Only if you patent it, granting you exclusive right to that idea.
The text I am typing right now is under copyright by default, if I write something particularly brilliant here, can I expect to owe a good deal of taxes?
If not, why not? Both are intellectual "property", and both clearly can have very real value. Why should unpublished books be any less taxable than un-implemented patents?
Microsoft even once gave a demo of how fast QuickBASIC compiled code was by writing a program that split the screen into quarters and showed different real-time data displays into each quarter. You could call that prior art, even if it weren't for Windows 1.