Well, at least they are hitting other (albeit larger) patent trolls... Karma!
Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
91–100 of 127 posts
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#92If VirnetX were on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue, their stock price would reflect it. However, it does not. https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSEMKT%3AVHC&ei=h-WTU4DYNs... VirnetX's market cap is $850 million, which would be a very steep discount if the company were "on the verge" of being paid $340 million/year from Apple.
Good catch, will be interesting to see how this plays out. I tend to believe indicators like this over news reports.
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean they are just a little less baseless than the patent for 'rounded corners'?
Who has a patent for rounded corners?
Apple. They have a design patent on a rectangle with rounded corners.
http://mobile.theverge.com/2012/11/7/3614506/apple-patents-r...
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#94Have you guys looked at the patents in this case? They look thick and serious, but if you actually read the claims, you will soon realize that it's nothing but an obvious and straightforward procedure for deciding when and with whom to establish a VPN. None of these patents make sure that a VPN connection is more secure, more reliable, or in any way better. Majority of the patent is explanation on how a VPN works, di…
Reminds me of http://www.google.com/patents/US20070258329 : "Method and apparatus for the exploitation of piezoelectric and other effects in carbon-based life forms."
Despite the huge prolegomena which would in fact work as a crash course in fringe geometry and pseudoscience, it turns out to be a patent for a golf club (I think.)
The point being, how does stuff like this even get past USPTO? Don't they employ people to weed out the nonsense?
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#95Have you guys looked at the patents in this case? They look thick and serious, but if you actually read the claims, you will soon realize that it's nothing but an obvious and straightforward procedure for deciding when and with whom to establish a VPN. None of these patents make sure that a VPN connection is more secure, more reliable, or in any way better. Majority of the patent is explanation on how a VPN works, di…
You mean they are just a little less baseless than the patent for 'rounded corners'?
Apple doesn’t have a patent for rounded corners.
They have a design patent for the ornamental design of the iPad. Just like Google has design patents for the ornamental design of a smiley face, a usb cable, a “computer icon” etc etc. Just like Samsung has a design patent for the ornamental design of a "Terminal for portable mobile communication”, which based on the images looks like a tablet.
In 1981 some company got a design patent for the ornamental design of a briefcase, with rounded corners.
Please stop talking shit.
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#96Could someone explain to me how companies are suppose to avoid infringing on patents?
With a device as complicated as a smartphone it's inevitable that someone holds the patents for numerous parts of the device and the software.
Is there a lawyer that is supposed to check out every single aspect of a device and check for prior patents? If so, then shouldn't the lawyer be responsible in this instance?
Note: I personally don't care if Apple loses patent cases, they've done enough damage with their own frivolous patent lawsuits.
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#97Could someone explain what the thing with East Texas is?
A district where juries and judges are more favorable than usual towards patents? This sound kind-of ridiculous, no? Can't the defending companies find similar anti-patent areas and file counter-suites there?
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't disagree it's a common viewpoint, I'm just saying it's not very useful to call every NPE a patent troll. It lumps universities together with companies that seek nuisance settlements using the cost of litigation as leverage. In general, the law allows you to sell your cause of action to someone else. For example, many investors who had suits against big banks over mortgage-backed securities sold their causes o…
A patent troll only uses patents to sue people and return money to it's investors. So, I think there is a reasonable argument that if your actively doing research your not really a NPE. AMD and University's both make money from both obvious and non obvious patents but they have positive contributions where companies that only buy existing patents and sue don't contribute anything as the patents already exist.
If universities can't manage to exist in the US off the 70 billion the feds spend on tuition support, or by snagging a share of the 150 billion the US government spend on research, let them die.
Re: Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
In this case I don't think this is a patent troll. They are an NPE but they aren't trying to bully small companies to settle out of court. If they win maybe more people will want to join the dark side and make large corporations pay. Maybe then they will put pressure on Congress to finally pass the bipartisan bill that Leahy and Harry Reid forced to be shelved.
Are patent trolls only patent trolls if they go after small businesses?
I think "patent troll" should be applied to be anyone who waits for accidental infringement. That's not quite everyone who's an NPE, and I view this behavior as tacit admission that you know you shouldn't have a patent.
That said, I doubt banning this behavior would solve much. It's easy to pretend to be well intentioned and there are truly well intentioned people with bad patents.