SCOTUS: Patent Rights Over a Printer Cartridge Are Exhausted When It Is Sold

Post by awinter-py » Thu, Jun 01, 2017, 4:07 AM UTC

tripzilch wrote: post #303

awinter-py wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or yeah, what if I speak a language similar to english except the word 'EULA' means 'none of the following applies'. Or what if I dance around in a circle reciting green eggs & ham whenever I sign anything? Let me know when you find the court that is willing to hear these questions. Unfortunately the 'had my fingers crossed' test from SCOTUS US v every 5 year-old was recently struck down.

Pretty sure that last one would go the other way, actually.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 01, 2017, 3:24 PM UTC

pfisch wrote: post #209

algesten wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do hope EU gets on top of Apple/Google/Netflix/HBO/etc soon. It's supposed to be One Market, yet these all impose territory restrictions where content in Spain is not necessarily available in France and vice versa.

Don't you think the most likely outcome of this is the far majority of older media titles will just no longer be available in the EU indefinitely? It will be unreasonably difficult and just not worth it to track down and negotiate with all the various the owners for each territory for most older titles.

Post by surak » Thu, Jun 01, 2017, 4:29 PM UTC

chias wrote: post #251

adrianmonk wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most mobile apps have moved to a model with in-app purchases. I wonder if this rule applies there. If a game is free, but I spend $1.99 on 500 gold coins (in-game currency), does the law require that I be able to sell the gold coins? What about if I use them to buy virtual non-consumable items (like permanent character upgrades)? I assume the law wouldn't apply to consumable items (like spending 50 gold coins to spee…

Generally speaking, this would be a very poor result (from the perspective of said game owners). Pretty much all of us would have our credit card processing contracts revoked, because in all "regular" contracts (e.g. Stripe, Braintree, etc. etc.) you may not use their service to sell goods which can be "readily resold for cash". If that was the legal result, these applications would probably need to stop accepting EU…

Post by pfisch » Sat, Jun 03, 2017, 11:03 PM UTC

matt4077 wrote: post #288

pfisch wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you think the most likely outcome of this is the far majority of older media titles will just no longer be available in the EU indefinitely? It will be unreasonably difficult and just not worth it to track down and negotiate with all the various the owners for each territory for most older titles.

Rights aren't "sold", they are only licensed, and almost always for a limited time.

Post by rabboRubble » Thu, Jun 08, 2017, 4:56 AM UTC

ensignavenger wrote: post #294

rabboRubble wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you... I guess that makes some sort of sense. Now if Lexmark can modify their printer cartridges to print and replicate themselves, Lexmark might might find cover under the Bowman case! I wish I could hand the SC justices 10 seeds each, with each 10 seed packet comprised by 5 GMO seeds and 5 non-GMO seeds. If the justices could visually sort the GMO and non-GMO seeds correctly, their ruling is actually "followa…

When you go to the store and buy anything, do you know what is patented and what is not? Do you know every patent that covers every part of your phone? Do you know what parts of any of these things you can copy? Patent Law is just like that- 'academic' as you describe it, I suppose. (I realize none of those things self-replicate like your seeds... but I think my point still holds.)