Displaying items by tag: Patent Law

deadtrigger

So Madfinger games is claiming that piracy is behind a move to drop the price of a $.99 game to zero. For some reason this claim just does not make sense. It is a well-known trend that low cost games are rarely pirated in fact the biggest reason that games a pirated is due to the cost of the game so we are having a hard time believing that a $0.99 game is being pirated in large amounts. I would believe it if they said that something like Shadowrun was being pirated as it is a $4.99 game on both the iPad and Android. So, if piracy is not the cause then what is?

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The US Patent system, both the methods used for filing and also the methods used to protect IP is becoming a joke. We have seen as patents are being filed in greater frequency with very little other than wording to differentiate them with other products, but broad enough to make sure the filing company can still sue someone else that makes a similar product. On top of that we have judges that are not qualified technically to preside over the cases they are being overwhelmed with. To say that the system is broken would be like calling a nuclear explosion a “bang”.

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Google and Samsung are doing something very interesting in regards to the ban that Jude Lucy Koh imposed at the request of Apple. As I am sure you all know Apple is claiming that Google and Samsung are violating their patent on universal search and are requesting that the phone be removed from stores in the US to prevent Apple from being irrevocably harmed (which is a very dubious claim). Originally Judge Koh had denied the request, but then did a complete 180 after an appeals court asked her to review the case again.

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"We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." This is the boilerplate statement that Apple makes in every patent case they are involved in. It is a message that the company claims time and time again. Even Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, says this about Apple. However, the statement is probably one of the biggest myths that the company perpetrates on the consumer and one that is finally coming to light as more and more consumers and even the media are starting to report on the number of times Apple has patented technology AFTER someone else invented it.

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01Someone needs to send some of the Apple lawyers back to preschool where they find shapes that are the same and get to pick out colors as well. We are frankly getting sick of Judges bowing to Apple’s request for outright bans on products because they claim that they “look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging”. It simply does not hold up under even the most cursory examination. The latest after a ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for possibly infringing on a SINGLE PATNET is they have been awarded one for on the Galaxy Nexus.

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animal_farm-pigsWe have often written that the continuous stream of patent lawsuits and injunctions that are pushed around the globe are costly, dangerous and anti-consumer, but now someone has actually gone out and done the math to find out just how much damage they do per year. The study performed by James E. Bessen and Michael E Meurer both from the Boston University School of Law states that in 2011 more than $29 Billion (with a B) in direct costs were incurred all because of what are called Non-Practicing Entities (most call them patent trolls). This $29 Billion also came during a down economy and affected small to medium sized businesses the most.

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73Apple appears to have had a little bit of a set back in court yesterday as Judge Richard Posner (the same one that threw Apple’s complaint about a week ago) told Apple quite simply that imposing a sales ban on Motorola’s products would have catastrophic effects. This type of decision is happening more and more where one company demands a ban on the other. What the legal system is waking up to is that the ban on imports and sales are hurting businesses and the economy. They are also beginning to understand that the threat of a ban is not being used to protect IP, but to limit competition.

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73We have been saying for a number of years now, but the Patent System is broken. Now the FTC might be starting to agree with some of the sentiment that we have been hearing from many media outlets. In a very important move the FTC feels that the continued request for import and sales bans whenever there is a patent dispute is causing “substantial harm” to consumers.

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bill-of-rightsA couple of days ago, while researching information for another article, I stumbled across an article on patents and how they have evolved since their beginning. I will not go into a full blown history lesson, but I do want to cover something that was very interesting. The first true patent laws were enacted in the US back in the 1790s. This simple law established the patent system to “promote the Progress of Useful Arts” under the original laws a patent could only be granted for up to 14 years and then only if the device was “sufficiently useful and important” and in many cases a working model of the device had to be submitted.

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GoogleMicrosoft is now joining the ranks of companies that are suing Motorola Mobility. This is not surprising and if you read between the lines of the complaints the filings you will see that these really have very little to do with Motorola at all (well ok, Motorola is not playing nice either). Unlike the complaints from Apple, Microsoft is claiming that Motorola (and hence Google) is trying to limit the use of the H.264 video standard.

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