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FTC Investigates Submarine Patents
Schnake writes: "An article on USAToday talks about how the FTC is investigating Sun Microsystems, Unocal, and Rambus to determine whether they illegally kept patents secret while helping set industry standards! And a quote from the ZDNet article: "It noted that all three companies had filed patent infringement lawsuits against firms they say owed them royalties. But the litigation backfired when those firms countersued, charging them with concealing their patents, and complained to the FTC.""
this can't possibly be...
I'm pretty sure there's one of Sun Microsystems main offices in the WTC. Could anyone possibly confirm which brach of sun was located in there.
if you're going to post crap, please include a goatse link
The Taleban website, appears to be continually hacked. Every time they fix their site, within minutes it's defaced again. WAY TO GO!!!!!! I'll make a mirror of the hack for prosperity. I don't feel so completely helpless anymore! There has to be more that we as a community of geeks can do, other than giving blood (VERY IMPORTANT!), or donating cash. I'm sure that the lowlife communicated electroniclly, maybe have secure or hidden websites. Think about a cell based organization, picking up and dropping off information anonymously via FTP. I'm almost positive that info is out there. LET'S FIND IT!
--- Think of it as evolution in action ---
Do I need to say any more?
another "quality" nivelo9 comment
I urinate on Mecca. I wipe my ass with the Koran. I spit upon Mohammed.
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...piss off *everyone* (excpet corporate america) Japan espically... about a year ago, Japanese television had an hour long program about how some patents for robotic assembly and inspection had been granted over 20 years after the patent had been accepted. If I recall correctly, there were some very devistating consequences for Japanese industral conplex. If Japan had a military, it was the kind of issue that might start a ware. The point that seemed to fall on deaf Japanese ears was that the paten office is inherently a political tool of the unitied states government and corporate america. This particular patent had been "submarined" for the direct purpose of secrewing the patent filer out of roalties. So, just remember, patents don't protect the inventer. Patents exist to the benefit of corporate america and the us government... and in a country where the patent generators a systematically screwed as a routine, generic part of the culture, it seems a little disingenuious and completely unnecessary to submarine a patent. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Patents not secret (Score:5, Interesting) by Ed Avis (epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk) on Thursday September 13, @05:24AM (#2291243) (User #5917 Info | http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~epa98/) The whole point of the patent system is openness. You only get a patent monopoly in exchange for full disclosure. So it should be easy (in principle) to find out what patents cover something you are working on. But in practice the sheer volume of patents out there is too large. I think that a legally binding 'patent challenge' might be the answer. You should be able to send a letter to Rambus or whoever saying 'I am developing the following... please disclose whether you have any patents or patent applications which cover this area'. The company receiving the letter then has to disclose what they have patented. If they lie or keep quiet, they lose the right to sue you later on. Obviously you couldn't do this for internal R&D, but for standards bodies (where the process is open anyway) this could be a useful tool to reduce threats from submarine patents. The only question is whether it places an unreasonable burden on the patentholding company. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:Patents not secret by Asic Eng (Score:3) Thursday September 13, @05:43AM Re:Patents not secret Thursday September 13, @06:06AM Re:Patents not secret by Asic Eng (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @06:25AM Re:Patents not secret Thursday September 13, @05:53AM Re:Patents not secret by Ed Avis (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @06:00AM Re:Patents not secret Thursday September 13, @06:24AM Some others worth investigating perhaps ? (Score:1) by emmavl on Thursday September 13, @05:33AM (#2291255) (User #202243 Info) What about all the patents related to jpeg2000 and mpeg4 ? It seems most (or at least some) of them were requested and granted just when the relevant technology/algorithms got accepted into the standard. (See also this article [advogato.org]) As the article on advogato mentions : why can't ISO/ANSI/whatever enforce policy stating that no patented work should be included in standards released by it ? [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:Some others worth investigating perhaps ? by flegged (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @06:19AM WTC (Score:1) by Simm0 (simm0 AT ii DOT net) on Thursday September 13, @05:33AM (#2291258) (User #236060 Info | Last Journal: Saturday August 18, @10:33AM) I'm pretty sure there's one of Sun Microsystems main offices in the WTC. Could anyone possibly confirm which brach of sun was located in there. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:WTC Thursday September 13, @05:35AM Re:WTC by PhilHibbs (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @05:43AM Re:WTC by PhilHibbs (Score:3) Thursday September 13, @05:46AM Another link by PhilHibbs (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @05:48AM Everyone Work Together and... (Score:-1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13, @05:34AM (#2291260) 1. Kill all Arabs. 2. Kill all Towel Heads. 3. Kill all Mohammedans. 4. Kill all Muslims. 5. Kill all Camel Jockeys 6. Kill all Islam. 7. Nuke their countries beyond the abyss of hell. 8. Nuke them again. 9. Death to Islam! [ Reply to This | Parent ] Mod Parent Down by nivelo9 (Score:1) Thursday September 13, @05:45AM Wheee (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13, @05:37AM (#2291266) Coming next on the U.S tragedy bandwagon jumping special: Head of the FBI discuss why tapping each and every internet connection and mobile phone call would stop terrorists in their tracks. George W. Bush on why disasters are useful for making lame duck corporate puppets look like real presidents. Richard Stallman on why the use of the GNU GPL and open protocols would have prevented the terrorist attack Eric S. Raymond on why arming all airplane passengers would create a safer environment because they could shoot hijackers. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:Wheee Thursday September 13, @06:00AM taleban.com Hacked (Score:1) by ScumBiker (scumbiker@SPAM_SUCKS_jwenger.org) on Thursday September 13, @05:44AM (#2291277) (User #64143 Info | http://www.jwenger.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 04, @10:03AM) The Taleban website [taleban.com], appears to be continually hacked. Every time they fix their site, within minutes it's defaced again. WAY TO GO!!!!!! I'll make a mirror of the hack for prosperity. I don't feel so completely helpless anymore! There has to be more that we as a community of geeks can do, other than giving blood (VERY IMPORTANT!), or donating cash. I'm sure that the lowlife communicated electroniclly, maybe have secure or hidden websites. Think about a cell based organization, picking up and dropping off information anonymously via FTP. I'm almost positive that info is out there. LET'S FIND IT! [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:taleban.com Hacked by PhilHibbs (Score:2) Thursday September 13, @05:55AM Hey Muslim Pigs (Score:-1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13, @05:57AM (#2291300) hahaha you dirty, filty, smelly, circumsized, muslim pigs who are running this useless website. Look at this picture and get ready to piss in your pants along with your Mohammed(piss be upon him) and your dirty QUEERAN, that tells you that you will have 72 houris and 28 gay boys for sex in heaven. by the way the israeli's like to kill muslims and so do WE, hey pathan gay power, WE HINDU'S ARE THE MANLIEST, READ THE ARTICLES ON THIS WEBSITE ABOUT THE MUSLIM GENOCIDE, AND HOW WE LOVE TO HARASS AND RAPE MUSLIM WOMEN, We created pakistan for you bastards and we will not rest till each and every muslim motherr fuker is wiped out of INDIA. JAI HINDU RASHTRA(brahmans, dalits, kshatriya, vaishnav's, buddhists, jain's, sikhs) WUAHHAHAHAHA wuahahhahahaha later loserssss!!!! [ Reply to This | Parent ]
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These cases are very similar to the one I'm currently fighting. You see, I own the patent on the English language. I kept it under my hat while helping to develop it, so I'm in the process of suing anyone and everyone for their unwarranted use of it.
/., you've been good to me, so I'm willing to settle out of court with you. :)
Don't worry