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TiVo Infringes On Pause Patent

Posted by Hemos on from the dumb-dumb-patents dept.

Blackwulf writes: "It seems that there's a company named Pause Technologies which patented in 1992 the ability to pause live TV, play a portion of it, and then skip ahead to live TV. They are now suing TiVo for infringing on their patent. Motorola has already paid licensing fees for their upcoming PVR, and Pause Technologies is speaking with other PVR makers offering licenses to them as well. Yahoo has the story here." Pausing. Obviously, a new idea, and one worthy of patenting. I think I'm going to patent the play button.

6 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. Prior Art by FFFish · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, I remember using this patent back when I was a kid, looooong before this "Pause Technologies" patented the idea.

    It was called blinking.

    Pretty simple technology, really: (A) Look at scene. (B) Close eyes. Brain continues to recall scene, effectively pausing the action. (C) Open eyes. Live action playback is resumed.

    Ah, if only I'd known that this was such an innovative idea, I'd have patented it back in '72. Coulda been a billionaire by now -- those VCRs wouldn't be nearly as useful without frame-by-frame playback!

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  2. Re:Not a patent on "Pausing" by Triple+D · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now if we could only pause live human interaction and then listen to the relevant parts, ie: your boss, or significant other as they ramble on...

  3. Hmmm. by jd · · Score: 4, Funny
    Let's test the US Government's new resolve. I think that patenting the obvious, trivial or otherwise unimplementable, is an act of terrorism.


    I therefore suggest that the US 5th Cavalry and the Tie Fighters attack from the south, and turn Pause into the kind of rubble Afghanistan already is.

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  4. Re:Idiots please post under this thread... by Quasar1999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, I definetly qualify as an idiot... but what to patent??? hmmm...

    How about patenting the art of patenting stupid patents...??? I'll be rich!!!

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  5. Re:Oh, please! by IronChef · · Score: 4, Funny

    All of these mechanisms are obvious, because they would be generated in a short brainstorming session with a small random selection of video engineers (i.e. people with ordinary skill in the relevant art)...

    I read that to save money the Patent Office has stopped consulting with experts. Instead, they have taken a pool of homeless people and cross-trained them in a little bit of every field. To keep them working, all it takes are some smokes and cheap wine.

  6. Re:Oh, please! by unitron · · Score: 3, Funny
    "To keep them working, all it takes are some smokes and cheap wine."

    So *that's* what they do when they aren't moderating on Slashdot.

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    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.