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Sendo Sues Orange for Patent Infringement

captnjameskirk writes "RCR Wireless News is reporting that Sendo is suing European carrier Orange for patent infringement involving the circuit board design within the phones. As the article points out, Sendo also sued Microsoft for allegedly stealing their technology for use in the Smartphone OS." Back in January, we also had some more information on the case between Sendo and Microsoft.

17 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Heyo by ergonal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey Orangeo, Sendo your casho to uso!

  2. Sendo, AKA SCO by ajiva · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sendo *must* be a subsidiary of SCO...

    1. Re:Sendo, AKA SCO by jrl87 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ya, except SCO is sueing for something that works ...

    2. Re:Sendo, AKA SCO by mrklin · · Score: 3, Funny

      Give it some time and Sendo will starting suing itself for frivolous lawsuits.

  3. Here's an idea... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny


    Wouldn't it save bandwidth if you reported the companies that aren't suing each other?

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  4. Sendo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Strangely enough, Sendo is also reporting this.

  5. "Amicable" by kaltkalt · · Score: 4, Funny

    We have tried to solve the matter in an amicable way,â said Hugh Brogan, Sendoâ(TM)s chief executive officer.

    Translated: We tried to extort millions of dollars before filing suit, and they said no. Reminds me of IBM's past amicable actions.

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  6. MS is going to payoff Sendo, right? by MongooseCN · · Score: 3, Insightful

    MS paid SCO for the license to use some vague part of SCO's unix code. So does this mean MS will pay Sendo for directly using Sendo's technology in its own OS?

    1. Re:MS is going to payoff Sendo, right? by msgmonkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Nope, 'coz Sendo had an agreement where they shared their technology with MS in exchange for access to MS's OS technology. Sendo made the mistake of agreeing that if they ever went under that their tech automatically got handed over to MS so it was actually in MS's interest that they went under. Sendo basically asserted that MS was not keeping up their end of the bargain whilst Orange got all the good stuff and help they were meant to be getting.

  7. hope they get a bunch by afidel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope they get as much blood as they can from MS and a crapload from Orange as well if Orange knew that the stuff they were getting from MS was sendo's property. This was dirty business at its worst.

    --
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  8. First line of the article... by bad_fx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mobile-phone upstart Sendo lashed out with another lawsuit...

    Doesn't that sound a little like biased reporting to anybody else? ...lashed out... another lawsuit..?

    1. Re:First line of the article... by Dusty · · Score: 3, Informative

      Mobile-phone upstart Sendo lashed out with another lawsuit...

      Doesn't that sound a little like biased reporting to anybody else? ...lashed out... another lawsuit..?

      Certainly does to me. The Register's coverage of the story is more neutral:-

      Sendo sues Orange over MS SPV smartphone IP .
  9. Wait two seconds before you spote off by kramer2718 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know that for many Slashdot readers, the reaction over a patent lawsuit defaults to "those bastards are filing frivolous lawsuits," but wait a minute before you badmouth sendo.

    The article said nothing beyond that the claim regards the design of an internal circuit board. Sendo's claim might be legit' it might be BS. We have no idea which at this point.

    If anyone actually knows anything substatial about the claim, please enlighten us all.

  10. Story so far by msgmonkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sendo has tech sharing agreement with MS.
    Orange has tech sharing agreement with MS.
    MS hands over Sendo tech to Orange holds back obligations to Sendo.
    Sendo gives up on it's own phone with MS software due to above.
    Sendo sues Orange for patent infringement.

    So this is n't your average money grabbing patent suit.

  11. Re:No friends by gilesjuk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They're small and signed a rather silly contract (meaning M$ pockets all their IP if they go bust). Ideal company for Microsoft to run down and swallow up. Making friends has nothing to do with it, they just picked the wrong business partner.

  12. Re:Stupid patent system by Qzukk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, this wasn't. They had an agreement with MS to take this product to market. Unfortunately they signed a contract with a suicide clause which indicated that if they went under, MS got all their goods. Of course, Microsoft was supposed to pay them to keep them from going under...

    So naturally Microsoft didn't pay them, they went under, MS took their stuff, and Sendo sued MS over breach of contract.

    Now, at this point, the rights to the technology should be up in the air. If Microsoft broke the terms of the contract by not paying Sendo, then the contract is void and the IP is still Sendo's. But Microsoft, being the arrogant bastard it is, didn't wait for the lawsuit to end, and assumed that they could dole out the big bucks to make sure the suit ended in their favor. So they gave Sendo's IP to Orange to take Sendo's product to market.

    So, yes, this is a case of "I will sue anyone who does what my patent describes", but for once, they're justified in biting back.

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  13. Re:Stupid patent system by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful
    In what way does it sound like that?

    Sendo is teetering on the brink of bankruptsy after developing a mobile phone with Microsoft which could have been a viable money-spinner had it not been for Microsoft repeatedly, and almost certainly deliberately, stalling Sendo. Microsoft had made an agreement with Sendo that should either party go bust, the other would pick up the IP rights associated with the project.

    Sendo is suing Orange because Orange is using technology Sendo invented and paid a fortune developing. Sendo has every right to do so. Orange has the technology, almost certainly, because Microsoft gave it to them. Orange needs to be slapped down for taking that technology, and they in turn need to slap down Microsoft for, yet again, another obvious case of dirty, rotten, dishonest business practices.

    I say go Sendo. They deserve to win. They deserve to recoup their losses on this project from those who've taken their work.

    --
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