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Dutch Firm Says Dell Motherboards Violate Its Patent

Posted by timothy on from the professional-stunt-lawyers-on-closed-track dept.

Call Me Black Cloud writes "This article (also here) briefly discusses a suit against Dell for royalties on US patent 5,594,621. This patent, titled "Motherboard for a computer of the AT type, and a computer of the AT type comprising such motherboard", concerns the layout of ISA and PCI cards on a motherboard. Tulip Computers International somehow managed to convince the USPTO that its arrangement of cards on a mobo was worthy of a patent. Fearing the orderly arrangement of my sock drawer was infringing on a patent, I was relieved to discover only a patent for a magnetic sock holder, which solves the "well known problem associated with everyday laundering...the disarray that can occur with paired items of clothing such as socks"

13 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Well.... by zulux · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dutch Firm Says Dell Motherboards Violate Its Patent

    We'll ae least The Firm Dutch Are't Patently Violating Dell's Mother.

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    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  2. The Dutch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    If there're two things I hate, they're people who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.

  3. Not even cnet... by OneBarG · · Score: 2, Insightful
    ...can do a story without mentioning SCO?
    SCO Group has claimed that IBM and other companies owe it billions in damages for allegedly lifting some of its proprietary Unix intellectual property and incorporating it into Linux.
    No wonder it's infested virtually every /. posting.
    --
    I'm starting to think this isn't the best place to promote my Anti-Sig Campaign.
  4. Magnetic sock holder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    My socks have no problem sticking together ... or to the floor, the wall, or the side of the laundry bin.

  5. I've worked inside an OptiPlex or two... by DocSbaitso · · Score: 2, Informative

    And trust me, the layout isn't that much more efficient!

    --
    Hello, my name is Doctor Sbaitso. I am here to help you.
  6. Irrelevant but.. by floydman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Did any body count the number of patent issues listed on /. today. :

    1) The one you are reading

    2) SCO vs Linux (ofcorse, this is the daily speical)

    3) Chip Firm Hit By 45-Year-Old Patent

    4) Nextel Claims Trademarks On "Push To Talk" and "PTT"

    And yet more to come through the day..

    What is this world comming to, is the whole planet gonna be owned by a bunch of people? I think this is something we should be aware of, you cannot work on a single project now (even for your own pleasure), without VIOLATING one of the patents without you ever noticing.. THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM...

    --
    The lunatic is in my head
    1. Re:Irrelevant but.. by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What is this world comming to, is the whole planet gonna be owned by a bunch of people?

      The world itself already does have everything allocated to some "owner". Just try to go out and find something you can legally just claim. Hell, even try to visit the North Pole, supposedly not owned by any country, yet "restricted" from any visitors (by whom, one may well ask?). Let me know if you make it within even half a degree without a representative of some military (of a government which clearly has no jurisdiction there, by international treaty) ventilating your corpse.

      The problem at hand deals with something far more insidious than mere physical ownership - Namely, someone may already "own" your very thoughts and ideas.

      You don't even need to have signed them away (ie, to your employer), or ever have heard of the "owned" idea or anything related to it. Your parents may have raised you in complete isolation on an island in the South Pacific, yet if you have a particular idea and try to make use of it, someone can sue you into oblivion for that idea.

      Life sucks, eh? Well, get ready for it to suck even more, since apparently the sheeple of Earth haven't yet suffered enough at the hands of their Corporate Masters to revolt. 100 hour work weeks won't do it, as long as people can eat. Lack of even appreciation or a heart-felt "thanks" for people literally sacrificing their bodies and souls to their Corporate Masters won't do it. Not until it all comes crashing down, until we realize that we can't "eat" a litigation/service economy, will people insist on change.

      But eventually, they will. And "pretty" will not describe the situation.

      And if you think I overdramatize the situation, how many unpaid hours did you work last week? Assuming, of course, you had the "luxury" of working, not having recently found your supposedly "unneeded" position curiously occupied by two H1B's or "interns" for a total of 2/3rds of your former salary.

      Livin' the American dream. Can I wake up, now? Please?

    2. Re:Irrelevant but.. by chthon · · Score: 2, Flamebait

      I have a certain pessimistic feeling (or hope ?) that somehow, somewhere a new like French revolution will break out, in which all coroporate leaders will be beheaded or shot, irrelevant if they where good or bad.

    3. Re:Irrelevant but.. by signifying+nothing · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The world itself already does have everything allocated to some "owner". Just try to go out and find something you can legally just claim.

      It's hardly surprising that there is no longer much lying around to be claimed. But isn't the issue not so much a lack of unclaimed resources as an inappropriate extension of the concept of ownership?

  7. HP were using a riser card in '97.. by jantheman · · Score: 4, Informative

    ..in their Pavilion 32xx desktops.

    I wonder if Tulip knew that?

    (but I can't be arsed to go in the attic, dig the dead box out & see if there's a (c)Tulip on the mobo).

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    -- Mod me down. I am not a karma tart. ffs,gag
    1. Re:HP were using a riser card in '97.. by MImeKillEr · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was going to make the same comment, except that I was going to refer to the entire Vectra line of systems (never used or worked on a Pavilon..)

      This is just another shining example of the utter stupidity of the USPTO.

      Makes me wonder if they're using trained monkeys to grant patents.

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      Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
    2. Re:HP were using a riser card in '97.. by Reemi · · Score: 2, Informative

      Guess you didn't read the patent. Tulip filed this one on June 13, 1995 to the USPTOb and almost 1 year earlier in the Netherlands (Jun 14, 1994).

  8. Re:AT ? by Yottabyte84 · · Score: 5, Informative

    is dell still selling AT computers ?

    Nope. But they don't claim Dell's ATX computers infringe. They claim that has Dell's Optiplex PCs circa 1997 infringed. The suit was filed in 2000, and is just now going to trial.