Slashdot Mirror
TVI to Sue Over MS Autoplay Feature
scubacuda links to this Infoworld article, which reads in part "TVI charges Microsoft's autoplay feature infringes on four of its U.S. patents. TV Interactive Data Corp. (TVI) of Los Gatos, California, claims that Microsoft infringes on four of its U.S. patents, three entitled 'host device equipped with means for starting a process in response to detecting insertion of a storage media' and one entitled 'method for starting up a process automatically on insertion of a storage media into a host device.", writing "I hope no one has a patent on the shift key, because that's what I hit when I insert a CD. (That is, when I haven't already edited the registry)" Wouldn't automount / autofs fall under the same shadow?
I'll remember to play those digits in the lotto tonight, because aren't patents good for nothing more than a random number generator lately?
Then you violated these patents. Report to the nearest Intellectual Property Enforcement Agency and have your memory erased, you thief!
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
Just wait until I receive my patent on "a method for fomenting cluelessness and incompetence through paperwork"... I'll sue those USPTO people into the ground, right after I bury SCO!
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
How the 8-track? It starts playing when the tapes are inserted.
Didn't SCSI have the cd-inserted data signal long ago? What was SCSI doing with it? or does MAC use SCSI?
> IIRC, the Amiga did too.
;)
Yes, it did. That rhythmic clicking as it probed for a disk haunts me to this day.
On the A500 it wasn't too bad but on the big boxy 2000 it was like someone kicking off a bass drum every few seconds.
...about these recent patent cases is I find myself on the side of Microsoft.. yuck! I need to shower!
-- Is it a right to remain ignorant? -- Calvin
VHS players, Laserdisc players, Betamax players, MiniDisc players...
no joke, but my shlong too. It has DNA data that gets accessed upon insertion.
"...detecting insertion of a storage media..."
I suspect it's only a matter of time until someone draws up a patent claim of the nature:
Patent 3,012,238,021...(ad infinitum) --- A method of inserting and pumping a large tubular or cylindrical item into a foes rectum, with the assistance of well studied lawyers...
Just watch, man, I'm telling the day is well nigh!
You have 795 numbers in your Lotto?
Egads, THOSE are some stiff odds...
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
I'm sorry for you and your significant other. I'm luckily have some control over when my DNA data gets accessed.
My 8-Track player would automatically start playing music upon insertion of the audio storage media. I guess that either qualifies as prior art, or 70's electronic manufacturers better start ponying up their licensing fees.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
prior art...
a man and a women have intercourse. data is transfered from the man to the woman. womans host process upon recieving data begins the process of creating life. details left out for as excercise for the student
yada yada.
However, in compensation for your cooperation, you will be allowed to keep 19 trinkets.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Hi, i'm from the uspto:
1/ yes
2/ yes
3/ yes
4/ yes (oups! It wasnt a question!)
cheers.
1)Is a CD Rom "Storage Media" if it is read only?
2)What about a toilet that 'knows' to flush automatically when I insert 'media'?
3)My trash compactor will start up when I close the door, but only if there is a bag in it. Isn't this miracle of modern science 'prior art', thus invalidating that patent?
Doesn't a toaster have the same functionality?
Suing microsoft is like entering the lottery. The odds are strongly against you, but if you win, the payout is usually pretty big.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Its a shame you can't patent business processes - because you could patent getting an obvious patent. Sitting on it for a while until the practice had become widespread and then sueing everyone.
I'm fairly sure the IBM mainframe I used back in 1975 would auto-load and execute a deck of punched cards if you just dumped them into the input hopper.
Oh - wait...they're suing Microsoft. Ah. In that case:
Those evil Microsoft guys - always stealing other people's technology. Bastards!
www.sjbaker.org
Microsoft blatantly and fragrantly violated the patent when they build filesystem compression into thier products
So what exactly does a violated patent smell like?