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The BlackBerry Infringing on Other Technologies?
windwaker writes "The maker of the popular BlackBerry waits to see if he's infringing on eight other patents. If this is true, future BlackBerrys will have to be licensed differently, to compensate for the infringement."
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The national league of fruit growers have taken an interest, and intend to persue legal action due to infringment upon their patents on berries which are black.
At the same time, the U.S. Patent Trademark Office is reviewing the last of the eight patents, which may end up making a stronger case for NTP in the long run, according to one attorney.
seeing as how the PTO has soundly rejected NTP's patents so far (the ones that have been reexamined and made public), i don't quite see where someone would get the opinion that such would make a stronger case for NTP.
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Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
They're infringing my patent of something that does something with something resulting in something that is something which may or may not be used for something and including but not limited to something that does something where you enter data with something...
...has said that his engineers have created a technical workaround that can be used with all existing and future BlackBerry devices, thereby skirting the patent issue.
Until he finds out that the patent for "workarounds for electronic devices that appear to infringe patents" has already been issued...
Frankly I hope they sue themselves into oblivion and then maybe someone will think about reviewing the whole concept of patents.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I love it when truly innovative companies are stiffled by patent squatter.
Uck
1. patent some random technology that in the patent app is so vauge it could be anything devolped with in the nex 5 years...
2. do nothing with the tech that was just patented cause your company is so broke from getting the patent...
3. wait 5 years for some company to do something truly inovative and useful with somthing that could be considered your patent only because the original application to the patent office was so vauge, AND THEN SUE THEM!!!
4. ???
5. $$$$$$$$
You don't have to attempt to patent a technology in order to be liable for infringing on a patent on the same technology.
From a support perspective, these Blackberries have been a nightmare for us. The well publicised RIM server problems (which my users think is *my* fault), problems with the synchronization software on Windows, problems integrating with Lotus Notes, how fragile the units are (I had a user break 2 LCD screens in one week by dropping them), and problems ungrading to newer models.. If RIM gets sued into oblivion and we stop using the damn Blackberries, that would make my day.
Forgive me - but RIM actually produces a product (IE - blackberry, suretype). They are not just sitting around thinking of vague ideas, they are actually doing something, where as NTP is not. I do not know what other patents they have submitted, and what they are sitting on and not producing, but to call them an pure IP shop (like NTP) is incorrect.
This is what I do...EVERY DAY
/. and read that there's a new patent infringment case
6:30 AM -- Get up
6:31 AM -- Go to the bathroom
6:32 AM -- Get coffee
6:35 AM -- Open Firefox, go to
Seriously, what's it going to take for this patent situation to be fixed? Or maybe it won't since trial lawyers are the #1 contributors to politicians.
What's wrong with C|NET, they are fairly late on the RIM vs NTP case. The USPTO has already rejected 7 out of the 8 patents held by NTP.
Globe and Mail Article on the patents being rejected.
the buttons; the plastic casing; the use of symbols to convey meaning; and of course the device's flagrant use of electricity. Face it, they were asking for this.
6:30 AM -- Get up /. and read that there's a new patent infringment case
6:31 AM -- Go to the bathroom
6:32 AM -- Get coffee
6:35 AM -- Open Firefox, go to
6:40 AM -- ?
7:00 AM -- profit!
we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin
Woah now, I think you're mixing RIM up with some other company...they did not at ALL start off with a vague idea...the company started out of a product. The guys that started the company were waterloo eng students, and the blackberry came out of a final year project they were working on for school. In fact, they had a product before the company was even an idea.
...no two people are not on fire.
The only way the insanity of the current patent system will get sorted out is if it claims high profile corporate victims.
No one in power will ever listen to a bunch of geeks complaining about patented media formats. We need more and more corporates to be bitten on the ass by submarine patents.
So I for one hope the Blackberry does infringe patents. I hope IBM, Sony and any other high tech corporations you can think of get stung with frivolous lawsuits too. I hope someone, somewhere, has patented "using transparency in a graphical user interface" and is just itching for MS to release longhorn.
The only way the system will change is when those with money and power start to suffer as a result of it.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
Why should any inovator be able to patent generic simple algorithm that can be devised in 2 hours?
I agree. My post doesn't reveal that I would support this either. Clearly the USPTO doesn't have the resources or skills to appropriately review patents. That is a money issue, I would suppose. Or maybe the fact that the US graduated more sports medicine majors last year than certain engineering fields.
Why, in reality, only powerful companies are able to sue, while small inovators don't have the money needed for lawyers?
Again, another good question. But it only address flaws in the system that need reform, not the underlying theory and benefits of copyrights and patents and their ability to encourage innovation in a market-based economy.
Why lawyers and big (US) corporations are only ones that benefit from software patents, in fact from all sorts of patents?
Ok, well, on your last question, I have to bite. Big corporations are not the only benefactors of patents and copyrights. They give protection to small business and small artisans to reap a temporary reward for their innovation before it is released to the public domain. Take Thomas Edison as a grand example. His patents took him from a small-time innovator to one of the greatest inventors of the 19th / 20th century. His patents (think light bulb) BUILT big corporations (think General Electric) that were able to invest the profits into new products for future generations. After the patents expired, other companies (think Philips) were able to use the original work and patent further innovation in the field. It's a cycle that has proven to work. Reform is needed, but suggesting that innovation would soar without this type of protection confuses me.
I hate to break the news, but the RIM/Blackberry has a patent on the arched keyboard it has. This prevents any other wireless handheld maker from using anything but the less than ergonomic square keyboard layout. Now, having patents can be good, and I'm not saying there isn't value in this one, but I do think that its time for patent holders to stop crying foul all the time. Mediation before litigation, and let the public (via /.-like metamoderation) decide what is fair and what isn't. After all, protecting innovation is one of the tennents of the patent system. The government is also meddling with the marketplace in order to foster competition and quality pricing.... but I think they stifle it more often then foster it. Time for public opinion to be more involved in the making of patent issuance and infringement mediation.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Not to sound like too much of a jerk, but I can support twenty of any computer-related (end user) device (across the globe) pretty easily. I've done it before between Japan, Los angeles, and Orlando.
We have 2,000 blackberries and they suck up more support time/costs than windows does.
You had a 10% DOA rate that amounts to two units. Mine is less than 5%, but it's still a major pain to return 100 units as that task falls to the support personnel.
I cannot wait to move all of our blackberry users to an end-to-end Microsoft solution through exchange and smartphones. Go ahead and bash my "logic" to bits if you must, but RIM as a third-party vendor is not providing the value we are dearly paying for with BES licenses.
It's just not worth it and the savings in out-of-pocket costs (for those above licenses) just by switching to Magneto in Exchange 2003 will more than justify ditching the RIM technology
In addition the Microsoft solution falls under our Corporate Premier Support Services and software Enterprise Agreement for a net increase of zero $ for great support.
Ugh, this is starting to sound like a MS love note and I really didn't plan it that way. I'm just fed up with RIM and their devices that I must continually add extra-cost software to just to get some standard functionality (like reading certain documents, performing workflow, etc.)
Really, the blackberry is hardly ready for a multi-national corporating with an already over-taxed IT support division.
Give me a solution where the users purchase whatever handset they want locally (as long as the OS is compatible) and I can hook it into my corporate "solution" and i'll be happy. We've got people who spend their entire lives dealing with shipping, setting up, returning, RMAing Blackberries and it's not sustainable for us.