Federal Court Shuts Down Pay As You Go Wireless

self assembled struc writes "BCGI has been found guilty of infringing on pay-as-you-go wireless patents owned by Freedom Wireless. This means that cellular providers who use BCGI pay-as-you-go billing systems must immediately stop selling new service. For the next 90 days, as they wind down their service, they will have to pay Freedom Wireless 2.5 cents per airtime minute used PER CUSTOMER. This heralds a farewell to Cingular's Go Phone and Sprint-Nextel's Boost services, both powered by BCGI."

Comments

America

[Monkelectric]

Where you can patent something obvious, and then prevent someone else from doing that obvious thing.

Lets hang our heads in shame.

Re:America

[Anonymous Coward]

*shrug* yeah. I've long since realised the whole concept of freedom in the US is lip service to some ideal everyone would like, and everyone has convinced themselves they have, but has long since left on the wings of excess litigation, patents, government regulations and stupid laws. It wasn't until I left here for three years that I saw the reality is not much difference in many places overseas, but at least they're not running around spouting the "we're free" rhetoric and believing it.

The patent system is part of that whole demise, where so much is said about it being a good thing to protect innovation, but the reality is the opposite. Guess people are really good at convincing themselves what they say is true, and be damned working towards what's said. Walk the walk, etc.

Re:America

[cpu_fusion]

Yes, let's hang our heads in shame. For a moment.

Then let's get active and do something about this. If thousands of geeks can't manage to communicate to the millions of Americans how REDICULOUS this crap is, how it enslaves them financially, the injustice of it all .. if we can't communicate that with the INTERNET available, well then we deserve what we have.

Oh wait. I got to go play World of Warcraft. Nevermind.

Re:America

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Sorry, but you forgot the word "method".

America, where you can patent a method of doing something obvious, and then prevent someone else from picking that method out of the many ways to do that obvious thing.

Three cheers for forced innovation.

Now if only the patent office knew how to figure out what could be innovated upon - indeed, what patents would encourage innovation, by protecting the innovators and forcing other people to develop alternate methods with useful side results - and what is actually obvious and can't be done differently.

But I'm inclined to think that there isn't just one way to run pay-as-you-go. For example, you could transfer the whole balance to the phone in some encrypted manner, or you could have the phone check every minute whether the balance expired. You could keep its own true account, or you can model it as a phone with infinite airtime and a forced calling card. And so forth. There's more than one way to skin a prepaid cat.

Re:America

[Jekler]

I strongly feel that patents should be tied to one's ability to implement the idea. Any jackass can sit around and think up ideas. I really don't like the "I thought of it first!" patent system in the U.S. If you're going to have a patent system, it should be based on who does it first not who sat on the toilet longer.

Re:Wait one second...

[bypedd]

Furthermore there's the issue of all those people who will be out of a phone, possible their only one. I'm sure they won't be getting a sweet deal switching over to the patent-holding company - Shooting the competition in the back of the head is a perfect way to clear the path to raised prices for consumers forced to switch.

It's a shame that laws originally intended to protect individuals or the little guys get turned into legal feeding grounds that do nothing but hurt the consumer and the diversity of the marketplace.

Business Model Patents Suck!

[N8F8]

business model patents really are the great evil of the patent world. See it strangling industry after industry.

Might be a good thing...

[PAPPP]

Although this is immediately disgusting, in the not-so-long-run this might end up being a good thing, this is putting a kink in Sprint/Verison and Cingular's (the big mean companies with nearly inexhaustible legal resources) business model, who will likely lash out against it. If all goes well for them, it will end up creating a substantial precedent against this kind of business-method patent, which would inadvertently improve the patent law situation in the U.S., if we're lucky it might even catalyze a wider reform.

Re:Dollars to doughnuts...

[wernercd]

And Democrats don't have greedy self serving hypocrits in their party? or do you honestly believe that Clinton wasn't a greedy, self-serving hypocrit?

For every republican you can find that's corrupt I can find a democrat...

which goes to show that blaming the party affiliation in a situation is as retarded as pulling the race card (Which the majority of the time is bullshit). There are retards on both sides of the fence and blaming based on party don't fix OR address the real problems - or keep the threads on topic.

If all you can say is 'it must be a republicans fault' your just showing your own ignorance. But... that's just my two cents

Re:Well....

[MikeFM]

You mean the phone counts how many minutes you use it and deducts those minutes from your account as you use them. Gee I never would have thought of doing that. Doh. If it's obvious it shouldn't be patentable. Simply taking a common practice and moving it to a new technology or industry should not qualify as something worthy of a patent.

Intellectual protection laws are shortsighted and don't work. If you can't keep innovating fast enough to profit then you deserve to go broke. Throw everyone to the sharks and let those who are smart enough and fast enough to stay ahead do so and the rest can get ate up and pooped out.

More freedom in Communist Vietnam!

[Tracy Reed]

I have been spending a lot of time in Vietnam recently (6 months of the last year) and while I am there I always use my prepaid mobile phone. It is very sad to see that many companies over there can do it but there is a patent on such a simple idea here in the US.

The motive seems obvious...

[Gloggy]

The US has for a long time been trying to export their patent laws overseas. In many african and asian countries it is a mandatory requirement for aid, trade, etc. By systematically patenting every obvious idea under the sun the US can continue it's "Perpetual Economic Expansion" by bringing patent serfdom to the rest of the world.

Once the US has a hold on the patent system and has established laws worldwide to protect the interests of US patent holders, it will be possible to sit back, let the developing countries do the work, and reap the profits. It's a brilliant strategy.

People living in developing countries (including me) must do everything in their power to lobby their governments to reject US patent laws. They could well be a noose around our neck and keep us in serfdom forever.

Hey, at least nothing is changing...

Re:Fairness is a matter of perspective.

[Braino420]

That's not what the parent is talking about. He's talking about whoever implements the idea first. These patents people are getting arne't "solving any fundamental problems", it's people patenting broad ideas that have many implementations AND NOT EVEN DOING ANYTHING WITH THEM. We're not talking innovation here...