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Federal Court Shuts Down Pay As You Go Wireless

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the pay-as-you-go-out-of-business dept.

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."

8 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. America by Monkelectric · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Where you can patent something obvious, and then prevent someone else from doing that obvious thing.

    Lets hang our heads in shame.

    --

    Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    1. Re:America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      *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.

    2. Re:America by cpu_fusion · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:America by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

  2. Re:Wait one second... by bypedd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Business Model Patents Suck! by N8F8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    --
    "God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
  4. Might be a good thing... by PAPPP · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. Re:Dollars to doughnuts... by wernercd · · Score: 4, Insightful


    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