Another NTP Patent Invalidated

darkmeridian writes "Bloomberg reports that the PTO has granted a non-final rejection of a third NTP patent asserted against Research in Motion in the Blackberry litigation. Five patents have been asserted against RIM, and only one of the three rejected has been found to be valid and infringed. Yet this development helps RIM as it seeks to avoid an injunction against operation of the Blackberry network pending appeal."

Comments

Re:They wont shutdown anyway

[temcat]

Before making this weak attempt at sarcasm you should have consulted a dictionary and understood the difference between patents and trademarks.

Economist's comment on the patents, NTP and RIM

[mi]

To quote their article:

Distressed BlackBerry users argue that too many of the world's workers rely on the device for the service to be shut down. But many of their jobs depend on the principle at stake in this case -- that the courts should protect intellectual property because it rewards inventors by conferring a real title to an intangible asset. Business requires confidence that intellectual property will be respected and infringers brought to justice, regardless of whether the litigant is using the patent or not. Only with that security will firms patent and license their inventions, thus allowing others to use their ideas.

Re:Competition is superior to force

[the eric conspiracy]

These patent procedures are really impossible to understand.

THere are a lot of things in this world that are not easy to understand. quantum electrodynamics, reinnman geometry, organic chemistry, tort law, female psychology. Just because you haven't mastered an understanding of something doesn't mean it should be discarded or it isn't very useful.

Items that are revolutionary can be protected, temporarily, by hiding the process.

It is amazing how bad an understanding of history people have. What you are describing is the practice of trade secrets as existed prior to the invention of the concept of the patent. We have been there and done that. It doesn't work.

Use competitiveness instead of force to earn your future.

Your model would completely eliminate any economic progress. Large companies would be free to copy an idea, use it in their products and use their market position to crush any new ideas. I cannot imagine a more disasterous idea.

Re:Invalidate them all

[tepples]

There is such a thing as licensing you know.

Problem is that current patent law sees no problem with sitting on a patent and refusing to entertain offers to license. Title 35, United States Code, section 271(d). Though laches is potentially an effective defense against patent trolls, it has become much too hard to prove laches nowadays.