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RIM Rejects More Patent Infringement Allegations
SilentOne writes "Waterloo based Research In Motion is facing new allegations of patent violation. Visto Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., said Monday that it had won an infringement case against Seven Networks, also of California, and is now targeting RIM for infringing four patents, including three involved in the Seven action. "Our case against RIM is based on similar technology, law and patents as the case we have just won," Visto said in a statement. "
Anyone else have the feeling the focus is more and more on legal battles instead of tech innovation?
"Under the law, which protects consumers from products that contain infringing technology, RIM should not be able to sell the BlackBerry system."
Since when do patents do ANYTHING to protect consumers from anything?
This is why RIM fought so hard against NTP. They could have settled early on for far less then the recent settlement + legal fees. They didn't want to give in early (or at all if possible) so they didn't end up as a target for a dozen more places like NTP.
"Our case against RIM is based on similar technology, law and patents as the case we have just won," Visto said in a statement. So instead of using the patents they have to make money, they wait for other companies to use them and file suit. When will the patent system be amended to finally make sense?
As an employee of RIM, knowing about this first hand is kind of scary. I work as the manager of material processing, and I'm actually afraid of the outcome. The whole company is frustrated/fearful of this whole situation, and we just want to keep our jobs. I don't think the suits will stop.
that's why there shall be no negotiation with terrorists! as soon as you cave in to their demands they'll just make more of them!
But still funny. *(:=
it brings all the others out of the wordwork and encourages more extortion. Granted, RIM is no angel, but this is just getting silly.
Those who can't, sue.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
...sue the asses off those who do.
What a wonderful world we'll live in when it becomes so financially risky to try anything new, out of fear of some obscure patent-camping leech stealing the investment and work it took to make that new thing.
We need patent reform: use your patent, or lose your patent.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
And to think how close I was to getting myself modded Redundant. Gotta love big displays.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
No, its plain and obvious this is how the market works now.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
So I can sue anyone I see walking to work or going for an afternoon stroll. You are allowed to drive or catch the bus, but not walk.
So its happened in Germany too :S
If Da Vinci Patented his ideas, we would all be screwed.
Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM (TSX:RIM) recently settled a long-running patent infringement case by paying NTP Inc. $612.5 million US.
NTP owns a stake in Visto, Bloomberg News reported.
Coincidence? I think not.
HOWEVER! This has actually produced a fertile field for alternative devices. With WindowsMobile getting more secure and more devices being wireless / wifi capable, the blackberry is no longer the only choice for corporate america (nor should it be). Microsoft is trying to play catchup by pushing Windows Mobile as real alternative to Blackberry. There is no comparison. Microsoft simply doesn't offer an end to end service like RIM. BUT if we got a VERY stable and VERY secure linux alternative (handheld and server?) it could save companies hundreds of thousands. But the service must be able to sync with Exchange / Domino and other corporate mail clients.
Coming from a company with over half a million dollar budget for mobile devices and working closely with management, I saw many in Senior management that are very AFRAID to stay with RIM. They are looking for other alternatives just in case something ELSE happens to RIM and there IS no way out the next time. They are just now looking to not "put all their eggs (for mobile email) in one basket".
Bottom line? Windows is now in the market with crappy devices (any 240 x 240 screen, Palm 700). Palm is in the market with a good device (treo 650 with 320 x 320 screen). But there is room to grow in this market.
As soon as a developer gets one of these wifi/cell-enabled devices to run a solid linux distro and get some good encryption on it, mark my words, SOME in corporate America will eat it up, especially with the cost savings. RIM proved this in a way. Blackberries are wonderful email devices. They faltered (till recently) as phone devices. They are NOT PDAs. Corporate America doesn't necessarily need all their employees to have PDA's, but many if not most need email and a viewable calendar 24/7.
Botom line: RIM made lots of money from an email device and now that corporate America is afraid of RIM someone else can cash in if they beat Microsoft to the punch..
Funnypics
The sharks seem to be circling each other: RIM, NTP, Visto, etc. Let them all sue each other out of existence, while the rest of us keep using our wireless E-mail based on standard protocols and standard servers.
No matter which company wins this round, the lawyers win, ALWAYS. I say we take'em out of the equation.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
RIM's Chairman recently said he will work to bring an end to Software Idea Patents.
It would be great to see RIM financially support initiatives like NoSoftwarePatents.org and SWPat.ffii.org, whose aims are to stop the legalized extortion by the Patent Leeches and Patent Mafia.
No, what I find interesting is this:
NTP owns a stake in Visto, Bloomberg News reported.
I can't place it, but something just doesn't seem right...why does the idea of NTP using RIM's money to go after RIM again come to mind?
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
RIM needs to fight this battle so that if they end up losing, they can just shut down their network for a few days. Let's see how the US government feels, and maybe that will get their attention and maybe we can have some patent reform?
I am probably dreaming, but it would be interesting to see.
...is that NTP Inc, and Visto don't even have products. I'd never heard of NTP before the Research In Motion fiasco. Come to find out, they're a 'patent-holding' company. What the hell? So you're a bunch of campers. Nice.
Just read that NTP has a large stake in Visto. This just keeps getting better.
I hope to see NTP and Visto get driven into the ground, and RIM come out on top.
Informatus Technologicus
Straight from the innovations in software page, we have: "As patentability has increased, there's good evidence that the number of software innovations has decreased. Bessen and Maskin also demonstrated a statistical correlation between the spread of patentability in the United States and a decline in innovation in software. In particular, between 1987 and 1994 , software patents issuance rose 195%, yet real company funded R&D fell by 21% in these (software) industries while rising by 25% in industries in general. This paper gives additional evidence that software patents are inversely related to innovation; it's hard to not notice that as patenting become more common (e.g., 1987 and later) that the number of major innovations slowed down and are almost always not patented anyway."
The link supplied is to this PDF about patents. It's worth your time to read about this research.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Dont trust statements like that, they will find another way to take control.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Just like .com squatting.
Is that a new Star Trek character?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
me thinks RIM should tell Vista, *similar technology* this ,,!,,
Bastard companies that abuse software patents should be first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Or perhaps the fools in government that legitimized them in the first place. Both at once?
Not only do you never get rid of the Dane, you attract more of them.
To save even more, line them up front to back. I'm not sure how many deep could be taken out at once, but I do know that a bullet fired from an SKS assault rifle at 40 yards will go through 4 hard drives (2cm from the spindle - two platters per drive). Should be good for about 5-6 with a head shot (empty space).
May 1, some groups in some countries strike, but then they go back to work the next day. What if enough people got together and even salaried people went on strike. There'd be more to it than that, like having an alternative proposal for government all ready to go, but that's the core of the solution.
Hopefully the people that can actually do something about are starting to pay attention. Looking at all the innovation that wouldn't have happened if the industry was like 20 years ago it makes me wonder at all the innovation that isn't happening now..
Please, my fellow revolutionaries- PATIENCE!
I promise you: give these fools enough rope and they will hang themselves. Give 'em a few more years and most of our work will be done for us.
barack to the future?
These trashbags will shut down anyone. If you are making money, they will take it. If you are not they will shut you down so someone else can take it. If what people familiar with the case say is true, NTP never had a patent on a non obvious invention, they had a patent on obvious business methods. Such patents can be used on anyone who tries to do anything.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
You sir seem to have missed the past 20 years of trade agreements; American laws, especially those concerning business with the US, are certainly valid here.
Not that I think this is right, mind you, but we did elect the "let's bridge the imaginary gap between Canada and the US that 9-11 caused" conservatives, and minority government or not there will be nothing but red tape to protect RIM at this point.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Marvellous.
...and the hardon that big international business has for globalism will insure software patents become universal. Follow the financial news for awhile, you'll see. The big bankers and corporations get what they want, because they are organized, and buy and sell governments. Little pipsqueakers remain scared, disorganized, fragmented and squabbling, they lose.
The nature of the beast. It's just the way it is. Want to change it? You need labor and social organization. You have numbers, just zee-ro cohesion, and very little effort towards it at this time. Look around what happened today for an example once you get just a little cohesion, millions of people all saying NO very loudly. they got noticed. And thatis just *one day*. think about it if it was for a week, two weeks, a month..
IT people run the planet,they are one of the top factors on how things get done, yet they allow globalist PHBs and their sock puppet politicians to push them around constantly. Once it is realised that they need YOU more than you need them, you'll see the solutions.
I can see it now, little Billy, without their parents knowing about it, makes a small rocket out of firecrackers and matchheads. He takes it ouside to try it out and immediatly gets stopped by an army of patent lawyers armed with patents on any and all details of rockets, for example "a means of accelerating an object in a direction by ejecting gases at high-speed in the opposite direction", thus saving little Billy of the disapointment of seing that is rocket actually doesn't work or even from bodilly harm if the rocket exploded.
In other news, patent lawyers armed with patents on all forms of causing bodilly harm are reducing terrorism!!!
They caved once, now the other muggers are enboldened to try it again.
Moral of the story..When the bully comes after you the FIRST time, defend yourself to the end. Use a baseball bat if nessessary.
"Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't" - Thomas Jefferson
For those of you railing against software patents, in this case that is NOT the problem. The fact is that up until recently one had to have a working prototype to get a patent. The Constitution allows patent protection to foster innovation by allowing a company to recoup R&D investment during the early years of a product. Recently courts have allowed patent infringement cases to proceed when there was no product to protect and no product ever intended. By patenting an idea and fiercely protecting it without ever making a product you essentially take that idea and any innovation around that idea off the market. If the courts required a working prototype to get a patent and an actual product to defend a patent, this wouldn't happen.
Kneel before your masters and say "aaah!" you fascist scum.
From FAS (and a submitted yet rejected post)... The FAS has obtained a CRS report titled Patent Reform: Issues in the Biomedical and Software Industries (PDF warning) which discusses some of the evil that is software patents. From TFPDF:
"...computers are ubiquitous -- and as a result, so is software authorship...Thus, a patent on a drug creates potential liability for those companies in the pharmaceutical business, while a software patent creates potential liability for any company with its own website or software customizations, regardless of its business."
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
I think the Utah Senator had his hands in some related issues, such as the DMCA. Pete Ashdown is running for the Senate in Utah and is probably a better choice than Hatch on these issues. Unfortinutely, Ashdown is a Democrat and Utah is largly Republican.
Companies are targeting RIM because they're based out of Canada. It's a conspiracy I tell you.
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