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Hard Drive Imports to be Banned?
Arathon writes "Apparently the International Trade Commission is beginning an investigation that could lead to the banning of hard drive imports from Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba, among others, on the grounds that they fundamentally violate patents held by Steven and Mary Reiber of California. The patent apparently has to do with "dissipative ceramic bonding tips", which are important components of the drives themselves.
Obviously, a ban would be unthinkable, and yet the ITC has 45 days to settle on a fixed date for the end of the investigation. If the patents are found to be violated, and the Reibers do not allow those patents to be bought or otherwise dealt with, the importation of almost all hard drives would actually be ceased."
And this is promoting the Progress of Science and useful Arts, how, again?
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I'd like to patent the way the American patent bureau works: "The art to put ideas on paper and granting their 'owner' the right to make others pay him money for (ab)using his/her idea no matter how idiotic the idea might be".
because I've spent enough time whining about those
Up for it.
Isn't there a requirement that you actively defend your patents?
This case is a clearcut proof that the patent system doesn't protect the little guy and the little guy hitting it big with a patent is a total myth.
By all rights, the law that the article refers to is designed to ensure that the little guy has another means of recorse to protect his or her patent. But instead, these companies are going to find a judge that kinda agrees with them, and they will be allowed to import these drives despite the patent violation.
Of course, the right thing to do would be to change patent law so that this sort of infringement is something everyone is allowed to do. But oh no, we still want to leave the patent laws on the books, to protect the big guy, from guess who, the small guy.
This is my sig.
Because it would immediately force your Congress to reform your idiotic laws on patents.
The economic impact would be huge and nobody would be able to ignore that.
Your patent regime is now a threat to global economic prosperity and so reform is vital.
It promotes science when everyone suddenly has to find a way to work around the patent.
What's "In Soviet Russia" about it? Afaik, the joke is that ISR it's exactly reverse than it is here.
Ya know, those ISR jokes get quite stale when you can't see the difference between Soviet Russia and our beloved Free World anymore.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The article preceding this one provides an appropriate template here.
The world gazes on spellbound, as the US sinks deeper and deeper into the sheerest idiocy, almost entirely at the hands of lawyers. Politicians used to be the font of all evil and cluelessness, but lawyers (and the people who use them) have surpassed them by lightyears.
Just fricking incredible.
One would think that an IT Manager (or consultant as line 1 doesn't mesh with line 3) who posts on /. would know that Maxtor was bought out by Seagate who is on the list.
the inventors are subject to the same laws of supply and demand as everybody else. they can ask a zillion jillion dollars and they won't get it. they can ask for a large some, commensurate with the amount the market values the hard drives buillt using their technologies by companies. This isn't rocket science, people.
States that a plaintiff may not collect for damages compounded by the plaintiff's actions, or failure to act.
Of course, IANAL. But this is /., so...
For example, if a plaintiff knows his patent is being infringed, he cannot simply wait until after the infringer has produced the product for a number of years and then sue for an inordinate sum. In such a case, the court is not likely to grant royalties for past infringement because the plaintiff knew about it and did nothing to stop it. Future royalties may be awarded, but it is unlikely that any loss which was brought about by the plaintiff's failure to act, or caused by the plaintiff's actions, is unlikely to be recoverable in a court of law.
But there is another aspect to this as well. Corporations go to considerable lengths to protect their trade secrets, and it is very possible this was hidden, as best as possible, from the general public. Because a company seldom publishes the designs for their products - even after production has begun - it is difficult for an inventor to discover patent violations, in general. In this particular case, the inventor(s) probably had to buy one of each manufacturer's hard drives and inspect them. The cost for doing this alone probably ran several thousand dollars.
So while inventors should be vigilant, there are legitimate reasons why patent violations sometimes take years to discover. Companies are often very secretive about their product designs (and for good reason), so it makes discovering a violation difficult. Most independent inventors do not have the resources to buy one of every product on the market and disassemble it, looking for violations.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
These guys spent decades and millions of dollars of their own and investors' money creating this machine. When they get it to market, General Electric and Hitachi just steals the idea and markets it. Pretty much destroying the company that was started by the inventors. They then sued over another decade or so finally getting a settlement. IF they just sat back, others would have profited off of their work. That's an injustice if I've ever seen one!
Without the inventor with the hopes of making it big and getting a return to their investors, they WILL BE NO INCENTIVE TO INNOVATE. Some of the MRI Story. (Wikipedia has some of the business stuff wrong)
more history
I don't care about the very few patent trolls or whatever, I know there's abuse, but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
In a word? YES! They invented it they get to set the price. If it's a valid innovation that's so valuable that everyone copied it then obviously it should be well rewarded. If it was something obvious then it should never have received the patent.
What did these companies do prior to this technology? Did these companies get the technology from these people or discover it separately on their own? It's not cut and dry but if these folks discovered this on their own, patent it, and then have the technology co-opted then yeah they need to be reimbursed for it and the companies spanked. It's not like the rules for IP theft were somehow not understood. The big question becomes, is their claim valid....
As for progress of science and arts, if this process is fenced off and unavailable then these companies will have to come up with something else or license the technology. That's a part of doing business. If it's not a terribly innovative idea it will be worked around - that's an advance. Stealing technology isn't something we ought to encourage or allow.
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
So, this Dissipative ceramic bonding tool tip does exactly what in a hard drive?? Or is it in fact part of the machinery for manufacturing hard drives?? If the latter, how can the drives be banned from import?? Seems kinda ridiculous to ban a non-infringing object solely because it was created using an infringing machine/process. Hard disks can't be the only imports built using patent-infringing machines/processes...
Here's why. Company Y files a patent in country X. Company A located in country B sees patent, but could give a shit less. Company A copies product adding a few innovations to make it better and then sells the superior product for less to every country except X.
Who loses out in this scenario? Every company in country X except Y. Since there, the technology is completely off limits.
You want a lock on your tech, keep it a trade secret. If it's easily backwards engineered and mass produced, it probably wasn't that huge a leap anyway.
Steven and Mary Reiber should be sent to Guantanamo bay. They obviously are bent on disrupting world economies without offering an alternative. If this sort of extortion is not terrorism, I don't know what is.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.