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Nigerian Company Sues OLPC

Posted by kdawson on from the split-shift-key dept.

d0ida writes on the continuing troubles at the OLPC Association. Adding to the recent difficulties — the BBC has picked up the litany — a US-based, Nigerian-owned company has now filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against OLPC. Lagos Analysis Corp. claims that OLPC "made unauthorized use of LANCOR's multilingual keyboard technology invention in XO laptops." The suit was filed in Lagos.

64 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. The scams are getting more ridiculous every day. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Patents. What will they think of next?

  2. I guess the OLPC folks .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... could just ignore Nigerian law and be just fine. After all, it's not like many Nigerians obey anyone else's laws (much less their own).

  3. So tempted by JohnnyGTO · · Score: 4, Funny

    to make 419 scam jokes, must resist...

    --
    Si vis pacem, para bellum! For evil to succeed good men need only do nothing!
  4. They hold the patent for first use by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... for sending SPAM from the OLPC

  5. This is good news by JonTurner · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe Nigeria can become known as a country of greedy patent trolls instead of just a country of internet scammers. As if there's any practical difference.

    OLPC team -- don't get discouraged. As they say, if you're receiving flak, you must be over the target.

    1. Re:This is good news by NoMaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe Nigeria can become known as a country of greedy patent trolls ...
      Who says they're patent trolls?

      They might actually have a point. It's not like they've sat on this for years - the public release of OLPC laptops is so recent that it's entirely conceivable that it's taken this long to examine them, document any violations, and file suit. And who knows what behind-the-scene negotiations, which may have delayed filing, have taken place between them and OLPC?

      Is it just that the OLPC, being "free" and "open" and using Linux and all, are considered by /. groupthink to automatically be in the right? Or are people suggesting that all patent owners are patent trolls? (A position with which I would largely agree, BTW.)

      Sorry, not picking on you specifically - you're just the first in thread to mention the words "patent troll".

      --
      What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
    2. Re:This is good news by Lachlan+Hunt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or are people suggesting that all patent owners are patent trolls? (A position with which I would largely agree, BTW.)

      Not all patent owners are patent trolls. Only those that use their patents to sue people and get in the way of progress and innovation.

      --
      By reading this signature, you hereby agree with the content of the above comment.
    3. Re:This is good news by m2943 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They might actually have a point

      They might in principle, but in practice, they don't. The OLPC keyboard differs from theirs, and there are decades of prior art in using multiple shift keys to reach multiple languages on one keyboard. Their keyboard is basically the "US International Keyboard" for Windows with the keys rearranged.

    4. Re:This is good news by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, that's the retarded world view where "innovation" means "work around a patent". In the real world, "innovation" means "build on the work of others" and patents are what you use to stop people doing that.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    5. Re:This is good news by garbletext · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a nonprofit organization. This company is literally robbing children, quite likely children from their own country. Maybe they're not patent trolls, but they're clearly assholes.

    6. Re:This is good news by Alsee · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Lawsuit states that keyboards were purchased and illegally reverse engineered.

      The only way that could be true is if Nigeria has a seriously defective legal system (quite possible), but even then the "truth value" of that statement would only exist within Nigeria.

      Like someone who illegally wears a t-shirt that says "Vote".

      The phrase "illegally reverse engineered" only weighs in favor of a case of this company being a "patent troll", it is not an argument to refute that label.

      A further note is that all uses of the word "invention" appear to false. According to the article this is a design patent. At least in US law, design patents are not for new useful inventions, design patents are not for functional aspects, design patents are for aesthetic and ornamental aspects. Design patents are about "our product looks cool and distinctive". Design patents are trivial to work around, you just change the shape or arrangement of your product to any of a zillion other equally reasonable equally functional looks.

      ...ok a little Googling and yes Nigerian RD#### patent are "Registered Design" patents. This is not an invention patent, this is an ornamental design patent. It also turns out that there is no official website to look up Nigerian patents, not only is there no website for it but the Nigerian Patent Office official contact point is a Yahoo email address.

      This company is suing a charitable high-tech project to aid 3rd world children, and doing it based on an ornamental patent registered with a government operating from a Yahoo email address. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  6. A _little_ more info on this. by robbak · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/keyboard/olpc_patent_infringement_scam.html I like how the Nigerian patent office has an @yahoo email address!! Prepare for things to start getting wierd.

    --
    Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
    1. Re:A _little_ more info on this. by d0ida · · Score: 2, Informative

      Check out the comments on that OLPC News article. There are links to more details of both designs.

  7. But they'll settle.... by saxoholic · · Score: 2, Funny

    They'll call off the lawsuit if they receive 20 laptops within the next 2 weeks, and will pay OLPC $5000 on receipt of said laptops...

  8. Boy, did they pick the wrong mark by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Eben Moglen, invalidator of bioscience patents filed by his own university ("that is what tenure is for") is a public ally of the OLPC. I suspect he'll not only invalidate their patent, he'll drive em one step from bankruptcy.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Boy, did they pick the wrong mark by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Informative

      umm, among US lawyers he's considered a big wheel too ya know. He clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. He defended Phil Zimmermann in the investigation of PGP by the spooks in the US government. And he's a tenured law professor. If you're going to take free legal advice from anyone, you could do a heck of a lot worse.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  9. If LANCOR wins. . . by idesofmarch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will they demand to be paid via Western Union?

  10. Wow.... by blind+biker · · Score: 2

    The purpose of the OLPC project in Nigeria is not to make a profit, but, basically, charity. OLPC is selling them at a loss there.

    I feel this 1st class douchebaggery.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  11. DEAR SIR by v_1_r_u_5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    LAGOS, NIGERIA.

    ATTENTION: THE PRESIDENT/CEO

    DEAR SIR,

    CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

    HAVING CONSULTED WITH MY COLLEAGUES AND BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE NIGERIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE TO TRANSFER THE SUM OF $47,500,000.00 (FORTY SEVEN MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) INTO OUR ACCOUNTS. THE ABOVE SUM RESULTED FROM A PATENT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT, EXECUTED COMMISSIONED AND PAID FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS (5) AGO BY A FOREIGN CONTRACTOR. THIS ACTION WAS HOWEVER INTENTIONAL AND SINCE THEN THE FUND HAS BEEN IN A SUSPENSE ACCOUNT AT THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA APEX BANK.

    WE ARE NOW READY TO RECEIVE THE FUND OVERSEAS. IT IS IMPORTANT TO INFORM YOU THAT AS CIVIL SERVANTS, WE ARE FORBIDDEN TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT; THAT IS WHY WE REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE. THE TOTAL SUM WILL BE SHARED AS FOLLOWS: 70% FOR US, 25% FOR OUR LAWYERS AND 5% FOR LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPENSES INCIDENT TO THE TRANSFER.

    THE TRANSFER IS RISK FREE ON BOTH SIDES. I AM AN ACCOUNTANT WITH THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC). IF YOU FIND THIS PROPOSAL ACCEPTABLE, WE SHALL REQUIRE THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

    (A) YOUR BANKER'S NAME, TELEPHONE, ACCOUNT AND FAX NUMBERS.

    (B) YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS -- FOR CONFIDENTIALITY AND EASY COMMUNICATION.

    (C) YOUR LETTER-HEADED PAPER STAMPED AND SIGNED.

    ALTERNATIVELY WE WILL FURNISH YOU WITH THE TEXT OF WHAT TO TYPE INTO YOUR LETTER-HEADED PAPER, ALONG WITH A BREAKDOWN EXPLAINING, COMPREHENSIVELY WHAT WE REQUIRE OF YOU. THE BUSINESS WILL TAKE US THIRTY (30) WORKING DAYS TO ACCOMPLISH.

    PLEASE REPLY URGENTLY.

    BEST REGARDS

  12. He's in Natick, only 19.2 miles from OLPC! by r00t · · Score: 4, Informative

    1 Timber Lane, Natick, MA, 01760, USA
    phone 339-987-9249, fax 508-647-4702

    Put that into Google maps and have a look.
    It's a house on a 100 foot square lot.

    1. Re:He's in Natick, only 19.2 miles from OLPC! by apt142 · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's why you got to check first. It goes something like this:

      *ring, ring*
      Home Owner: Hello?
      You: Dent? Arthur Dent?
      HO: Yes, that's me.
      You: Arther Phillip Dent?
      HO: Yes?
      You: You're an arse hole!
      *hang up*

      --
      Star Pirates
  13. Better yet, just don't send them by KingSkippus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As pointed out in a later post, the OLPC project in Nigeria is basically charity.

    If they continue having problems like this, simply don't send any to them. Let LANCOR explain to the Nigerian government and people how their greed and abuse of patent law is screwing up the education of Nigeria's children and putting them at a serious disadvantage to the country's neighbors.

    1. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Informative
      As pointed out in a later post, the OLPC project in Nigeria is basically charity.

      In a related article, Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, said that the cost of software is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160...

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    2. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by duggi · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I don't understand the point in giving a laptop to a child yet.

      screwing up the education of Nigeria's children and putting them at a serious disadvantage to the country's neighbors. Seriously, Can anybody explain why laptops are so essential for education? Forget laptops, we were not supposed to use even calculators for those lengthy calculations in chemistry in out Undergrad entrance exam. Why then, are laptops so crucial for a child future? Figure this out: I am trying to solve a 1st order differential equation, I would like a pencil and a paper to work this out. NOT a laptop. I cannot how a 10 year old is going to learn maths or chemistry (for that matter, his local language) in a laptop.
      --
      http://monkeynesianeconomics.blogspot.com/
    3. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's like having access to a huge library and the telephone numbers of hundreds of willing teachers.

    4. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by wizardforce · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Let LANCOR explain to the Nigerian government and people how their greed and abuse of patent law is screwing up the education of Nigeria's children and putting them at a serious disadvantage to the country's neighbors.
      that assumes the Nigerian government cares in the first place, they are after all a major part of the problem in regard to education in Nigeria.
      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    5. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by samwichse · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't know that this company is actually abusing patent law. It seems like they have an actual invention (a type of keyboard + software that makes it easier to type in "weird" characters). The article even clearly points out that they have a product with this feature they sell.

      Is that a patent troll? Doesn't sound like it.

      I'm not sure about their choice of targets or especially their heavyhanded response to a charity organization though. I can only see this gaining them significant negative publicity and potentially torpedoing a good project.

      Product Link

    6. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      their greed and abuse of patent law is screwing up the education of Nigeria's children and putting them at a serious disadvantage to the country's neighbors.

      Naive Citizen of the World... You have NO awareness of geopolitics!

      If they haven't bribed them, then LANCOR might well be a part of the government.

      Nigeria's government will reward LANCOR for keeping their people enslaved to warlords as prostitutes and child "soldiers".

    7. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by Mathinker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > I am trying to solve a 1st order differential equation, I would like a pencil and a paper to work this out.

      The equation is: dx/dt = x + cos(x * t)*sin(x + t)

      Good luck. The reality is that the vast majority of 1st order differential equations cannot be solved with pencil and paper, and using numerical algorithms on computers is the best and most general way to solve them.

      But even without this, you're totally missing the point. The student's computer wouldn't be solving the equation for him; it would be teaching him how to solve it. I'm not an educational professional, but I suppose one way might be to

      • present a (simple, pencil-and-paper solvable) problem to him, asking him to choose the answer from a list
      • based on his choice, either pat him on the back for being right or show him an explanation of why he was wrong

      > I cannot how a 10 year old is going to learn maths or chemistry (for that matter, his local language) in a laptop.

      Leave teaching to teaching professionals. They seem to think computers are useful tools in their trade.

    8. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by foobsr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the cost of software is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160

      /cynical True, because no one can afford the hardware in the first place,

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
    9. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by gilesjuk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But this is what is wrong with patents, the chances of two people having the same idea aren't that slim.

      Patents were invented to protect break through designs which took a lot of time and money from being copied. Two people having the same idea isn't copying.

      The Television was developed by three different people, if Baird had patented it we may have been using mechanical TV for decades.

    10. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Ignorance is not bliss. Consider this one simple fact, try carrying around the required number of text books, reference books and general education books, then try carrying one dvd that could not only contain all the information in those books but provide accompanying multi media. Off course if you want to save carrying around a few hundred kilograms of dead wood you will need a kilogram or so of silicon and plastic to read that disc.

      Even as you unthinkingly type your post, you would willingly deny people who can not afford to do the same the opportunity of sharing knowledge, beliefs and understanding from around the world. By the way, the laptop can also be used in the first and second world. It is not a third world computer, it is a computer targeted as an educational tool for children from around the world and the more sold the cheaper it becomes.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    11. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by iainl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What's the date on the patent, though? This sounds no different to what the Sinclair Spectrum was doing with its multiple shift keys 25 years ago.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    12. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by pipatron · · Score: 2, Informative

      I use this on my Thinkpad in Ubuntu. Pressing for example ^ while holding down the right Alt, enters the "put a ^ on the next character" mode. Right Alt + " + o gives ö. I think it's called "Compose" or something.

      Pretty much necessary since I'm Swedish but I want a US keyboard since the retards that decided where to relocate all the keys necessary for programming placed them so you had to break your fingers to access the [ ] { } / \ | when you use a Swedish layout...

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    13. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by martin-boundary · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's like having access to a huge library and the telephone numbers of hundreds of willing teachers.
      Yeah, a library full of books written in ancient Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and mostly Roman teachers :)

      Unfortunately, most third world kids don't speak the main language of the net, and won't have much use for what's currently on it. Actually, that's probably a good thing...

    14. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by rbanffy · · Score: 4, Informative

      In other news, Microsoft will announce the licensing LANCOR keyboard input-method technology that is scheduled to be included in future versions of Windows. The amount being paid will not be disclosed, but we will all suspect it will be enough to fund these trolls for years.

      IIRC the MIT Lisp machines had keyboards with "hyper", "super", "meta" and "greek" shift keys. That should be considered enough prior art (although I don't know if Nigerian law agrees with that).

      --
      http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
    15. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by somersault · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You mean out there stabbing everyone that isn't wounded, and then stealing their boots :P Any bandages Microsoft have are going to be infected anyway

      --
      which is totally what she said
    16. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by hey! · · Score: 2, Informative

      So the question becomes what is claimed novel about the invention?

      It's not the modality of the input -- thats a very old idea to anybody who remembers the non-gui interfaces.

      For example, in Emacs the sequence control-x, 8 means the next character is interpreted in "Compose Character Mode" -- a mode that seems to be a superset of the mechanism in question. In ISO Accents mode the various modifiers work more or less as described in the invention.

      So it can't be using the keyboard modally to insert characters that is novel. Nor is the idea of special additional keys that can be used in combination to alter modes (e.g., the alt key).

      So the only potential thing left is dedicating a key specifically to this function.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    17. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by Captain+Sarcastic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unfortunately, most third world kids don't speak the main language of the net, and won't have much use for what's currently on it. Actually, that's probably a good thing...


      The whole point of being a student is to not have much use for the status quo, and to have a desire to expand upon it.

      Henry Ford (I think) said that if you'd asked American consumers in the 1900's what they'd wanted, they'd have answered, "A faster horse." For whatever faults they had, he and his contemporaries were dissatisfied with the status quo then.

      Perhaps with the OLPC product, we can have a new generation of people from a previously un-heard-from part of the world, asking questions like, "Do we really need this? What if we try...?" The Nigerian government would be well-advised to consider this.
      --
      Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
    18. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Where are they going to get all these books from? I haven't been able to find very many up-to-date and legally obtainable textbooks on the internet, so you can strike that off. Well, you're not looking very hard...

      Fiction Books
      http://www.baen.com/library/
      http://www.anothersky.org/
      http://www.gutenberg.org/
      http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
      http://manybooks.net//
      http://www.archive.org/

      Audiobooks
      http://www.librivox.org/

      Textbooks
      http://motionmountain.dse.nl/
      http://textbookrevolution.org/
      http://www.theassayer.org/
      http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
      http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html#languages
      http://www.hewlett.org/Programs/Education/Technology/OpenContent/opencontent.htm
      http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/
      http://cnx.org/
      http://globaltext.org/
      http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

      Encyclopaedia
      http://en.wikipedia.org/

      Scientific Journal Articles
      http://www.plos.org/journals/index.html
      http://www.doaj.org/
      http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/

      ...This is just a sampling. There are many free online resources.
    19. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by MrHanky · · Score: 3, Informative

      One would imagine Nigerian schoolchildren are taught Nigeria's official language, English.

    20. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by jc42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't know that this company is actually abusing patent law. It seems like they have an actual invention (a type of keyboard + software that makes it easier to type in "weird" characters).

      The descriptions of their keyboard, including this larger image, aren't too convincing. What they seem to have "invented" is the idea of adding a fifth "Ng" shift key to the conventional four (Shift, Ctrl, logo, Alt). They gave it somewhat unusual placement, stealing space from the usual Shift keys (and making them smaller).

      But keyboards with five shift keys are hardly novel. I'm typing this on a 4-year-old Mac Powerbook, which has five shift keys (shift, fn, ctrl, alt/option, logo/cmd) at the lower left corner. The Mac puts all but the shift keys in the lower row, stealing space from the space bar

      So what did they actually "invent"? Putting extra shift keys next to the usual "shift" keys? Inventing a new "Ng" label to paint on the key? Using a new keycode for the new keys?

      Keyboards have been made with more than five shift keys, too.

      The obvious conjecture is that this is yet another attempt to either extort money from the OLPC project, or to bankrupt it through litigation. Or maybe to just block its use in Nigeria, similar to the Microsoft bribe attempt discussed here last week.

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    21. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unfortunately, most third world kids don't speak the main language of the net

      Obviously, you sprang as a fully-formed, English-speaking adult out of Zeus's forehead or something. Or not. No, instead you're just a dumbass who doesn't realize that children can learn, and moreover that the entire point of the OLPC project is learning, and that contrary to what you might think the children are most likely capable of learning English along with everything else!

      Tell you what, read this: India: Hole-in-the-Wall. Then try telling me language is a real barrier!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    22. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by hedwards · · Score: 2, Funny

      I've been puzzling over how this company could possibly have a patent on dead keys, and yet only now after however many decades of computers having dead keys is suing a charity.

      Referring to dead keys, and presumably additional silk screening as an advanced multi language keyboard, is a little like referring to congress as an advanced noise machine. Sure the keyboards do have additional features, and congress does make noise, but in neither case is it particularly unique.

    23. Re:Better yet, just don't send them by rbanffy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well... I was aiming for "Funny", not "Informative".

      Anyway, you always have to think what a person/company stands to gain from an action like this. The XO is not a direct competitor of none of their products. They make keyboards and software that goes with them, while the XO is a computer governments buy for students.

      Unless government purchases for schools is a significant market niche for them (I assume they sell to OEMs that, in turn, sell computers to the government - a business that would remain untouched by the XO), there is no reason for this lawsuit. The company stands to gain nothing directly from halting sales of the XO to Nigerian government.

      When we start to consider this as a proxy stunt (because it is not in LANCOR's best interest to pursue it - they will spend money and, probably, get nothing but bad will in return), we end up with another question: if not LANCOR, who stands to gain from it? This is the point you can fit your preferred conspiracy theory.

      BTW, everything relating to this sounds _very_ fishy - no real data as on what the patents are about, a perceived abundance of prior art and a probably non-infringing XO all point to a maneuver to divert business from one group to another by creating a temporary legal uncertainty. It smells really, really bad.

      If proved without merit, OLPC should counter-sue them into oblivion.

      --
      http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
  14. If this helps by GrEp · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some keyboard internationalization research I did a few years back:

    http://www.public.iastate.edu/~crb002/ie574final.pdf

    I bet it kicks their designs all the way to Timbuktu, which isn't too far from Nigeria :)

    --

    bash-2.04$
    bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
    1. Re:If this helps by Ougarou · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I've contacted LANCOR and got the following helpfull extra information from them. Probably good for anybody who would like to research this and form an opinion: start quote
      Thank you for contacting us on the subject matter of OLPC.
      I will suggest that you do the following steps below and you will come to the same conclusion our investigators and lawyers did... OLPC stole IP from LANCOR.
      1. Check the first keyboard layout released with the XO laptop before August 2006.
      2. Take it from us that OLPC purchased our keyboards sometime in August 2006.
      3. Now go to OLPC's http://dev.laptop.org/query and follow the development of OLPC's new set of keyboard layouts and driver. (Take note of the first day this development started.
      4. Check for OLPC's new XO keyboard layout used at the CES 2007 show.
      5. Now go to OLPC's wiki.laptop.org and again follow the postings of information about their keyboard layout development and key date changes were made.
      6. Now when you have all these info collated, call OLPC and ask why they choose to remove the keyboard layouts used in the CES 2007 XO model after September 2007.
      7. See if you can put together all the various versions of OLPC keyboard layouts and match them to events you discovered from their query database.
      end quote
  15. what this is by r00t · · Score: 4, Informative

    First of all, it's a design patent. It's not a utility patent. Design patents are used for stuff like the flowers on the handles of your silverware. (why that isn't done with copyright I don't know) Design patent rules are different from utility patent rules.

    It's about using two extra shift keys for the non-ASCII characters. On his keyboard, he calls them "Shift2" and "Ng". This is a nice way to do languages that use the latin alphabet with a few abnormal extra characters.

    It's not like the mode switch key used for Arabic. There, you press the key once to switch modes. (more like a caps lock)

    It's not like the dead keys often used for European accents. There, you press an accent key followed by a letter key. The accent key does nothing until you press the letter.

    It's not like the combining accent keys used in Microsoft Word. There, you press the accent key after the letter key. (so the software must display your "A" before knowing if it needs an accent)

    It's not like the fancy stuff used for Chinese, etc.

    He's claiming that two keyboard layouts are in violation. The first one is Nigerian, now used for all of western Africa. The second one is "US International", which is QWERTY plus stuff like the Euro and various odds and ends.

    1. Re:what this is by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's about using two extra shift keys for the non-ASCII characters. On his keyboard, he calls them "Shift2" and "Ng". This is a nice way to do languages that use the latin alphabet with a few abnormal extra characters.

      It's not like ...

      It's not like ...

      It's not like...

      It's not like ...

      But it *is* like CTRL and ALT, except that they're just for generating characters rather than calling arbitrary functions.

      (Btw, anyone who refers to a new interface for accessing more characters from the same keys as "technology" is an idiot.)

      --
      Apology to Ubuntu forum.
    2. Re:what this is by rxmd · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's about using two extra shift keys for the non-ASCII characters. On his keyboard, he calls them "Shift2" and "Ng". This is a nice way to do languages that use the latin alphabet with a few abnormal extra characters.

      It's not like the mode switch key used for Arabic. There, you press the key once to switch modes. (more like a caps lock)

      It's not like the dead keys often used for European accents. There, you press an accent key followed by a letter key. The accent key does nothing until you press the letter.

      It's not like the combining accent keys used in Microsoft Word. There, you press the accent key after the letter key. (so the software must display your "A" before knowing if it needs an accent)

      It's not like the fancy stuff used for Chinese, etc.

      It is like the use of the right Alt key on European keyboards to get extra accented characters. The key is called "Alt Gr" on many European keyboards. On a German keyboard, you press Alt Gr + some other key to get things like the Euro sign, the backslash, the pipe character, the tilde character, curly braces, or the @ sign.

      I've written a couple of keyboard macros back in the WordPerfect days that used Alt Gr plus other keys to get extra accented characters for transcription of Arabic (and, ironically, for Yoruba, which is one of the major languages of Nigeria), which I'm ready to submit as prior art if it should have to come to that.
      --
      As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
  16. Could be legit by SuperRenaissanceMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA: "LANCOR's technology named Shift2 keyboard technology has been used to create a new class of region specific based keyboards called KONYIN Multilingual Keyboards, which are currently on sale globally." I don't think you can be sure to call this one a patent troll. They are actually producing a product, not just holding a patent for the sole purpose of the suit.

    --
    Any comment mentioning moderation is automatically Offtopic.
  17. Patent Troll Hater for 2008 by renegadesx · · Score: 2, Informative

    I am pretty sure there are only a few ways to do a multilingual keyboard. It should not be something that you can patent.

    Not only do I think this patent shouldn't be valid but these guys are suing whats basically a charity organization? Please!

    As far as "not listening to nigerian law" it should be noted that they have an american office and they are suing in american courts using manipulating the flawed american patent system

    I think some of your presedential hopefuls should make patent trolls an issue and establish a policy to fight against them.

    --
    Make SELinux enforcing again!
  18. I guess the old proverb is still true... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No good deed goes unpunished.

  19. Re:reverse engineering under US law by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What's even more silly is that a patent is supposed to describe exactly how something works so people don't *need* to reverse engineer it.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  20. Translation error by Dan+East · · Score: 3, Funny

    There may have been a translation error, leading the Nigerians to believe OLPC was an acronym for One Litigation Per Child.

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  21. the layouts are quite different by m2943 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is the US international layout for OLPC:

    http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Keyboard_layouts

    Here is the Konyin layout for the US (you have to click on VIEW LAYOUT under UNITED STATES):

    http://www.konyin.com/?page=home&menuitem=1

    Maybe Konyin thinks that they invented making additional languages/scripts/special characters available via additional shift characters, but that's ridiculous; here is the Windows US International keyboard layout:

    http://www.usna.edu/LangStudy/US-InternationalLayout.html

    See, lots of special characters via AltGr.

  22. Prior art? by ozbird · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How are the KONYIN keyboard's multiple shift keys any different to ye olde AltGr key to access alternate - usually international - characters?

  23. Dear Mr. Slashdotter by SpeedyG5 · · Score: 2, Funny

    As lead council I am tasked with getting hard working folks for a class action lawsuit. In fact there is money to be paid out to all comers, now. For a small down payment of $10,000 you can get a share of the 15 billion we have currently collected. Please email me your personal information, social security number, payment information etc so you can receive a one time lump sum payment.

    Bob Cummings Esquire
    Nigerian Law Council Partnership Program
    1 Important Legal Way
    Sokoto Nigeria

  24. What a strange coincidence by jimicus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It strikes me as remarkably inconvenient that there just happens to be a company which is US-based, Nigerian owned and happens to have a patent on something which so directly affects to OLPC project. How many companies can there be which fit this description?

    Putting my tinfoil hat on for a moment, it's not possible that this company is a stooge for Intel or Microsoft, is it?

  25. Re:patent troll. by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

    Probably because you can't spell "quarter". And we all know that if you can't spell, you're a troll.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  26. A quick 'Dig' of Lancor by TooTechy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Lancor - hosted by ipowerweb.com. Administrative contact, bscinternational.com
    konyin.com - hosted by ipowerweb.com Admin contact, oluwole@lancorltd.com

    For an IT company to not actually have their own web server ... and to have their admin contact external (a MS partner BTW)...

    Thoughts? How big is this company (they don't have a link on their web site to their Nigerian counterpart. They do have a link to Konyin.com, no drivers available for download there. Anyone got them?

    I wonder how much email traffic has been transferred between Lancor and MS recently. SCO is sooo yesterday's news.

    BTW - your lancorltd.com web site does not render correctly in FireFox.

  27. Nigerian Lawsuit? by Damocles+the+Elder · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I read this, I thought it was going to be a complaint about the laptop having some anti-spam software on it.

  28. Re:Please tell me you put your foot in your mouth. by Belial6 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That is not what the parent said, but even if that is what was meant, it would be an incredibly stupid thing to say. Assuming that any professional should go unquestioned is a poor idea. It is particularly bad of an idea to not question teachers. Teaching is not rocket science, and the output of our public schools pretty much speaks for itself. Really, a lot of these public school kids can't read until they are 6 or 7, even after spending a year or two in preschool.

    I have actually had a couple of these "profession teachers" try to tell me that you shouldn't even show kids actual letters until they are 3. Instead they are pushing this crap that has become popular amongst "educators" called Zoophonics. They seem to think pqbd are easier for a kid to learn than PQBD. And apparently punching, kicking, and animal fighting are good ideas for education.

    It comes down to the fact that our public schools are in shambles, and no matter how bad the other parts are, teachers have to take take a very large part of the responsibility for that. So, question them.

  29. 419 by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dear Honest Individual
    I am Stella McBride, aged 21years old the daughter of Late Darl Makoba a politician ,gold and software merchant from Angola. I and my mother now residing in Senegal dakar west africa.
    As a result of the on-going problem in our country, we must relocate US$500 million of intellectual property to an overseas account...

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love