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Sony Blu-ray Under Patent Infringement Probe
Lucas123 writes "The US International Trade Commission said it will launch an investigation into possible patent infringements involving Sony's Blu-ray players and other technologies using laser and light-emitting diodes, such as Motorola's Razr phone and Hitachi camcorders. The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed in February by a Columbia University professor emerita who says she invented a method of using gallium nitride-based semiconductor material for producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and laser diodes in the blue/ultraviolet end of the light spectrum. Her complaint asks the ITC to block imports of LED and laser diode technology from Asia and Europe. The total market for all types of gallium nitride devices has been forecast at $7.2 billion for 2009 alone."
You should have a set timelimit on using it. Either you exercise your patent right and setup royalty shit with other companies, or you start using the patented technology, otherwise it's fair game.
That's a lot of Das Blinkenlights!
Really. I could live with green.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Why is she requesting that all imports of the tech in question be stopped? Doesn't this sort of thing usually just end with a licensing agreement? The inventor gets paid, and everybody goes on. The article doesn't mention that she is involved with any sort of competitor, so it just seems sort of malevolent for her to try and put a halt to the entire market.
I certainly hope there is a better explanation, though.
I got a catholic block.
'nuff said.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
This case is egregious, unless she was living in cave then she had to know that something she believed she'd developed was being widely used.
However, there are plenty of things that you'd struggle to even know were in use. What if it were some new modulation strategy to make the construction of multi-band cellphones easier; there could easily be millions of them in the market before it ever came to your attention.
1. Create technology
2. Wait for one design to win the market
3. Sue manufacturer
4. Profit!
Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.
After all the bogus crap and lies spread about Blu-Ray, and the fact that there locking DRM into it I'm glad. I hope either:
A) Sony looses their shirt
and
B) This allows any one to be able to manufacture the device.
pipe dream:
C) She makes 'No DRM' part of the licensing.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'm thinking something along the lines of "cashingin" might work. Although this might be covered under the "greed" tag.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Real good one there, took you a while to come up with that one.
For everyone yelling 'patent troll,' realize that she has been trying to enforce her rights since at least 1995. She also seems perfectly willing to license the technology http://www.compoundsemi.com/documents/articles/cldoc/7121.html...
I think that is how you're supposed to do things...
PS3 and BluRay have been on the market for years now, and in quite public development for years prior to that. If this professor had come out publicly at the beginning and said, hey, that's my LED they're using, and I want boodles of ca$h, I would probably consider that acceptable behavior. Same for the RAZR (can't Motorola even spell?). But to wait this long and suddenly wake up from that Rip Van Winkle stupor to suddenly realize - that has to be my patent in there somewhere and now that you have built the market and are invested so deeply that you can't change anything to work around my idea I intend to blackmail you out of even bigger boodles of ca$h isn't acceptable. At a certain point patent trolls just harm too many other people to be allowed to continue, and this is a good case of exactly that!
Clearly Sony developed this on their own, so you can't even say they stole it.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
This is going to be interesting. Section 337 actions are brought in rem, so success in this action could result in an exclusion order against any product incorporating or including the infringing device. That's lots of stuff! Section 337 actions are also fast, furious, and expensive!
You can get a copy of the patent from http://www.pat2pdf.org/
Toshiba uses a red laser diode that's rather different from the Sony blue diode. That's partly why Toshiba got to market first, and PS3 was delayed for months - the problem in building the blue laser diodes in quantity. The circumstances might be different.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
What, no goatse reference and link? Sheesh, can't count on anyone to be consistent these days :-/
Here I thought this bit of mis-information died along with HD-DVD.
HD-DVD used the same blue laser as BluRay. From there you should be able to extrapolate why everything else in your post is incorrect.
Either that, or these people are trying to break the current patent system by exploiting it and overloading the courts with these allegedly bullshit patent suits.
Toshiba uses a red laser diode that's rather different from the Sony blue diode.
Huh? HD-DVD uses a blue laser. Am I missing something, or are you?
Others have pointed out that you're incorrect. I'm curious why you'd have believed this crap though: if HD DVD had been red-laser based, then HD DVD drives wouldn't have been any more expensive than DVD drives. It's doubtful it would have taken two years for a sub-$200 HD DVD player to appear (and the A3 was heavily subsidized), and virtually every manufacturer currently making DVD drives would have been able to - and therefore would have - jumped into the market almost right away.
There are ways red-laser media might have been practical - indeed, a format called HD-VMD is out that uses red laser technology, choosing to use massive numbers of layers and slightly more efficient bit encoding, to overcome the 4.7/9Gb limitations of DVD. And it'd be interesting to know if red laser media could have been more dense if they'd used the tricks with aperture that BD uses (that gave it the 60% advantage over HD DVD per layer.) But HD DVD didn't use any of these techniques. Had it done so, the media would have been more expensive, but the players would have been much, much, cheaper. We'd probably never have even seen a "war", it would have been game over in 2005, when Toshiba would have released a player much earlier than they eventually did, at a price that everyone could afford, followed quickly by Apex and numerous other entrants from the low cost consumer electronics industry.
Instead we got a blue laser war. Yealch.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
"Shuji Nakamura of Nichia Corporation of Japan demonstrated the first high-brightness blue LED based on InGaN, borrowing on critical developments in GaN nucleation on sapphire substrates and the demonstration of p-type doping of GaN which were developed by I. Akasaki and H. Amano in Nagoya. The existence of the blue LED led quickly to the first white LED, which employed a Y3Al5O12:Ce, or "YAG", phosphor coating to mix yellow (down-converted) light with blue to produce light that appears white. Nakamura was awarded the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize for his invention."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6900465.PN.&OS=PN/6900465&RS=PN/6900465
"In 1991, I made n-type gallium nitride. The following year I succeeded making p-type using a thermal annealing technique. Now all gallium nitride researchers use my technique for p-type gallium nitride. Another big breakthrough was making the first single crystal of indium gallium nitride, which we needed for an emitting layer. Finally at the end of 1993, I succeeded in making the first commercial-based blue LEDs."
http://archive.sciencewatch.com/jan-feb2000/sw_jan-feb2000_page4.htm
The invention this woman claims to have done was already done years previous by the true inventor of the blue LED and laser diode, Shuji Nakamura. She is a patent troll, and the fact the FTC is wasting taxpayer money with an investigation into something that could've been resolved by 5 minutes of looking at dates on Wikipedia is sad.
If I read that correct then ha-ha Sony. Makes a change for the little guy to bite the big guys.
Last I checked around 2001 Rothschild obtained the patent on Gallium Nitride LEDs. Seven years to file a patent infringement claim? Columbia University is a patent troll.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I've noticed that BR players and TV's have actually gone UP in price recently. That to me is real stupid.
Scientists do this sort of thing, make a discovery public and then are annoyed when they find other people using it.
If you want to patent something you tell nobody else.
I don't see how people can patent someone using a material that exists on the planet anyway, it surely is the process of manufacture that is patented? this woman hasn't made anything, it's restricted to a discovery made in a lab.
They just don't make trolls like they used to.
Perhaps you mean a different thing than I do when you say "science."
You can patent human DNA sequences.
Chances are, I have a bit of one of a patented DNA string within my own DNA.
I wonder how long it'll be until Monsanto or someone else sues me because of my very existence...
"Je pense, donc, je suis poursuivi en justice"? (Google translation: I speak Spanish, not French. :) ).
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
I hope she wins so long as she's an open source advocate. Having the full Blu-Ray spec being forced open would be very sexy indeed especially to reverse engineers and PS3 hackers. Plus I'd be much happier seeing the scientist who developed the technology get the cash, and not Sony just because I, like many /.'ers, despise multinational conglomerates.
You must be thinking copyrights, or trade secrets. Because patent law don't care one tiny bit whether anything was stolen, pirated, plundered, copied, leaked, miasspropriated, derived from, inspired by, just coincidental, or "discovered" completely independently in an entirely different galaxy by a lone martian who's never even heard of the patentee or patent office. There's no shred of moral justification for patents like there could be with copyright. That's why patents are so offensive; they're a claim over not just the appropriation of "thought", but over the entire ownership of a particular thought and the absolute dominion and authority to exclude the entire human race ever having it, even if they do so entirely on their own or even just accidentally.
And as for the people asking why she didn't do something with the patent herself, to manufacture anything. Well, odds are really really good that even if she did have all the intent and means to do so (which may be arguable), that she couldn't do so because then she herself would be violating somebody else's patent. Having a patent to "A" doesn't give you any rights to make "A" at all. All having a patent does is the give you the authority to make sure that nobody else can do "A" either. Patents only take away, they never give.
Even if she was the first to patent in the USA, doesn't th patent still have to be *valid*?
I love it how this story comes to light AFTER the format war is ended (Thanks Toshiba! :) ) It's as if she sat at her computer every day, reading SlashDot, and waited for the end. Blu-Ray loses -> "Aww, I'm out millions and billions" Blu-Ray wins -> "Yay, mucho dinero por favor."
Anyone want a CowPie?
Please change to "Motorola Razr under patent infringement probe". There are millions of Razrs in America and not that many BD players....
The only patent I found for Rothschild related to semiconductors Patent 5,252,499 October 12, 1993 does not seem even remotely related to current LED fabrication processes. Most LEDs are now made using a vapor deposition process on sapphire substrates. Her patent is for using hydrogen to increase the conductivity of zinc based semiconductors. It looks to me like she is fishing for a cheap payoff to prevent litigation. Another case of mugging by patent attorney.
In my day I had to walk through 10 feet of trolls to get to the comments, uphill both ways!
I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
Luxury.
Perhaps you mean a different thing than I do when you say "science."
A patent story in which the little guy (or girl in this case) is sticking it to a big corporation with a real live viable non-trolling patent! I gotta go make sure the sky is still blue...
Seriously though, its nice to see the system actually working for a change.
So are you saying that Sony read her patent, decided "That's neat!" and ripped it off from the patent office? Or did they likely do their own original research?
Also, you left out the word I carefully put in: "Publicly". Why haven't we heard about this until now. PS3 has been out for years. Why wasn't a stink raised the moment the first PS3 hit the docks in the USA? Going public from the beginning washes away patent troll accusations very nicely.
In addition, at least one computer news site today says this is in regard to another patent filed in February.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Actually, that's the second best sig. The best sig is:
As God is my witness, I thought Balrogs could fly. -Gandalf
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
You suck.
A simple patent search will find a plethora of patents that overlap or cover her idea...
The interesting thing is so many patents were issued on this - including numerous ones that seem to be the same (technology wise) as the one she claims she received in 1993. Oddly, I cant find her patent...
Either way, this should be interesting - especially since she is taking a non-normal route to pursue the situation. (ITC, etc).
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Your stomping of the grandparent was truly beautiful.
However, I cannot help but pray that the grandparent finds something with which to crush you. Because then it would be your turn again, and I would be even more entertained.
Carry on! I'm tuned to this channel.
For years, people had been looking for this technology. The Nobel Prize folk gave them awards for their work on the blue laser. Products are developed, competition between formats comes and goes, and finally, finally, finally "OH Wait, she cries, ITS MINE, ITS ALL MINE!!!" Thanks for coming to the party. Sorry, the cake is all gone, also the wine, and most of the other guests (ok, all of them) have already left, and the hosts have changed and gone to bed. But if you peek in the fridge, there might still be some food left. Its amazing how people come up with submarine patents way late in the game. I would like to see criminal prosecution for people who pull this kind of stunt. Its a money grab from people who live in a country like the US, where the 'its not possible if it wasn't invented here' mentality (or mentally retarded) live. Sorry supposed patent holder. You are Betamax. The world has moved on without you. You could have shouted 5 years ago and people would have listened. At present, you are as useless as tits on a bull. If you whine some more, you should be taken out and shot. You have contributed nothing to the world, and deserve same. The world at this point, would truly be a better place if you stopped contributing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere with every breath. Go back beneath the rock, and stay there till we call you.
Cease and Desist letters. to all companies. you gotta be kidding me. This kinda of request is just absurd.
I'm not one to completely avoid jumping on a bashwagon once in a while but this is just silly. Nearly every new LED and consumer LASER based device is using this technology but you singled out Blu-ray ... why?
;)
I wonder what kind of incendiary headline will be on fark and digg when slashdot is next sued for patent or copyright infringement. Obviously Microsoft has prior art on "Website that claims to be web standards compatible but is broken in most browser most of the time." Better be careful of that one
Awaiting troll mod in 3...2...1...
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
It seems to me that Motorola can change the color of the led in future manufacturing and life can go on. The blue led has nothing to do with the Razor's appeal as a cell phone. I bought mine for its quality and size and functionality. Every other device I own that has a blue led, is plugged into power and is not a low power issue either. If she makes enough of a stink about this, we can all just discontinue use of these (with the exception of the bluray) and choose another color.
She should go after the blkuray people and leave the rest alone. A simple licens ing agreement can solve his and life can go on.
Since my patents predate all, by licnesing my patents, Cheaply, her patent threat goes away.
Regards,
MThomas
http://colossalstorage.net/
I'd like to know if this professor received funding from the NSF (or any other government agency) for this work. If so, from what I recall from my grad school days, isn't the work in the public domain?
There's a Japanese guy with a patent on blue-end LEDs, and most of the Japanese companies involved in that base their products on technology that comes under his patent.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Haven't checked the details, but there is a Japanese researcher who has a patent in blue end stuff that the Japanese manufacturers are licensing.
I should go find out who it was and whether it's the same stuff, but I have other things to do. Been here too long today.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.