Seagate May Sue if Solid State Disks Get Popular

tero writes "Even though Seagate has announced it will be offering SSD disks of its own in 2008, their CEO Bill Watkins seems to be sending out mixed signals in a recent Fortune interview 'He's convinced, he confides, that SSD makers like Samsung and Intel (INTC) are violating Seagate's patents. (An Intel spokeswoman says the company doesn't comment on speculation.) Seagate and Western Digital (WDC), two of the major hard drive makers, have patents that deal with many of the ways a storage device communicates with a computer, Watkins says. It stands to reason that sooner or later, Seagate will sue — particularly if it looks like SSDs could become a real threat.'"

Comments

holy cats! the world is changing!

[haaz]

we better sue to stop it, FAST!

Re:holy cats! the world is changing!

[trickonion]

One of my complaints about patents as they currently are.
Either they are violating your patents (sue), or they're not (don't sue).
You dont get to sit there and wait and wait until they make gobs of money in case 1.
So seagate, are they violating your patent? If so, proof please, if not, you yield all rights in case they are found to at a later date

Re:holy cats! the world is changing!

[jav1231]

What are the odds that their patent simply contains the phrase: "A mechanism for storing or recreating data created on a computer for later retrieval."

(Slowly I put the freshly printed page down...)

Re:holy cats! the world is changing!

[Bobb Sledd]

No, it doesn't work that way. The way you describe would seem more logical, but these *are* patents we're talking about.

Damages start to accrue when the infringer is "put on notice" by the patent-holder. This can be done one of several ways, if you are the patent-holder:

1. Send a notice by mail (registered of course) to the manufacturer citing the patent(s) you hold, and claiming that they are infringing. At this point you could offer to license your patent, tell them to cease production and stop selling the item, or demand a settlement offer (and still shut them down or license the patent).

2. Mark your own products with the granted patent numbers. Usually something like "This product is covered by US patents 5,205,321 and 5,255,555." Although some manufacturers just put a list of patent numbers only on the product. Sometimes you will see a product that says "Patent pending." This does nothing. It might scare folks out of infringing, but I could write that and have no patent at all. No damages would accrue, and that is not "putting them on notice."

3. If the manufacturer inadvertently discovers that they are infringing the patent, then the damages begin accruing then. (Of course, proving that they knew when they knew is another matter entirely).

But you could really screw a manufacturer over by telling them about this article and showing them the patents. Essentially you would be doing the work of "putting them on notice" for Seagate.

Many manufacturers have several strategies for this problem:

1. On release of the product, they do a "patent scrub." This allows the inventors to file patents protecting this product. During the patent scrub, they are asked about any prior art or other patents that would limit the claims for this product. Often, though, during the prior art search, a patent claiming the exact product is found. Now the manufacturer must make a decision to either a) stop manufacturing/using/selling, b) risk infringement (with treble damages), c) contact the inventor for possible licensing.

2. Purposely don't do a prior art search. This way you won't turn up any patents accidentally. Sometimes it might be a good idea to save several dollars per sale in an escrow account in case of patent infringement (to easily pay off the patent holder). Then hope there is no product out there that has been patent-marked. If the manufacturer is contacted and "put on notice" by a patent holder, then the manufacturer can stop production immediately without any damages.

Often, however, a manufacturer could go a complete product cycle while unknowingly infringing a patent -- and never get a notice. If they make it all the way through, and then the patent-holder comes later claiming infringement, it is too-bad-so-sad. The manufacturer isn't making or selling that product anymore.

That's all I know. IAAPP.

patents and copyrights

[circletimessquare]

were originally intended to foster progress, cultural riches, innovation

and now they are used as perverse tools to squash progress, stifle innovation, and make us culturally impoverished

not that any of this means there will be a social revolution, but i see the real possibility of a legal revolution. that is, the public simply ignoring the bullshit intellectual property lawyers invent in order to justify their existence

dear intellectual property lawyers: you suck. your entire field is becoming a farce. you write and interpret and enforce law that does not serve society, it only serves your field. i propose a mutiny and jettison of the whole lot of you useless parasites

Innovation...

[downix]

When companies cannot innovate, they litigate. They work hard to slow down the market so that they can catch up.

Re:Doesn't even cover what they could sue over

[qoncept]

I think you'll see SSD gain huge market share in the next 3 years. Magnetic disks will still prevail where there are huge storage needs through at least the next 5 years, but flash based storage will be cheaper and faster for storage capacities that you need to run your computer normally. I picture Dell selling computers with a 128gb flash based drive, and a 1tb magnetic drive. Laptops will be SSD exclusively.

How much could they get?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder, if Seagate successfully sued for patent infringements, how much would they actually get? I mean, if the judgment were for $30 million, they may only see $29,296,875 of it.

This is what irks me...

[wobedraggled]

We are gonna wait till it's popular, then sue. ----WTF is that, it's greed. Much like Gibson suing everyone and their mom's now that Guitar Hero is a big thing, if you have a right to something, bring it up as soon as it happens, not when you think you can maximize cash. Why is that practice even legal?

I *DARE* them to sue Intel or Samsung

[realmolo]

Those are 2 companies that have VAST patent portfolios, I'm sure. Especially Intel.

I imagine that Seagate is violating some Intel and/or Samsung patents, in one obscure and stupid way or another. Seriously, Seagate doesn't have the juice to take on those 2 companies. Never mind that if Seagate really decides to start some shit with their hard-drive patents, I imagine that IBM will get involved, since they own most of the patents on the basic technology of hard drives. And we all know how IBM deals with people that sue them- they take no prisoners.

Re:Give me the f*cking address

[gEvil (beta)]

That's the old address. The new address is 920 Solid State Dr.

Where is Intel?

[Nom du Keyboard]

Where is Intel in all this? They make the south bridge and MCH chips that talk to SATA drives. Are only Seagate and WD drives allowed to connect to them? Is Intel beholden to patent holders on the SATA interface? Why not connect future drives through USB 2/3 if SATA is patent encumbered?