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German Customs Agents Raid Another Trade Show
JagsLive tips the news that German customs agents have shown up in force to raid the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. (The last time we discussed news like this was during CeBIT, in Hanover, last March.) 220 customs agents seized electronic gear from 69 different booths at IFA. The Register reports that this raid, like the one last spring, was touched off after complaints by patent firm Sisvel. "They seized equipment which will now be checked for evidence of patent breaches. A spokesman for German Customs told us: 'We've raided 69 companies today. We have seized equipment including flat-screen TVs, CD players, set-top boxes and MP3 players.'"
and all you german patent officials can shove your patents up your arses.
its absolutely appalling to see a european country axeing their own trade. and its not as if germany is a HUGE market like china or whatever.
Read radical news here
Patent laws are like landfills, every country has them, and they all stink.
"They seized equipment which will now be checked for evidence of patent breaches. A spokesman for German Customs told us: 'We've raided 69 companies today. We have seized equipment including flat-screen TVs, CD players, set-top boxes and MP3 players.'"
Now all they need is lots of beer and an upcoming holiday.
Who has the burden of proof to prove that patents were infringed? Shouldn't Sisvel have to provide evidence that these 69 companies are infringing on patents? Do German custom agents have to secure warrants to seize property? While not the U.S., I cannot believe that Germans would willingly stand for the police taking whatever property they believe could be stolen or based off another's design.
Also, would 69 different companies all choose Sisvel's products to infringe? I've never even heard of Sisvel!
Will Sisvel be held responsible if their claims are found groundless?
From the listing of devices seized, they must be spreading their patent claims pretty wide.
Either that or it has something to do in common with all those devices - maybe remote control?
I don't read AC A human right
O RLY?
> http://www.countryreports.org/economy/imports.aspx?Countryname=&countryId=91
You know how quickly someone can pull a gun at a trade show...
I dreamed of Freud: What does this mean?
Regardless if the claims hold merit, there is only one direction the shit will flow. People will quit reserving booths for these shows. Manufacturers will go outside of Germany. Then... what are you left with? Nothing being made in Germany, and no one wanting to exhibit their wares there either.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
flat-screen TVs, CD players, set-top boxes and MP3 players
In other news, a world cup qualifier game has just been rescheduled for Mainz, Germany. No doubt the stolen gear will require further examination.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Afaik Sisvel is responsible for collecting the money on Mpeg Patents ... so pretty much everything using DVB-T without paying them fees is considered illegal. ... in the past Sisvel made its money in collecting fees for the volume bar used in all modern TVs. So you can clearly call them a patent troll.
It'll be interesting to hear the howls when German businessmen start getting detained in Taipei and Shanghai. I have some news, the jails in Asia are not places where you want to spend any time.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
I'm not holding my breath, but the deterrent effect on German business competitiveness something like this can have might be enough to get politicians talking about what's wrong with their patent laws, or at least patent enforcement.
The PR war over patents has always been promoting innovation versus stifling it, with most business lobbyists lining up on the "they're good" side. In this particular case, though, the sides lined up are basically Sisvel versus everyone else, which may lead to some pro-reform lobbying (at least modest reform) even from usually pro-patent businesses. It also brings in other special interests who usually stay out of the patent wars, like the travel/convention industry.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Summer holidays just ended this very weekend in Berlin area.
605413? Yes, it's a prime.
There used to be "fair trade" laws in the US making it illegal to sell below "list price."
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
Don't hold the trade show there next year. Don't reward stupidity by continuing to patronize them.
And, yes, I realize as an American saying that I'm inviting the same reaction to our thuggish behavior.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Isn't it kept on the books and still enforced (against mostly Turks and other minorities running little stores in minority neighborhoods) simply because it is the German Law and German Law must be obeyed regardless of how mean and stupid and senseless it is?
Yes, there is a fixed price on (new) books. But it has absolutely nothing to do with minorities. The fixed price was introduced to protect small bookstores/coffeshops, some of which also promoted local literature and culture against soulless discounters/pricedumpers like walmart. That worked actually pretty well until internet bookstore like amazon came up.
tl;dr: Godwins law - you lost.
Danke fuer diesen Augenoeffner!
Thanks for opening my eyes.
I have no idea if are just being sarcastic or an absolute dumbass.
The truth is, the law to contol the sales (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb) is from 1909 (and that's _before_ Hitler, in case you didn't know) and the current regulation is from 1950 (that's _after_ Hitler), so it seems Hitler had some time travellers to aid in his fight against the jews leaving the country.
"Heaven is where the Police are British, the Chefs are French, the Mechanics are German, the Lovers Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss. Hell is where the Chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the Police are German and it's all organised by the Italians."
Well, the good thing is that the price binding doesn't exist for foreign books - that's why they can be sold as cheap as the store owner wants - which seems to be about four times sticker price. Yeah, Capitalism - it obviously works.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5312696.stm
One can only guess what he means by 'the standard' and 'not possible to do it any other way', but then, Sisvel's ability to collect money for this depends on those illusions being true.
so it seems Hitler had some time travellers to aid in his fight against the jews leaving the country.
Oblig:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057701/
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
Wow, what a troll. Just some corrections so that people don't misunderstand this persons "claims"...
Isn't Germany the place where it is illegal for stores to put items on sale, except for a few days each year?
No. It was until a couple of years ago. There was a law about seasonal sales (concerning seasonal items like eg summer/winter clothes) which were only allowed to be put on sale. That law (introduced 1909) was abolished 2004. There was a law limiting how rebates could be given - indeed from 1933. That was abolished 2001.
Wasn't this law passed by Hitler (opps, my bad...can't say that word in Deutschland)
There is nothing to stop you from that.
because Jewish store owners were selling their inventory below cost in order to get the funds together to escape the holocast?
Since it was apparently introduced in 1933, that is quite unlikely.
Isn't it kept on the books
If you mean laws governing the pricing of books: yes
still enforced (against mostly Turks and other minorities running little stores in minority neighborhoods) simply because it is the German Law and German Law must be obeyed regardless of how mean and stupid and senseless it is?
Laws are often enforced in Germany, yes. But the examples you mention (apart from book pricing) are no laws anymore. The laws were enforced against any kind of shops. It was mostly small shop owners who complained about abolishing the rebate law, since they felt that this would put them in disadvantage against the big chains.
Good thing too that the Soviets and the Americans burned the whole country to the ground, killed millions of them, and chased the few good Germans (oh, excuse me, I meant to say 'the Nazis') to the ends of the earth. Otherwise they would still be throwing Jews, Gipsies, and homos into the gas chambers. After all, the law is the law, and it must be obeyed!
Strange you hate Nazis so much, since your mindset is so similar...
This is just Germans being German, but still it is incredibly stupid.
The US used to have the same laws. You know, back when the US economy was still doing well, the US didn't have a trade imbalance, and the future looked fairly bright.
Good thing too that the Soviets and the Americans burned the whole country to the ground, killed millions of them, and chased the few good
Thanks for outing yourself as a racist and a fascist.
Christ almighty, maybe it is time for the Americans to start bombing....
Where do you think this patent shit is coming from? It's coming from the US.
When the US patent system gets cleaned up, then the Europeans will follow.
Of course, bad as things are in Europe, European patent examiners are still considerably more responsible than US ones.
No. The LCDs and monitors, etc. are all an old patent related to onscreen volume display--you know, the bar graph?--licensed by most German TV manufacturers. SISvEl's latest "patent" has something to do with mp3's, though apparently not much. They pick on the wrong big company and they are going to get swatted like a fly.
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
6-hit Internet pwnage combo with a roman cancel. GG
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
They seized equipment which will now be checked for evidence of patent breaches. A spokesman for German Customs told us: 'We've raided 69 companies today. We have seized equipment including flat-screen TVs, CD players, set-top boxes and MP3 players.
They could have simply and politely bought these products (under the archaic theory that the makers are innocent until proven guilty) and tested them for patent breaches. If patent breaches are discovered then you wait for the next trade show and with your warrant or summons in hand you charge your perpetrator.
Seriously, what is with all this capitalist-driven use of armed policemen to enforce fucking intellectual property laws? This is all business stuff. You find someone breaks your patent you sue them and put them out of business.
And frankly, you have to be able to prove damages in an obvious manner. Demonstrate that you - or another legitimate competitor - would have been likely to obtain contracts and orders that were gained by unscrupulous infringers. And you must be able to demonstrate a conscientious intent to infringe. Perhaps it's not that easy for a Korean manufacturer to check the German patent records.
These kinds of draconian fishing expeditions by customs or other agents of commerce are patently stupid and should be illegal.
Man, I feel like watching Brazil again. It's such a prescient movie.
-- thinkyhead software and media