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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.'"
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
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.
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."
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.
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...
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.