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Firm Seeks To Ban Mobile Companies' Imports To US
snydeq writes "Texas-based Saxon Innovations has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission to bar six companies — including Research in Motion, Palm, and Nokia — from importing handheld devices into the US. At issue are three patents that Saxon purchased in July 2007; a patent for keypad monitor with keypad activity-based activation; a patent for an apparatus and method for disabling interrupt marks in processors or the like; and a patent for a device and method for interprocessor communication by using mailboxes owned by processor devices. Saxon, with five employees, purchased about 180 US patents formerly owned by Advanced Micro Devices or Legerity in 2007, according to its ITC complaint."
If you can't innovate, litigate!
As if the frakin' telecommunications industry in this country wasn't crap enough compared to Europe and Asia.
Way to go.
...but filing ITC complaints is cheap.
The whole point here is that enforcing these patents against all of those companies is an expensive proposition with no guarantee of returns. However, they can get Free Money by extorting those companies to pay them royalties, backed up by the threat of an import ban from the ITC, and even if their complaint is rejected, they've spent practically nothing.
Saxon, with five employees
All IP lawyers, no doubt. Well, okay, maybe four and a secretary.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
This is exactly what is wrong with the patent process. You have a "company" of only FIVE people, who could potentially stop any technology that might "infringe" on these obscure patents.
Change the law so that they cant go to the ITC and ask for an import ban, they instead need to go to the courts and ask for an injunction. If they have to go to the courts, they presumably have to at least demonstrate something vaguely resembling evidence to back up their patent claims.
As in the makers of the crackberry?
Loved by otherwise heartless lawyers everywhere?
This will be fun to watch assuming you don't blink and miss it.
What ARE you talking about? Who could forget the WWI flying ace who played Commodore Schmidlapp on Batman?
my god the US patent office needs to start applying this thing called the obviousness test.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Just until they threaten a company with large revenues run as a mob front and their office is suddenly visited by Luca Brasi and Furio....
If the US patent system diverges far enough from the global average rights of patents then the US market will become too expensive to both develop for and enter into. Of course the US market is a major one but if the worldwide market share is bigger it means that the risks in the US (submarine patents etc) are not worth spending your money on primarily. So it will protect the US companies on their home turf. But multinational companpanies, even US based, will be looking at the US as a secondary market because of the risks.
The judge in the case should say "Uh... that's not what patents are for... buying them so you can sue people. I find your behavior is not consistent with the spirit of the law and that as a result, your case is done."
Seriously. Imagine the public outcry if even just RIM and Nokia stopped all imports of mobile devices overnight (people luuuurve their N810s---don't even get me started on Crackberries). Since RIM's communications all go through a couple of central points, maybe they could even disable ALL of their devices.
"Sorry John Q. Public...this company here, at address ABC, phone number NNX-XXXX, says we're being bad. Take it up with them."
OK, so maybe that wouldn't really happen...I'll go back to the basement now. OK, I was in the basement all along.
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -- Wernher von Braun
Speaking as a non-American, I think this is fantastic! The faster the ban happens the better! What an excellent way to make sure that the US lags in technology and becomes non-competitive. Neat way to destroy your technology lead.
Now if we can encourage you to do the same in other fields of endeavor. Shakes head with wonder and disbelief.
...because they're crap. I looked at the first patent and the first few claims looked suspiciously like the (certainly not novel) idea of connecting up a keyboard matrix in such a way that pressing a key triggers an interrupt on the row lines, which triggers a wake-up event and a keyboard scan. I couldn't tell about the later claims. Then I looked at the interrupt mask patent
You've got to be kidding me. AMD patented a common interrupt mask circuit... in 1994? Apparently it isn't only with respect to software that the patent office is out of touch.
So Im reading yet another article on how some troll is ransoming out some more patents.. great.. meanwhile, a day or two ago I read the who's got the most patents for 2008 and numbers like.. IBM said it earned 4,186 U.S. patents in 2008, Microsoft Corp earned 2,030 patents, while Intel Corp had 1,776 and Hewlett-Packard 1,424. (from a Slashdot article)
Im thinkin the real weight of the patent system isnt even touched by major corps. Individual and small group/investment firm patent companys like Eolas looking for that ONE patent to go home on, by sheer numbers, probably dwarf the IBM and MS's of the world.. regardless..
By sheer brute force attack on common technology methods, conduits, hardware and the like they create a "monkeys typing Shakespear" effect, not with letters, but with common terms and principles.
At the rate the monkeys are being added, soon no one should be able to do anything without everyones approval.
Tada...
Citation please.
They don't even have an actual website. If you go to , all you'll find is an under construction message. Pretty much all you can find about them online is related to suing people. I miss the good ole days of the 1790's when Thomas Jefferson would deny a patent if the inventor couldn't demonstrate a working product.
"A system whih can dispose of soiled water while retaining life forms which possess at least one million cells and in the primate kingdom. This has the side effect of also assisting singers with primate pets from losing them too."
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
EU could not handle a 9/11 in their system.
Neither could the USA it seems.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ding ding ding
I'm from Texas and I think every judge in that district should be removed.
Saxon... handheld devices... Sounds like a masterplan. What are they going to do next? Shoot some satellites into orbit and start an earth-wide mobilephone satellite network?
Huh? Do you hear that sound? Kinda sounds like drums!?
The Angels have the Phone Box
You worked out yet why your economy is in the crapper?
Imports. And outsourcing all your manufacturing to China.
you had me at #!
"Wankers."
...is the first-half of The Problem.
If I invented, and patented, some tech that all new Intel procs later used, I ought to be able to get compensation for having been first to post the patent.
It doesn't matter how many I employ.
But extortion, that can cost many livelyhoods, ... I seem to recall that in the Jewish/Christian Bible, there is a commandment/law against usury?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2022:25-27;&version=45;
yeah, destroying livelyhoods seems to offend god, according to that...
That is the second-half of The Problem(tm).
Sincerely yers,
Captain Obvious.
Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND! /funny
Seriously, these suits are approaching a level of craziness that someone, somewhere, at some time will simply not retain counsel, and will instead just kill the IP firm's principals, lawyers, etc. Or spawn a "take care of it" industry that will indeed "take care" of the "problem" for under 10% of the amount at stake.
When billions of dollars are at stake, I'd never put anything past a CEO. When billions of tax revenues are at stake even the FBI will overlook a small local arson case...
... I do not think it means what you think it means.
... you should try to work out why all that manufacturing went overseas in the first place.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Because Americans won't work for 3 pieces of rice / day, and require that their employers don't needlessly endanger them?
Right, it must be someone else's fault that the USA is in the crapper. Couldn't be all the greedy, lazy, whiners making life difficult for honest people, could it?
Because Americans won't work for 3 pieces of rice / day, and require that their employers don't needlessly endanger them?
How many Slashdot users would ever make shoes or plastic toys?
Because
1) Its cheaper, and going wrong risks are lower too.
2) No patent IP or lawyer bullshit
3) No safety bullshit *Toxic Toys" dodgy electrics
4) Bush sold you lot out
5) USA Manufacturing skills have been lost
6) USA Auto is in the crosshairs
The real answer also belongs to marketeering -
How much for 500,000 processors..(Simple question)
Salesman: Where are you calling from?
Basically cost is figured out on what they think you can afford, based of geographic territories.
Cases like these will ensure nothing 'new' containing 'new' features will not be made in USA.
Is for RIM to disable Obama's phone. "Sorry, when the patent mess is cleaned up, we'll turn it back on."
"Saxon Innovations... purchased about 180 US patents formerly owned by Advanced Micro Devices or Legerity in 2007"
Not a massive amount of innovation going on there really, is there?
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
late 1990's, maybe early 1990's, maybe ongoing
Each CPU had mailboxes in the north bridge chip.
Most of western Europe have had all-fibre backbones and full digital switching for over a decade now, and many are now migrating to IP-based networks.
All this crap and then Olmert telling Bush what to do. The tail really does wag the dog.
I wonder what else the US citizenry will allow to screw them over. I mean in economic times like these STILL allowing the big boys to LESSEN competition? WTG!!
Drill --> Nose --> Power On --> Push upwards
> EU could not handle a 9/11 in their system.
No, we have 11/2
It's "citation needed", yknow. Oops, scratch that. It's "[citation needed]"[1].
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources
I wonder why I've never heard this suggestion before, it's such an elegantly simple and clever solution:
Some people will no doubt complain that this is somehow unfair. Your rationale says it better than I could, so I'll counter that argument by simply quoting you again here. :)
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Um, I could be wrong, but I thought that was already the case ... ? I.e., patents must be filed in every country for which a potential patentholder desires patent protection. US patents are no good in Japan, for instance -- a separate Japanese patent must be applied for. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, website here) is an attempt at streamlining this process to some degree.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
I can not believe. They even didn't invent the technologies. Why such companies exist? Not to create, develop, produce, move ahead... but just to be pain in the ass for the others - companies and clients. Triumph of stupidity.
I wouldn't mind, if they paid me $75 an hour to do it. :)
Either that or they should be treated as real property and taxed, like real estate is taxed in most states. Then annual taxes would be assessed to patent holder.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?