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Firm Seeks To Ban Mobile Companies' Imports To US

Posted by Soulskill on from the even-silly-patent-claims-are-bigger-in-texas dept.

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."

7 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. You know what they say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you can't innovate, litigate!

    1. Re:You know what they say... by KDR_11k · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bloody? That's gotta be pretty furious then.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  2. Litigation is expensive by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...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.

    1. Re:Litigation is expensive by StuartHankins · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's way past time for patent reform, these patent trolls are way out of hand.

      Can we require businesses that patent the ideas to have real, actual products to retain the patent?

      They buy an idea, then sit on it. No one benefits from it (except lining their pockets with no efforts on their part). Bad for consumers, bad for other businesses. Boo!

    2. Re:Litigation is expensive by Zordak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can we require businesses that patent the ideas to have real, actual products to retain the patent?

      Well, since one of the things the complainant has to prove in the ITC is that they have a domestic industry practicing the asserted claims, yes, we can.

      --

      Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
  3. Re:This is bad for the US... in the long run. by bigsteve@dstc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Another possible outcome is that companies cave in to the trolls and enter into licensing arrangements for products sold in the US. Multiply by a factor of 100 or so for each of the patents for so-called "inventions" that might be infringed by any given product.

    The costs will then be passed on to the US consumer. The end result is a private taxation system where every consumer and every business effectively pays a "high tech" tax on every high tech device purchased and every service used. And the money just disappears into the pockets of the patent speculators ... with no net return to businesses, consumers, or even to the people who created the inventions in the first place.

  4. Patents and the monkeys typing Shakespear... by SuperCharlie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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...