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Windows 7 Under Fire For Patent Infringement
eldavojohn writes "A patent issued in 2003 called 'Method and system for demultiplexing a first sequence of packet components to identify specific components wherein subsequent components are processed without re-identifying components' is now owned by Implicit Networks, who has recently claimed Windows 7 infringes upon it with its Filtering Platform. This is used in Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. Implicit is seeking a jury trial and damages. A shocking turn of events; you actually want to cheer for Microsoft this time as Implicit is nothing more than a patent licensing company (troll) and has done battle with Sun, AMD, Intel and NVIDIA."
I never noticed this flaw in US legal system before: one of these litigants has to win. If only *both* could lose...
These folks delay technology advancement and don't actually produce anything themselves.
I hope microsoft wins this. Of course, they will, because there's no one on earth they can't buy if they try hard enough.
The only real winner is the lawyers.
hard to choose which is the less evil side
The best test environment is production. - Me
chrome://browser/content/browser.xul
There is nothing I hate worse than being forced to root for Microsoft because someone else is even more evil.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
This doesn’t look substantially different from what any audio/video encapsulation format does, and plenty of those were around before December of ’99...
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
-- this patent is bogus.
De-multiplexing has been around for a long time (circa late 60s or early 70s).
But, even with that out of the way, the patent is basically describing getting offset data after the de-multiplexing to then get at the data.
Both have gobs of prior art in their own rights. As well as this being obvious to anyone skilled in the areas of communications and programming.
The patent office needs a spanking.
Since it is only the lawyers (and trolls) who make money off of this, why aren't those companies banding together to kill software patents?
I can understand copyrights on software.
Is it because those companies see their profits from such patents as larger than the occasional cost of buying off a patent troll?
According to http://www.hometoys.com/htinews/apr00/interviews/becomm.htm Edward Balassanian founded BeComm Corporation in 1996. A privately held company, based in Redmond, WA, BeComm designs next-generation communications technology that focuses on delivering a broad range of Media Appliance solutions. The company’s vision is to create an operating environment that seamlessly manages the flow of media across disparate networks, processors, media types, applications and devices. Mr. Balassanian is responsible for the company’s long-term product, technology and marketing strategy as well as day-to-day operations. He also sits on the company’s board of directors. Prior to forming BeComm, Mr. Balassanian held engineering positions within Microsoft Corporation. He has over ten years experience developing networking software. Balassanian has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington. He has recently spoken to audiences at Princeton University, and was recently a featured speaker at DEMO 2000.
Legal Fee's - little company A tries to sue big company B, unless they are going to win - they don't even try because - In Canada - the loser pays for everyones lawyers, as well as the settlement. From what I understand, that is applies across the boar here in Canada. So unless I know I am going to win, hands down - I don't even bring a dog to fight. In the States you only pay your legal fee's - so if you lose, oh well!! That is why you have a guy who slips and falls at a concert, and sues like 100 businesses and 50 people. Anyone not show up, he gets paid and any cases he loses he is not out of money - because he paid for his lawyer already - usually with the "winnings" from the other default judgements. Tell me I am wrong - I will be happy and relieved, since I have family in the US and fear something stupid like that getting done to them by some loser wanting to make a quick buck!
I knew the "Windows 7 was My Idea" thing would backfire on them
I feel guilty now because Windows 7 was my idea...
If they like this system so much, I'm sure they will have no problem paying out to all the patent-holders they infringe upon, according to the same idiotic legal principles they believe should protect their own works.
Of course, if any more than a handful of crooks started following these rules, that would make the software industry impossible. Not even Microsoft could ever know what they infringe. Even if the baby jesus came down from heaven today and told them the four hundred thousand patents they infringe, they would be lost again tomorrow, when 10,000 more patents were filed.
The only way this absurd system of legalized corporate mugging is truly going to end is when Microsoft and the other lobbyists behind it themselves lose Real Money (i.e. billions of US monopoly dollars) to other patent holders.
I am wishing Implicit all the best in their bullshit lawsuit.
Tired of Political Trolls? Opt Out!
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The sound of 10000 slashdotters heads exploding as they try to figure out who to cheer for.
You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
A shocking turn of events, you actually want to cheer for Microsoft this time as Implicit is nothing more than a patent licensing company (troll) and has done battle with Sun, AMD, Intel and NVIDIA."
Please don't tell me what I want to do.
If they get a jury trial, every member of the jury should be required to hold at least a Master's degree in some form of engineering. That's the only way to ensure it's a jury of their peers.
If they just pull twelve random people off the street, their eyes will glaze over in about 30 seconds and they'll vote like they were in the audience of American Idol.
I void warranties.
In fact, I *don't* want to cheer for Microsoft. Or Sun. Or Apple. Or IBM. Or even Red Hat (much).
Any company that holds software patents and has not worked to eliminate software patents is complicit in this fucked-up mess. This is especially true of any company that has attempted to enforce their software patents (I'm lookin' at you, Microsoft, IBM, Tivoli, Oracle, and any number of other companies).
Yes, patent trolls are the scum of the earth, right there with spammers and people who use off-ramps and shoulders as passing lanes. But those companies that hold software patents and do not fight to eliminate software patents are part of the problem; those that hold software patents and have actively fought to maintain the current system are even worse.
So fuck 'em both.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
MS, or any large company, will rightly ignore any form of minor nuisance - including being sued for patent infringement - as long as it remains a minor nuisance. "Hey, we can either swat these flies one by one, or we can lobby for changes to the law and in the process lose the leverage we get with patents under today's system?" Guess which one they'll choose.
That's exactly it. The trial isn't about righting a wrong, it's about the patent troll being able to broadcast the strength of their hand. If it's a weak hand MS will prior art them. If it's a strong hand then the trial will continue. But only up to a point - MS will evaluate the probable damages and pitch them a settlement number based on the perceived strength of their position.
The whole patent thing isn't going away any time soon. I'd love to see it die as much as the next /.er, but it won't. There is an insane amount of money in patent portfolios. That's a lot of cash to suddenly invalidate.
For example, my last job.
I worked at a company that made a widget. I'm not going to talk about the widget because that might attract unwanted attention. Nonetheless though - a widget. In a tightly controlled abusive patent space competing against maybe six other companies who make a similar widget.
We would hold meetings to come up with patent ideas, to beat our competition over the heads with. Cross licensing was rampant just so anyone could put a widget - any widget - on the market. There was one famous event where our sales team got in a fist fight with another company's sales team at a trade show. Throwing punches. No kidding. Lots of hard feelings, lots of abuse of the system. And about $50 million in sales every year from our company alone hanging in the balance.
So along comes this Megacorp. Our owner wants to retire, so Megacorp comes in and buys us. A few months pass...then they buy out our rival FistFight. And a couple others! They want to be the only company who makes this widget, and the easiest way to insure that is to purchase entire companies simply for their patent wealth.
The problem? That's all they wanted. MegaCorp has sufficient manufacturing and engineering resources already, thank you very much. And despite reassurances that they intended the company to continue it was evident they did not. The companies were purchased, stripped of their IP, and closed down. Everybody loses.
It's a cautionary tale about abusive patents, sure. But consider MegaCorp. They now own half a dozen companies purchased for God-Knows-What. My company was pulling in $50 million a year. I can only imagine what the sale price was. And half a dozen others. Probably half a billion dollars if I had to guess for the whole lot. Just to own the patents. And for no competition in that particular widget space. They actually got to purchase a monopoly. Think about that - the advantage they hope to gain with this move. And how much money that advantage is worth.
Now imagine if someone comes along and kills software patents. Half a billion bucks spent and it - overnight - becomes worthless. The monopoly goes away like a puff of dust. Sure, they deserve it. They closed half a dozen engineering firms, fired people that had worked on assembly lines for 30 years (no kidding). They totally deserve this.
But at the money they must have paid, I'm sure they'd fight this to the death. And that's just one company. Imagine the wealth tied up in patents from someone truly huge like IBM or Microsoft. No. This isn't going away anytime soon. God knows I'd love it if it did, but there is simply too much money that would go *poof* if that happened. It might even cause the kind of financial meltdown we had last year over housing. Really - there is that much money in this. Odd to think about but true.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
First this happened:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/microsoft-sues-tomtom-over-fat-patents-in-linux-based-device.ars
Then this happened:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/tomtom-sues-microsoft-back-for-patent-infringement.ars
In the end they both settle and drop their lawsuits.
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