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Lodsys Expands Patent Lawsuit to 10 More Companies
An anonymous reader writes "A day after Apple filed a motion to intervene in Lodsys's lawsuit against seven app developers (EFF comments), Lodsys has filed its third lawsuit this year. The latest complaint targets ten companies including Adidas, Best Buy, Best Western, Black and Decker. Lodsys sues them over two patents, one of which it also asserts against app developers in court as well as its now famous letters (an example of which has meanwhile been published as a result of Apple's intervention). The ten new assertions relate to web surveys, feedback-soliciting FAQs, and live interactive chat."
We're going to be rich!
Gah, I am so sick of watching this unfold. I keep thinking, well, at least this will highlight the absurdity of it all. But no, it never does, either the case gets dismissed or the idiots actually win, whether through settlement or actual trial victories.
When will it end?
Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
When the USDA Grade A Bullshit like this gets this thick, I shamefully find myself wishing someone with the means and with the same morals that the execs and lawyers of these corporations who instigate these lawsuits have would engage in some selective assassinations on said execs and lawyers.
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Oracle?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The patent statutes have been changed relatively little since 1952. There have been updates since then to accommodate a few treaties that the US has since ratified, but those updates didn't really affect patent validity and infringement. In fact, the biggest change in that regard was the gradual elimination of submarine patents by changing the patent term from 17 years after issuance to 20 years after effective filing date. In other words, payments to congresspeople would have had little effect on Lodsys's lawsuits.
In terms of judges, everything is appealable, and the Supreme Court is under enough watchful eyes that it probably wouldn't be possible to buy them off with gifts (trips, money, or otherwise).
On the other hand, moving forward, patent reform could be significantly affected by special interest lobbying. There's a patent reform bill that has passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the House, and the general perception of its biggest change (first inventor to file) is that it would favor large corporations over small inventors.
It's great to say "Kill all the lawyers" - until you need one. There's a surprising number of people and companies willing to simply not pay you. Even if you have a contract, and completed the services rendered. My corporation has had to do it 3 times, and has won 100% of the owed money plus legal fees each time. Would we have won if I had self-represented? It's hard to say.
The reason why we don't have substantive patent reform is because of pharmaceutical companies. The big tech companies, with some exceptions, want weaker patent laws because they're under constant attack by trolls and competitors. Big-pharma on the other hand makes all of its money from patents and will fight tooth and nail against any weakening. As long as big-pharma is dependent on the patent system, I would not expect much change.
Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
The defense of laches, sometimes called equitable estoppel, does provide the type of relief you're talking about. I have no doubt that it will be raised in the lawsuit. You can read about it here: http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2008/10/laches-and-equi.html?cid=136550545
Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
I wonder when they consider their earliest creation, because my team most likely has prior art.
I managed a small programming office at Indiana University where we had been using computer based testing since the early 80s. Unfortunately, it meant having to send discs via campus mail or driving across several regional campuses and...I'm lazy. About the time gopher was still popular (preweb) I was writing software to do gopher based tests / surveys without a lot of luck because the medium wasn't great for it...which led to client server apps that worked, but weren't as plastic as I'd like...the web was barely being shown and I readapted my code (err...along with my nerds) to do 'cgi' work (sadly it was an entire web server we wrote that had HyperCard on the backend for storage of tests and surveys).
We demonstrated this at a time few people knew what the web was, and at the time it was generally considered the first test / survey software for the web. Again, mostly because I was lazy. Pretty sure we beat all prior art for this.
If you really have prior art, let EFF know: https://w2.eff.org/patent/