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Family Sues Apple For Not Making Thing It Patented (nymag.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A lawsuit filed against Apple last week argues that, by not actually making a product that it patented, the company is partly responsible for an automobile accident. According to Jalopnik, James and Bethany Modisette are suing the tech company after a car crash two years ago that killed one of their daughters and injured the rest of the family. The driver of the car who hit them had been using Apple's FaceTime video chat at the time. The patent in question was first applied for in 2008, and describes "a lock-out mechanism to prevent operation of one or more functions of handheld computing devices by drivers when operating vehicles," such as texting or video chatting. The complaint cites Apple's "failure to design, manufacture, and sell the Apple iPhone 6 Plus with the patented, safer, alternative design technology" -- in other words, lack of the program's inclusion -- as a "substantial factor" in the crash.
Really? Courts around here require you to be a more or less sane person if you want to drive a car. If you try to use the defense that you can't be expected to have common sense, the least you can expect is for the judge to invalidate your driver's license because by your own confession you're unfit to handle a vehicle.
If you complain enough and piss off the judge he just might incapacitate you. And try to get out of THAT again.
You better accept that you're expected to have common sense when going to court around here. That's why the whole "I'm too stupid to conduct my own life and hence I sue the company not telling me to not do $stupid_thing" isn't flying here.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.