The worst part is the fact that the US Patent Office is never going to be funded to get the staff and technology it deserves to weed out the fluff like this. This is because major corporations would be the ultimate losers in that setup. With a better staffed and trained USPTO, most the "business" patents (like that whole "1-Click shopping" thing) would have been shot dead in the water.
But, broken or not, a patent is a patent, but getting royalties on patents is another matter - just ask RAMBUS...
...It comes down to a "hold something back" scenario in which "the authorized seller" (the musician/label/RIAA) makes you pay for something that is most likely already obtainable somewhere else. Or the items to be sold are not worth the cost of purchasing.
The worst part is that the RIAA passed up on every opportunity to embrace the "digital" revolution (with its lawsuits of MP3.com, Napster, KaZaa, Gnutella, et. al.). Even with the billions spent on detection, lawsuits, advertising, threats, etc. - and this sounds too much like the same strategy the US has used in the "War on Drugs" in the 80s and 90s - the situation has not really changed all that much.
Come to think about it, because of the money, political peddling, and legal setup which brought them into the position of a virtual monopoly on major distribution of music in the US, any change in the business structure would mean the end of at least one or more of their business segments.
Like the aging rock star attempting make a comeback, Napster finds itself no longer the front-running trend-setter that it used to be...
...Rather it is now the aging fossil trying desperately to re-capture that one shining moment in the sun that it once enjoyed. And it is finding that the adoring fans that once chanted its name have since moved on and have not looked back since. But still, it must try, for it has to know.
But not all the suburbs of PA use Road Sensors. As a matter of fact, there are many suburbs in PA that do NOT use sensors, especially in the southeastern portion of the state.
As far as ACME is concerned, the State Police in NJ want to implement a similar program with the EZPass automatic toll payment system.
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The worst part is the fact that the US Patent Office is never going to be funded to get the staff and technology it deserves to weed out the fluff like this. This is because major corporations would be the ultimate losers in that setup. With a better staffed and trained USPTO, most the "business" patents (like that whole "1-Click shopping" thing) would have been shot dead in the water.
But, broken or not, a patent is a patent, but getting royalties on patents is another matter - just ask RAMBUS...
...It comes down to a "hold something back" scenario in which "the authorized seller" (the musician/label/RIAA) makes you pay for something that is most likely already obtainable somewhere else. Or the items to be sold are not worth the cost of purchasing.
.02 on the matter.
The worst part is that the RIAA passed up on every opportunity to embrace the "digital" revolution (with its lawsuits of MP3.com, Napster, KaZaa, Gnutella, et. al.). Even with the billions spent on detection, lawsuits, advertising, threats, etc. - and this sounds too much like the same strategy the US has used in the "War on Drugs" in the 80s and 90s - the situation has not really changed all that much.
Come to think about it, because of the money, political peddling, and legal setup which brought them into the position of a virtual monopoly on major distribution of music in the US, any change in the business structure would mean the end of at least one or more of their business segments.
Just my
Tenkawa
Like the aging rock star attempting make a comeback, Napster finds itself no longer the front-running trend-setter that it used to be...
...Rather it is now the aging fossil trying desperately to re-capture that one shining moment in the sun that it once enjoyed. And it is finding that the adoring fans that once chanted its name have since moved on and have not looked back since. But still, it must try, for it has to know.
But not all the suburbs of PA use Road Sensors. As a matter of fact, there are many suburbs in PA that do NOT use sensors, especially in the southeastern portion of the state. As far as ACME is concerned, the State Police in NJ want to implement a similar program with the EZPass automatic toll payment system.