Re:They help, and they hurt.
on
Steal This Idea
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· Score: 1
Even if the little guy could easily get a patent for a reasonable sum, any large corporation could copy his idea and tie him up in court until all his profit from the idea would be used up. He'd be better off settling out of court by licensing the patent to the large corp.
What's wrong with licensing the patent to the large corporation? If you invented something and it is useful, do you really have the capability to build and market it yourself. Most "little guys" don't, so the reason for the patent is to get licensing revenue.
At least I can't violate copyright without actually copying someone else's work. Patents can deny me the right to my own, independently developed ideas.
Obviously, you've never heard of the George Harrison copyright infringement suit. He independently created the song "My Sweet Lord", but the authors of the song "He's So Fine" sued and prevailed, saying Harrison copied the song.
Only big business can defend a patent - look at lemon or whatever his name was who is #2 most prolific patenter ever and invented lots of the automated manufacturing but was not paid by the major automakers until he was like 65.
His name is Lemelson, and he has licenses of over $1 Billion. There are various places to find information on him, such as the Lemelson Foundation and The Lemelson Center.
Kind of odd to see him being hailed as a hero on/., considering his heirs are suing anyone they can think of based on very loosely related technologies. I would think/. would villify him. He is many times worse than Amazon, in some respects. See Lemelson Patents Online, a reference for those being sued by Lemelson, as well as Lemelsoninfo.com. There is also a long article on The Lemelson Situation.
He is quite infamous for his use of submarine patents--he filed his first applications in the 50s, and kept filing continuations on them, getting some patents issued in the 90s, but with priority from an application in the 50s. You can see a short PDF article on the courts striking down the practice of submarine patents.
And all the communication is done by usenet newsgroups? This has got to be one of the poorest mediums for this type of work. I hear people complain how the servers are slow, don't update correctly, lose postings,etc. And people are having a hard time even tracking threads/converstations and such, cause people keep attaching to the wrong thread, etc...
He said web based discussion board, so I assume it is something like Slashdot or a VBB forum. Who knows, maybe they use Slashcode.
People here are apopleptic because Microsoft patented video on demand. But look at the claims. They are patenting a program guide with an adjustable scroll rate. That's it. The parent patent is a lot more broad, but has been out there since 1999. Has MS tried to assert it?
Here are the claims to the patent:
1. A user interface unit for use in an individual home, the user interface unit being connected to an interactive entertainment network system having a content provider, the content provider providing video content programs to the user interface unit, the user interface unit comprising:
a processor;
a user interface which executes on the processor to display at least one list of entries pertaining to the video content programs;
the processor causing the list to visually scroll at a selected rate while being displayed whereby one entry is removed as another entry is added;
the user interface enabling a viewer to adjust the selected rate according to personal preference; and
the processor being programmable, in response to the viewer's inputs to adjust the selected rate at which the list is scrolled.
2. A method for operating a user interface used in interactive entertainment network system, the interactive entertainment network system having a content provider which is connected to provide video content programs to a plurality of user interface units in individual homes, the user interface being executed on a processor provided at each user interface unit, the method comprising the following steps:
generating a list of entries pertaining to the video content programs;
displaying a number of entries on the list;
scrolling through the list by continually updating the displayed entries, whereby one entry on the list is removed as another entry on the list is added; and
enabling a viewer to adjust a rate at which entries are removed and added to thereby modify a rate at which the list visually appears to be scrolling.
3. In an interactive entertainment network system having a content provider that is connected to provide video content programs to a plurality of user interface units in individual homes, a computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions for performing the steps comprising:
generating a list of entries pertaining to the video content programs;
displaying a number of entries on the list;
scrolling through the list by continually updating the displayed entries, whereby one entry on the list is removed as another entry on the list is added; and
enabling a viewer to adjust a rate at which entries are removed and added to thereby modify a rate at which the list visually appears to be scrolling.
Why doesnt anyone speak up when the apps are available for public review?
It was filed in 1998. It was probably never published. Only patents filed on or after November 29, 2000 get published before being patented, unless specifically requested by the assignee.
Re:Sure. As of yesterday even.
on
Copyright Defeats?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
What the justices provided as feedback is that material that is covered under copyright can not be further covered under trademark. 'All Things Considered' last night did a piece on this, and noted that what the justices are saying is that once the copyright expires on Steam Boat Willy, aka Mickey Mouse, Disney can not prevent people from using his image and original footage via Trademark law.
They can't prevent people from airing Steamboat Willy, but they surely can prevent people from selling Mickey Mouse watches via trademark law. That is what I don't understand about Disney's position. The Mouse itself signifies Disney and it has as much trademark significance as the Nike Swoosh. Just as I can't go around selling t-shirts with a swoosh on it, I wouldn't be able to sell Mickey Mouse t-shirts either. (Mickey Mouse has been trademarked since 1928.)
As for how the footage came into the public domain, they never renewed the copyright, and it expired in 1977.
No one has really explained in detail what the case was about. Fox hired Time to produce a TV series based on a book. It was originally broadcast in 1949 and the copyright expired in 1977. Fox never bothered to renew the copyright. Dastar purchased copies of the original, public domain series, edited the footage, and sold it under their own name.
Fox complained, of course. They used the theory that, by selling the tapes and not revealing the original source of the footage, they were "reverse passing off" the footage as their own, a violation of the unfair trade practices act.
The court did not want to use trademark law to interfere with copyright law, and found for Dastar.
Looking at the verdict, independent claims 8, 15, and 26 were found infringed. Here are those claims:
8. A market apparatus for use with a posting terminal apparatus, said posting terminal apparatus having means for creating a digital image of a good for sale, means for creating a data record of said good for sale, a tracking number printer means, a tracking number scanner means and means for communicating to said market apparatus, said market apparatus comprising:
a communications means for communicating with the posting terminal apparatus;
a post/de-post communications handler operably connected to said communications means, said communications handler receiving a data record of a good for sale from the posting terminal apparatus, said communication handler detecting a predetermined posting terminal apparatus identification code from the posting terminal apparatus and verifying from said code that the posting terminal apparatus is an authorized user of said market apparatus;
a storage device operably connected to said post/de-post handler, said storage device adapted to receive and store said data record of a good for sale, said data record containing an image of said good for sale and a textual description of said good for sale;
a presentation mapping module operably connected to said storage device and a wide area communication network, said presentation mapping module providing via said wide area communication network an interface to said market apparatus for a participant, said presentation mapping module providing said participant with access to said data record textual description and said image of said good for sale;
a transaction processor operably connected to said wide area communication network and said storage device, said transaction processor adapted to receive a purchase request and payment means from said participant, clear said purchase request and payment means and if said payment means clears then transfer the ownership of said good for sale by modifying said data record of said good for sale to reflect the new ownership of said good for sale by said participant; and
a notification means operably connected to said transaction processor said notification means notifying the posting terminal apparatus in response to said transaction processor transferring ownership of said good for sale denoting with a finality of transaction said new ownership of said good.
15. A market apparatus for use with a posting terminal apparatus, said posting terminal apparatus having a digital camera for creating a digital image of a good for sale, a record maker module for creating a data record of said good for sale, a tracking code printer, a tracking code scanner and a posting terminal communication interface for communicating with said market apparatus, said market apparatus comprising:
a communication interface for communicating with the posting terminal apparatus;
a post/de-post communications handler operably connected to communication interface, said communications handler receiving a data record of a good for sale from the posting terminal apparatus, said communication handler detecting a predetermined posting terminal apparatus identification code from the posting terminal apparatus and verifying from said identification code that the posting terminal apparatus is an authorized user of said market apparatus;
a storage device operably connected to said post/de-post handler, said storage device adapted to receive and store said data record of a good for sale, said data record containing an image of said good for sale and a textual description of said good for sale;
Assuming the patent was just awarded (which is why they are just filing suit now), it usually takes about 2-3 years for a patent application to go through.
Instead of speculating, why not read the articles? There already is a verdict. A verdict cannot happen unless the patent has issued (you can't file a law suit without a patent.) That's clue #1. Clue #2 is the Patent 5,845,265. You can see that the patent was filed November 7, 1995 and issued on December 1, 1998.
Very stupid analogy. You go to a restaurant to buy prepared meals. You go to a grocery store to buy ingredients. If you say that cable companies are, in essence, restaurants giving us pre-determined packages (because everyone who buy ESPN must want Oxygen, right?), then what is the equivalent to the grocery store? (I.e., where would I go to buy just the ESPN and Fox Sports channels)?
However, there are still a lot of DeCSS and similar (there's another CSS decryption program out there somewhere) for Windows, which rip the VOB files to the harddrive.
Great point. I wonder if all the "DeCSS is used for Linux" people would be happy if DeCSS was allowed for Linux, but not for OS X and Windows.
Back when "Master of Orion III" had JUST been released for the Macintosh, I was REALLY desperate to get it. After being disappointed in CompUSA for not having it in stock, I resorted to calling ahead before trekking to other stores. My first call was to The Apple Store in Emeryville. They were more concerned that I, the customer, would be satisfied than they were on getting that sale. Though they didn't have it in stock, they actually referred me to three other stores that carry Macintosh software; one of which was the ComputerWare in Berkeley.
I can't tell you how many times I've gone to one store in a mall and been told to go to another store to find something. The last time I was at the mall, I was in a Game Stop and witnessed the salesperson tell a customer to go to Electronics Boutique and give them directions to get there. When I needed a clip to my cell phone, I went to three different cell phone stores. Each one said I should go to Radio Shack on the other end of the mall. They could order it themselves, but they refered me somewhere else. I remember once, when a store was out of stock of something, the salesperson called other stores in the same mall to see if they had it. It happens all the time. It's just people being nice.
Even CompUSA has told me to go to Best Buy to find something they didn't have in stock.
As opposed to fixing the culture that thinks it's OK to rip off the public domain? Which, ultimately, costs the public, society, and culture more: KaZaa, or obscene copyright terms?
As much as I dislike some of the stuff that RIAA pulls off, I think this argument is off base. Most people aren't downloading music as a means to protest 90 year copyright terms. They do it because it is free and the chance of getting caught is near 0.
Some would say that the whole "extreme" sports category was pretty original. The first Tony Hawk Pro Skater wasn't based on an established sport, but still spawned boatloads of imitation games (in-line, snowboarding, surfing, etc.). While technically a sports game, it was very different from any sports game that came before. And wildly popular.
It came out on DVD last week, it was released in the theaters only six months ago, I don't think that's bad at all - and the Reloaded DVD will, in all likelyhood, come out a week or two before the next movie. That'll be about six months.
It'll probably make more financial sense for the studio to re-release Matrix 2 a couple of weeks before Matrix 3 is released, then release a 2-DVD edition of both movies.
But I do see the position of those who say there is too much lag between movie release and DVD release. I have a small child and it is very hard for me to go to the theater and watch movies. Often, a movie will come out and, if it were available on DVD, I would rent or buy right then as an impulse purchase. After 6 months, the desire to see the movie isn't as strong. By summer 2003, I forget what the "must see" movies of Winter 2002 were.
I'm surprised that no one has tried until now to create a standard for the kilogram that could be repeated easily like atomic measurement of the length of a meter and the computation of a second of time based on the resonance frequency of a caesium atom.
Actually, the definition of the meter is based on the definition of the second. See the history of the meter.
They can change. The definition of the meter has changed several times before they finally decided it should be based on the distance light travels in a certain time period.
Slashdot Mirror
What's wrong with licensing the patent to the large corporation? If you invented something and it is useful, do you really have the capability to build and market it yourself. Most "little guys" don't, so the reason for the patent is to get licensing revenue.
Steal This Album!.
Obviously, you've never heard of the George Harrison copyright infringement suit. He independently created the song "My Sweet Lord", but the authors of the song "He's So Fine" sued and prevailed, saying Harrison copied the song.
His name is Lemelson, and he has licenses of over $1 Billion. There are various places to find information on him, such as the Lemelson Foundation and The Lemelson Center.
Kind of odd to see him being hailed as a hero on /., considering his heirs are suing anyone they can think of based on very loosely related technologies. I would think /. would villify him. He is many times worse than Amazon, in some respects. See Lemelson Patents Online, a reference for those being sued by Lemelson, as well as Lemelsoninfo.com. There is also a long article on The Lemelson Situation.
He is quite infamous for his use of submarine patents--he filed his first applications in the 50s, and kept filing continuations on them, getting some patents issued in the 90s, but with priority from an application in the 50s. You can see a short PDF article on the courts striking down the practice of submarine patents.
Yeah, but wait for the sparks when someone mentions Microsoft, Amazon, or Intel.
He said web based discussion board, so I assume it is something like Slashdot or a VBB forum. Who knows, maybe they use Slashcode.
Actually, the patent in question is a continuation of patent 5,861,906, which was filed May 5, 1995.
Here are the claims to the patent:
It was filed in 1998. It was probably never published. Only patents filed on or after November 29, 2000 get published before being patented, unless specifically requested by the assignee.
They can't prevent people from airing Steamboat Willy, but they surely can prevent people from selling Mickey Mouse watches via trademark law. That is what I don't understand about Disney's position. The Mouse itself signifies Disney and it has as much trademark significance as the Nike Swoosh. Just as I can't go around selling t-shirts with a swoosh on it, I wouldn't be able to sell Mickey Mouse t-shirts either. (Mickey Mouse has been trademarked since 1928.)
As for how the footage came into the public domain, they never renewed the copyright, and it expired in 1977.
No one has really explained in detail what the case was about. Fox hired Time to produce a TV series based on a book. It was originally broadcast in 1949 and the copyright expired in 1977. Fox never bothered to renew the copyright. Dastar purchased copies of the original, public domain series, edited the footage, and sold it under their own name.
Fox complained, of course. They used the theory that, by selling the tapes and not revealing the original source of the footage, they were "reverse passing off" the footage as their own, a violation of the unfair trade practices act.
The court did not want to use trademark law to interfere with copyright law, and found for Dastar.
Looking at the verdict, independent claims 8, 15, and 26 were found infringed. Here are those claims:
I wouldn't call this a frivolous lawsuit--They won.
Instead of speculating, why not read the articles? There already is a verdict. A verdict cannot happen unless the patent has issued (you can't file a law suit without a patent.) That's clue #1. Clue #2 is the Patent 5,845,265. You can see that the patent was filed November 7, 1995 and issued on December 1, 1998.
Wrong!!!!! Patent pending means the patent has been applied for, but hasn't been issued by the patent office.
$2600 buys a decent $1000-1500 laptop with enough left over to buy a 3GHz desktop gaming machine.
Very stupid analogy. You go to a restaurant to buy prepared meals. You go to a grocery store to buy ingredients. If you say that cable companies are, in essence, restaurants giving us pre-determined packages (because everyone who buy ESPN must want Oxygen, right?), then what is the equivalent to the grocery store? (I.e., where would I go to buy just the ESPN and Fox Sports channels)?
Great point. I wonder if all the "DeCSS is used for Linux" people would be happy if DeCSS was allowed for Linux, but not for OS X and Windows.
Well, you don't have to order from Amazon. Just think of it as using up their bandwidth. :-)
I can't tell you how many times I've gone to one store in a mall and been told to go to another store to find something. The last time I was at the mall, I was in a Game Stop and witnessed the salesperson tell a customer to go to Electronics Boutique and give them directions to get there. When I needed a clip to my cell phone, I went to three different cell phone stores. Each one said I should go to Radio Shack on the other end of the mall. They could order it themselves, but they refered me somewhere else. I remember once, when a store was out of stock of something, the salesperson called other stores in the same mall to see if they had it. It happens all the time. It's just people being nice.
Even CompUSA has told me to go to Best Buy to find something they didn't have in stock.
As much as I dislike some of the stuff that RIAA pulls off, I think this argument is off base. Most people aren't downloading music as a means to protest 90 year copyright terms. They do it because it is free and the chance of getting caught is near 0.
Some would say that the whole "extreme" sports category was pretty original. The first Tony Hawk Pro Skater wasn't based on an established sport, but still spawned boatloads of imitation games (in-line, snowboarding, surfing, etc.). While technically a sports game, it was very different from any sports game that came before. And wildly popular.
It'll probably make more financial sense for the studio to re-release Matrix 2 a couple of weeks before Matrix 3 is released, then release a 2-DVD edition of both movies.
But I do see the position of those who say there is too much lag between movie release and DVD release. I have a small child and it is very hard for me to go to the theater and watch movies. Often, a movie will come out and, if it were available on DVD, I would rent or buy right then as an impulse purchase. After 6 months, the desire to see the movie isn't as strong. By summer 2003, I forget what the "must see" movies of Winter 2002 were.
Actually, the definition of the meter is based on the definition of the second. See the history of the meter.
They can change. The definition of the meter has changed several times before they finally decided it should be based on the distance light travels in a certain time period.