|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
07-06-2010, 03:18 PM | #1 | ||
.
Posts: 3,408
Karma: 5647231
Join Date: Oct 2008
Device: never enough
|
Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Nook potentially in Trouble
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/06/a...rnes-and-nobl/
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
07-06-2010, 03:31 PM | #2 |
Curmudgeon
Posts: 3,085
Karma: 722357
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: PRS-505
|
We need patent reform now.
The entire purpose and function of the patent system has been subverted. |
Advert | |
|
07-06-2010, 03:31 PM | #3 |
Avid Reader
Posts: 17
Karma: 130530
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Cairo
Device: PRS 350 & HTC Legend
|
Yeah, I just saw this on engadget and thought FIGHT!!!
B&N Nook's and Spring Design Alex could all be under threat. The only legal cases more amusing at the moment are Apple against the world i.e. HTC and Noika Hope it doesn't damage the ebook industry having these industry heavyweights fight it out in the law courts. On the positive note if Amazon have this patent maybe a Kindle design is on the way with a touch screen that isn't so ugly ) |
07-06-2010, 03:55 PM | #4 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 84
Karma: 56
Join Date: May 2010
Device: none
|
Silly Amazon and its overactive legal department. It's a pretty weak case, and it doesn't really mean anything unless Amazon actually tries to use it, and any tech company targetted by this will have another stack of patents to countersue Amazon with, and then everybody would lose out. Won't happen.
|
07-06-2010, 04:01 PM | #5 | |
.
Posts: 3,408
Karma: 5647231
Join Date: Oct 2008
Device: never enough
|
Quote:
|
|
Advert | |
|
07-06-2010, 07:36 PM | #6 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
What's wrong with a company patenting a product they designed?
We're not looking at an over-broad or obvious design and the patent is clearly for the ideas embodied in the Kindle 1 which means it passes all reasonable tests of what an invention is. It's actually a pretty clean and very specific patent for an ebook reader that uses a *small* LCD panel to supplement a larger eink display. So, the Entourage Edge is clearly beyond its scope. Nook and Alex? Not so much. Amazon got lucky with their phrasing. Odds are B&N will be hearing from Amazon fairly soon. |
07-06-2010, 08:12 PM | #7 |
Guru
Posts: 692
Karma: 27532
Join Date: Dec 2007
Device: Ebookwise 1150 / 1200
|
Lucky with wording? Silly systems? Up hear in Canada, we still can't get the Chumby (an electronic device) because a company owns the rights to CHUM TV (a dead entity) and CHUM radio, and threatened to sue them. Fortunately we can still talk about chum salmon.
People are talking about the predicted reductions in law enforcement costs and legal costs due to the changes/elimination of marijuana laws etc...might it be reasonable to also start considering the legal and end-consumer cost savings that would result if changes in the copyright and patent laws resulted in greatly simplified and readily understood laws, reduced terms, with processes made transparent and tech-savvy? |
07-06-2010, 08:23 PM | #8 |
reader
Posts: 6,975
Karma: 5183568
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mississippi, USA
Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD
|
I don't think B&N has much to be worried about for the Nook. The Hanlin V8 appears to be prior art for a Nook-like (not really Kindle 1 like) dual screen ebook reader.
|
07-06-2010, 08:41 PM | #9 |
Professional Contrarian
Posts: 2,045
Karma: 3289631
Join Date: Mar 2009
Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie
|
I could'a sworn I did an earlier post on this, but....
The patent is far more specific than the article implies. In fact, it's pretty much a patent on the Kindle 1 and that's about it. The article only quotes the summary; it's followed up by numerous illustrations of the Kindle 1, and pages of specific details. The patent specifically cites a "vertical" secondary screen that is parallel to the main display and uses a cursor, an asymmetrical design, etc etc. No one is likely to get sued over this patent. The US patent system may not be perfect, but this is not an example the problems of that system. If anything, it's an indication of sloppy blogging that is more interested in pageviews than in accuracy. |
07-06-2010, 08:41 PM | #10 |
Addict
Posts: 324
Karma: 25168
Join Date: May 2010
Device: kobo
|
|
07-06-2010, 08:46 PM | #11 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,806
Karma: 13500000
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc
|
reading the text of the patent its pretty obvious that its just a patent on the design of the original kindle. the 2nd display is the display to the right of the e-ink display of k1 which shows the cursor in relation to the content on the e-ink screen. its also very specific about the display being located to the side and being of equal height as the e-ink etc etc
here |
07-06-2010, 09:50 PM | #12 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Or that some people are mortally offended that anything ever gets patented/copyrighted at all.
|
07-06-2010, 10:57 PM | #13 |
Evangelist
Posts: 408
Karma: 646
Join Date: Mar 2009
Device: none
|
Patents were supposed to encourage innovation. But as things stand today, they do have the opposite effect. Patent lawsuits are being used to get monopolistic advantages as a substitute for innovation.
BTW an ebook reader with 2 screens is hardly an original design. |
07-06-2010, 11:36 PM | #14 | |
eReader Junkie
Posts: 304
Karma: 1220
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: New York City, NY
Device: Kindle + Sony
|
Quote:
|
|
07-06-2010, 11:40 PM | #15 |
Curmudgeon
Posts: 3,085
Karma: 722357
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: PRS-505
|
Nothing.
But a company keeping a stealth patent for a very trivial "design" hidden until a competitor independently designs and markets such a product, then springing it as a weapon to stifle competition, is very, very wrong. The purpose -- the original purpose -- of patents is to keep trade secrets from being lost, and knowledge from being hidden, by offering a limited monopoly in exchange for publishing the details of an invention, so that it is public record forever and so that other inventors can study it and learn from it. They were never intended to be weapons to use against another company instead of competing fairly with it in the marketplace. The one-click patent, to pick on a previous Amazon demonstration of their preference for litigation over competition, is a perfect example of what patents are not meant for. One of the major changes to the law needs to be that if you've kept your patent application secret -- as Amazon did, in this case -- then you have no recourse against someone who produced an "infringing" product before your patent was known or could be known. It does not "promote the progress of science and the useful arts" when the rights to anything you invent, and anything you earn from it, could be ripped from you because of a secret patent that you had no way of knowing about when you marketed your invention. How can you run a business if you can't even be sure that your inventions will be yours tomorrow morning, through no fault of your own and nothing you could possibly foresee? |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Classic Amazon Patent on Nook Design | lionel47 | Barnes & Noble NOOK | 3 | 07-11-2010 10:46 AM |
Apple granted patent for "Cover Flow" | SirBC | Calibre | 13 | 04-08-2010 10:45 PM |
Dual Screen Reader | jxh11215 | News | 3 | 10-23-2009 12:32 PM |
Amazon Awarded Kindle Patent | slayda | News | 23 | 05-07-2009 09:10 PM |
Dual Screen reader | DNel | Alternative Devices | 1 | 01-18-2008 07:01 PM |