PaidContent: Kindle Fire Hit With Patent Suit

[kjk]

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-k...h-patent-suit/

Amazon’s new tablet won’t be available until November 15, but it’s never too early to file a patent suit. Smartphone Technologies LLC, which has already gone after Apple, Research in Motion and others, claims the Kindle Fire also infringes on four of its patents.

How do they know it violated any use patents if no one has used it yet?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by kjk

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-k...h-patent-suit/


How do they know it violated any use patents if no one has used it yet?

By perusing the FCC license application.

[OtterBooks]

Patent litigation has become a staple of the smartphone industry as entities like Acacia, often derided as patent trolls, collect patents in order to extract lucrative licensing settlements such as the $612 million that Research In Motion was forced to pay in 2005. Critics say that the software-related patents that form the basis of much of the litigation are of dubious merit and should be invalidated.

Acacia is literally a company in the business of buying patents in order to sue people.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Phogg

By perusing the FCC license application.

This one? https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/repor...='ZEV-1229'

(from The Digital Reader)

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Acacia is literally a company in the business of buying patents in order to sue people.

And some of them are so generic, they can apply to anything. One is akin to touch an icon on the screen, and have it perform a function.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

And some of them are so generic, they can apply to anything. One is akin to touch an icon on the screen, and have it perform a function.

Jobs is hardly in the ground and already other people are stealing his gig.

Originally Posted by Phogg

Jobs is hardly in the ground and already other people are stealing his gig.

Perhaps Jobs is now dead long enough to mention that Apple has been as bad as any other company in suing for infringement of very broad and vague patents. Just saying? The system that was designed to foster innovation, patent protection of new ideas, has become perverted into stifling it.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Perhaps Jobs is now dead long enough to mention that Apple has been as bad as any other company in suing for infringement of very broad and vague patents. Just saying? The system that was designed to foster innovation, patent protection of new ideas, has become perverted into stifling it.

And that system has been stifling innovation since it was implemented.

[=X=]

@kjk, Hey if I acted surprised would you buy it .

[kjk]

Originally Posted by =X=

@kjk, Hey if I acted surprised would you buy it .

lol, you'd be surprised how many tablets I've actually used/tested (not as many as mgmueller of course) -the Fire is definitely on my list as well.

Although I think the 10" one next year is their big gun; this one feels more like a safe first venture. One thing about Bezos is that he thinks in the long term.

[Bangarang]

This situation drives me nuts, no matter who is suing who. At one time I was a programmer at an IBM hardware and software development lab, and we were told endlessly that "you can't patent software", which I assume was true back then. Now the US has a patent system that's totally out of control, and it seems that the people approving patents often have no clue about the technology and/or prior art.

I think this dysfunctional system will persist like this until some back breaker of case comes up, like a two-person company gets a patent on entering text into a computer with a keyboard, and it sends every company in the industry screaming to the feds and their Congresspeople.

[sabredog]

There are parallels to what Apple is doing to Samsung both in Australia and internationally in regards to the Galaxy Tab.

[JeremyR]

Wow, no one could have seen that one coming...

Does any electronic product launch without a spate of patent lawsuits?

[OtterBooks]

Smartphone Technologies, which doesn’t appear to manufacture any products covered by its patents, claims it is damaged by Amazon.com’s alleged infringement, asked the court for awards of money damages, together with litigation costs.

Patent Troll Inc. Essentially a front company for lawsuits. Doesn't seem in the spirit of patent law imo, but what do I know.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Patent Troll Inc. Essentially a front company for lawsuits. Doesn't seem in the spirit of patent law imo, but what do I know.

It also isn't exactly black and while between 'real' companies and patent trolls. Recently Google bought up some patents, then sold them to HTC to bolster their patent fight with Apple.