What does that have to do with this patent? You are aware that a co-founder of NTP worked on wireless email almost all his adult life, right?
Yes, and that the co-founder was unable to deliver a workable solution AND that NTP was founded simply to sit on that patent until some other company came along and figured out a way to deliver wireless email so that the inventor could collect on his supposed invention. Hence, a squatter, in my mind. Never mind that the patents have all been or will be ruled invalid. This means that becaue of very questionably issued patents innovation is stifled and a company that delivered a true solution has to pay over half a billion dollars. Not what the patent process was developed to provide. It was developed to stimulate innovation, not stifle it, as is the case here.
A jury found RIM guilty of patent infringment. The judge was simply tired of RIM failing to comply with the sentence imposed on them when they were foung guilty. So were most of us I think. RIM probably lost way more than $612M in the years they spent trying to avoid paying for what they stole.
How can you be guilty of infringing on invalid patents? Yes, they were found guilty, and yes they appealed, since they felt the patents were invalid. There never was a sentence imposed. The judge told both parties they had to negotiate a settlement or he would impose one, yet he never did. The (un)funny thing is that just as the patent office was about to rule the patents invalid the judge decided it was time to wrap things up. RIM had to pay the ransom - though NTP had to accept much less than if they knew they had valid patents.
NTP originally wanted a cool $420 mil so let this be a lesson to you kids and greedy RIM boys and girls. Play nice. Bogus or not, they still had a piece of paper that it was their (NTP) magic that made mail go.... Looks like Crackberries are either finally going to flurish or go up in price and die. It will be interesting to see.
NTP originally wanted a cool $420 mil so let this be a lesson to you kids and greedy RIM boys and girls. Play nice. Bogus or not, they still had a piece of paper that it was their (NTP) magic that made mail go....
There you have it! And, as of this minute (much less when the jury ruled), most of the patents are still valid. In the end RIM made the right decision, it would have cost them a lot less (lawyers, lost / delayed sales, stock price drops etc) if they had done it a long time ago!
Glad it's over...what will we debate next??? :devilboy:
I think that this is outrageous. RIM builds a product based on an idea, and they are forced to pay a company that patented the "idea" but never used it. I believe that to aquire a patent you should be required to produce evidence on how you will use it. e.g. marketing a product, selling the idea to another company. You shouldn't be allowed to patent something and then do NOTHING with it. Thats just bogus and unfair to other businesses.
__________________ Mitchell Oke - Gear Diary Editor MacBook Pro, Self-Built Media Center PC on 22" LCD
Samsung i600 "BlackJack", HTC Universal, Microsoft Zune
I think that this is outrageous. RIM builds a product based on an idea, and they are forced to pay a company that patented the "idea" but never used it. I believe that to aquire a patent you should be required to produce evidence on how you will use it. e.g. marketing a product, selling the idea to another company. You shouldn't be allowed to patent something and then do NOTHING with it. Thats just bogus and unfair to other businesses.
They are doing SOMETHING with it...they are licensing their technology to RIM so that the Blackberry will function.
I think I'll patent the warp drive right now so that my decendents can be paid big time when someone else eventually develops one. While I'm at it, the transporter too plus anything else I can think of. Might as well get paid BIG. I hope they are still using money at that time
The judge declared that the patent rejections came "too late in the process to be considered." Huh? Great. "OK murderer, we just found DNA evidence to exonerate you one hour before your execution. But it's too late in the process to be conmsidered, so tough luck for you." :roll:
When the patents are judged officially invalid, will NTP have to give the money back? Or, is it "too late in the process to be considered?" :roll:
When the rules get in the way of justice, something is wrong.
I think that this is outrageous. RIM builds a product based on an idea, and they are forced to pay a company that patented the "idea" but never used it. I believe that to aquire a patent you should be required to produce evidence on how you will use it. e.g. marketing a product, selling the idea to another company. You shouldn't be allowed to patent something and then do NOTHING with it. Thats just bogus and unfair to other businesses.
They are doing SOMETHING with it...they are licensing their technology to RIM so that the Blackberry will function.
Why now? Why not earlier?
__________________ Mitchell Oke - Gear Diary Editor MacBook Pro, Self-Built Media Center PC on 22" LCD
Samsung i600 "BlackJack", HTC Universal, Microsoft Zune
It's a sad day when a company is forced into a situation where they determine it is a better business decision to fork over well over a half a billion dollars, than it is to continue to pay lawers, and run the risk of lost business because of customer speculation that they may loose their service.
I always thought that in order to prove liability one had to show a true loss at least based on potential income. For NTP to have a potential loss of income they should have to show real proof of intent to implement their patent. If they could show they had a workable plan to put their patents into service in some way that would come close to rivaling what RIM have done, then I would say they deserve a financial reward. So far they have shown they are bandits sitting in the shadows waiting to pounce. Look out corporate America...who's next?
It's a sad day when a company is forced into a situation where they determine it is a better business decision to fork over well over a half a billion dollars, than it is to continue to pay lawers, and run the risk of lost business because of customer speculation that they may loose their service.
I always thought that in order to prove liability one had to show a true loss at least based on potential income. For NTP to have a potential loss of income they should have to show real proof of intent to implement their patent. If they could show they had a workable plan to put their patents into service in some way that would come close to rivaling what RIM have done, then I would say they deserve a financial reward. So far they have shown they are bandits sitting in the shadows waiting to pounce. Look out corporate America...who's next?
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