Apple, Dell, others sued over tech patents [u]
updated 03:45 am EDT, Wed July 2, 2008
Apple, Dell sued in Texas
Apple, along with Acer, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, are faced with a new patent violation suit in the "plaintiff-friendly" Eastern District of Texas, a new report says. The suit is being brought by Saxon Innovations (site under construction), an intellectual property licensing company. Saxon claims that the defendants violated its "Wireless Communications Privacy Method and System" patent, number 5,592,555; patent 5,502,689, relating to a "clock generation capable of shutdown mode;" and patents 5,530,597 and 5,235,635, connected to "processor interrupt masks" and "keypad activity based activation."
In the face of increasing litigation of this type, companies including HP, Google, Ericsson and Cisco have recently formed the non-profit organization Allied Security Trust. The aim of the alliance is to buy and pool technology patents in a central shared repository, providing future protection for the companies involved when they launch new products. Apple has yet to express interest in joining.
FFS
07/02, 09:43am reply
come on now.
Herod
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2007
power button
07/02, 11:46am reply
... and will the person who holds the patent to the power button please step forward so we can get this over with.
krb
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2000
Johnny Quest's suit
07/02, 01:43pm reply
Johnny Quest has come forward to sue Steve Jobs for infringement of his patented black turtleneck and blue jeans look he developed in the 1960s.
Apple has not, as of this date, issued a response.
Monde
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2004
monde is genius
07/02, 02:58pm reply
Not to mention the Quest handheld communicator -- remember those?
robttwo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2005
i've a patent
07/02, 04:47pm reply
that involves thinking and typing on a keyboard using a computing device (computer). Now stop thinking and you can type.Patents are not bad themselves. IMO a patent should become invalid or open to implementation by any individual or company if they agree to acknowledge the patent number and owner, if a person does not actually implement it within a reasonable timeframe. The patent owner shall not have any monetary claim if they have not themselves been able to sell the idea or design, develop or implement the idea in the real world. This would make patents more reasonable and deter people from just running to the patent office to make money.
macnixer
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2006