Microsoft sued over Windows Live Tiles - Win 8 + Phone

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  1. Posts : 2,588
    Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
       #20

    stormy13 said:
    FuturDreamz said:
    Oh, and what amazing products of SurfCast do you use?
    Other than having four patents for the same thing,

    SurfCast | Patents

    I don't think anyone is using their products.

    Oh and most of the "founders" of this supposed software company are investment bankers/brokers,

    SurfCast | About

    And more here,

    What is SurfCast and can it spoil Microsoft's Windows 8 party? | Microsoft - CNET News

    CNET spoke briefly with Ovid Santoro, one of the founders of the company. We asked if patent No. 6,724,403 was acquired by SurfCast and if it was an original invention by Santoro, who has a background in investment banking and venture capital, and Klaus Lagermann, a former IBM executive and programmer. Both are listed as inventors on the patent filing. Santoro responded that he was unable to comment. He gave the same response when asked whether SurfCast makes any products other than the patents it holds. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records indicate that the inventors of SurfCast's patents have only authored those four patents.
    Comcast should sue them for name infringement haha!

    Uh, JK.
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  2. Posts : 6,458
    x64 (6.3.9600) Win8.1 Pro & soon dual boot x64 (6.1.7601) Win7_SP1 HomePrem
       #21

    I think Eve precedes even the Beatles claim.

    Dwarf said:
    Unfortunately, this is the society we live in today......

    Incidentally, weren't Apple (the music label associated with The Beatles) around long before Apple (technology/computers) ?
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  3. Posts : 72
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #22

    Dust,

    Thanks for the clarification.

    The corruption is to be fixed by improving the laws defining patents and their use but not by abolishing them. It would also help to elect better judges and politicians however oxymoronic that idea may be.

    I would personally agree with and accept a modification in the law that if a patent holder has not earnestly made progress toward developing a working product embodying his patent within a specific portion of the life of the patent or can't prove he has done so, it should automatically enter into the public domain. I say this as a holder of over ten patents protecting intellectual property I have created. Each patent was embodied in a demonstrable system prior to the writing of the technical disclosure and application for patent. The embodiment is mostly in software with a synthetic design of hardware to be used. The technology is being actively marketed as I write this.

    I also agree that submarine patents and torpedo patent claims should not be able to be enforced. However, as the law now stands, they can be when and if found to be valid upon adjudication. Hence, the real thing to do is not to complain about or abolish patents but to work to change the laws.
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  4. Posts : 2,588
    Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
       #23

    ^ I agree mate. Obviously abolishing patents would create chaos. I am all for an overhaul of the patent laws not just in our nation, but in others. And really there isn't much we can do to keep corruption out completely, but it should be something we work towards nontheless.
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  5. Posts : 6,458
    x64 (6.3.9600) Win8.1 Pro & soon dual boot x64 (6.1.7601) Win7_SP1 HomePrem
       #24

    Law is a tricky thing. Take frivolous suits - of which patents are just one abuse. Who gets to decide what is frivolous and what has merit? Does a review court/judge solve the problem? I don't think it does, it only adds another layer.

    The patent system has certainly been abused, "reform" has made it more expensive and more difficult to be granted a patent. I've pursued patents for over 35 years with mixed results - capital to defend my position years after filing was the greatest detriment to maintaining intellectual property.

    So much for the little guy. It's heartening to read lkgriffith's post and the patents held.

    I'm not confident new laws would improve the situation:
    USPTO Publishes Proposed Rules Governing First-Inventor-to-File
    Washington - The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today published a proposal to amend the rules of practice in patent cases to implement the “first-inventor-to-file” provision of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The first-inventor-to-file provision converts the United States patent system from a “first to invent” system to a first inventor to file system. The first-inventor-to-file provision, which takes effect March 16, 2013, also alters the scope of available prior art to apply against a claimed invention in determining the novelty and obviousness of the claimed invention.
    This change really kills chances for small inventors with limited funds.
    edit: I think i read that wrong - this improves chances of smaller inventors.... I think.... let me read the whole thing.

    C'est la vie!
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  6. Posts : 72
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #25

    What "first to file" does is increase the value of industrial espionage to find what the competition is doing and the costs of providing security to exclude said espionage. The unintended consequence, is the increase of early filing of partly baked ideas before they pass the test being made to work. So not only will it not be an improvement, it will degrade the already deplorable quality of far too many new patents.

    This, to me, does not off set the saving of not having to prove you were first to invent. Time stamping your invention is cheep and almost trivial. Write a technical disclosure of your conception, send it to your patent lawyer, have him time stamp it, and keep it on file. THAT is what I have done all along either directly or indirectly since my first patented invention in 1965. It is simply good practice even in a first to file world.

    The challenge is coming up with prior art. This was very demanding in 1965 but it is becoming more and more trivial in today's searchable internet world. You simply have to use one or more search engines and some creative search phrases.

    The final point to be made, a patent is a grant of the right to sue someone over the use of the subject claims of the patent and nothing else. Your property is not protected as such, you have to be active and protect it yourself in court. This action is not cheep when you loose.
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  7. Posts : 383
    Black Label 7 x64
       #26

    Slartybart said:
    Law is a tricky thing. Take frivolous suits - of which patents are just one abuse. Who gets to decide what is frivolous and what has merit?
    The legislators do. I used to work for a member of the U.S. House of Clowns, er sorry, House of Representatives. It is not a coincidence that because most these people are lawyers champing at the bit for any scrap of power they can get that we have screwed-up laws. It's only getting worse, unfortunately - unless reasonable, normal people like a lot of everyone here start running for office.
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  8. Posts : 6,458
    x64 (6.3.9600) Win8.1 Pro & soon dual boot x64 (6.1.7601) Win7_SP1 HomePrem
       #27

    House of Clowns.... I think I had breakfast there once. Tasted funny though.
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  9. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #28

    You think patent laws are abused? Take a look at copyright laws.
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  10. Posts : 36
    Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
       #29

    Patent trolls.

    As for the validity of the patent, they have a slight problem called *prior art*... as in, AOL did it in 1996 (sorry for the big picture, but a picture is truly worth a thousand words):

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