Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, LG, Moto Sued!
Many of you know of the lawsuits going on between Apple and HTC. Well, now patent holding firm NTP has issued a statement suing major cell companies for infringing on their intellectual rights regarding mobile e-mail:
"NTP Incorporated, the company founded by Tom Campana, the inventor of wireless email, yesterday filed lawsuits against Apple, Inc., Google Inc., HTC Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Motorola, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for infringing NTP's eight patents related to the delivery of electronic mail over wireless communications systems. Each of the defendants is a manufacturer or developer of either wireless handheld devices or software applications used in the delivery of email across wireless communications systems."
I find the "inventor of wireless email" pretty a rather interesting concept. We will see what happens from there. NTP formerly sued RIM (Research in Motion), the company who makes Blackberry smartphones, over the same intellectual rights and RIM was forced to settle and pay NTP $612.5 million.
NTP stands to make some serious coin if the odds swing in their favor, and based on the RIM settlement and how hard-core they are about enforcing their patents, it looks to be interesting. Quote:
"The filing of suit today is necessary to ensure that those companies who are infringing NTP's patents will be required to pay a licensing fee," Mr. Stout continued. "In view of the USPTO Board's ruling, the debate over whether Mr. Campana was an originator in the field of wireless email is over. No patents in U.S. history have received as much scrutiny as NTP's patents. We are delighted that the USPTO Board has recognized the groundbreaking innovation of Mr. Campana by confirming 67 of NTP's patent" claims."
What do you think? Should everyone just chill out with the suit wars? Or should these companies continue to protect what they believe the be their intellectual property?
via MacRumors
© 2010, orangekid. All rights reserved.
The US patent system has been a joke over the last 10+ years IMO. People would patent something that’s common knowledge or something that’s been around for years, then sue people over it. The whole system needs to be revamped and everything should just start over.
I guess I should go patent my idea on rollover data before At&t or some other carrier thinks its a good idea, then I can go sue them and retire
@mindfrost82 – lol good idea, after all the new iSubscribers they could certainly afford to chip you off some cheese.
@mindfrost82 – I’ll sue you for the idea, I already have it patent.
Great, just another person with their hand in the cookie jar. Ultimately that just means we get charged more. I’m tired of all the patent suing crap.
What if you patent the entire patent system… Then you could just sue everyone.
That’s the American way, sue and get rich.
@Pitchblack98 – I was thinking of patenting a system that allows companies to sue other companies over intellectual property, so your patent would infringe on my patent.
God I love this country……
My family’s company holds patents on certain manufacturing processes and those patents bring in a lot of money. I agree that certain parts of the patent process have become too extreme but if one creates a new process they have the right to protect that process and if someone uses them for profit they have the right to obtain fees for those.
The real issue in this digital age becomes whether or not an idea or process is really new. In a manufacturing situation its an easy choice. With electronics it can become a little more muddied and with intellectual property its a real mess.
I’m not supporting anyone in this case because I don’t know the details, however, I’m not going to write NTP’s claims off just because I feel that it may cost me when I buy a phone. It cost someone to develop those ideas if they are, indeed, new and whomever spent their time and money developing them have a right to compensation if anyone else is using them to derive a profit.
Some clains nowadays are just plain silly and some are well justified. Are NTP’s justified, I don’t know but it seems that prior rulings put them on solid ground.
I should patent the concept of breathing and charge everyone in this world.
I am going to patent the process of of suing people. Then, when Apple sues HTC or whatever, they will infringe on my patent rights, and I can sue the suer, and get rich. And when I’m rich, I will also have a patent for getting rich through lawsuits. So no one else can get rich, or I’ll SUE them. Hahahaha!
I patent human exsistence. You all owe some real green.
The lawsuits lately have been ridiculous. There’s no way this company should be able to sue over ‘wireless email’. While the connection might be different, the underlying technology is the same in desktop mail apps as it is in wireless device mail apps. And then there’s apple, suing over ‘multi-touch technology’. I don’t think you should be allowed to patent something so broad as that. Very specific things should only be allowed to be patented, like a certain method of accessing wireless email, or a certain mutli-touch technology that apple invented or something…. it’s all a big joke that in the end is going to affect consumers with more expensive bills to pay for devices. I’m sick of greedy companies who make money out the whazoo suing for even more money that they don’t need over ‘intellectual property.’ It’s a joke…. a huge joke.
sounds to me NTP just wants to profit over patents they are holding, with little time before the patent office overrules them
I would think it all depends on the method used by each company.
Maybe they used other means/code too make it work.
Surely the patent does broadly cover ALL mobile email.
Would that also cover laptops?
Crazy.
I think the Patents should cover the correct operating systems, all are a little different and should be treated as such. Therefore Apple would not be able to sue HTC, and NTP could not sue anyone that is not using the OS the work was designed on, and HTC would not be able to counter sue Apple since HTC dose not use the Apple OS.
This might also make it a little inconvienent but all phones have internet on them to pull in your email you use sata, Why not just log on and check it the ol’ fashoned way?
Just my opinion!
if this goes through, the person that inveted electronic mail can jump in and be a billionaire overnight.
It’s the end use that has to pay the bill at the end of the day, but if he invented it then he deserves his pay..
@clockcycle – what are you on crack? Microsoft has been using wireless email on smartphones for 10+ years, so has Palm.. now it comes up?
NTP is owned by a blood sucking POS.. thats the bottom line
So.. If I have a laptop that uses wifi in my home and I use it to access my email can this yahoo sue me also? or the person that made my router? or the Laptop company? This is out of control.
Interesting how they have waited for YEARS after PPCs came out to actually sue. I wonder if they have already blown through all that money they got out of RIM…
As an American I am ashamed at my country and government (they dont care, they are getting paid, taking kickbacks, AND long holidays).
Speaking to this, how bad does patent trolling have to get before they will fix/remove the current us patent system…
ANSWER: when everyone sues everyone and somehow all lawsuits are valid due to BROAD descriptions… (and at the same time I can totally see the US -hell the world for that matter since the US is slowly pushing their ways on other nations- still not changing anything…
GG Humanity… GG, 2012 FTW!