DUALDISASTER
Newcomer
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153997.html
This is insane! People these days!
Moderator: Title changed to be less provocative
This is insane! People these days!
Moderator: Title changed to be less provocative
Sony receives another patent claim against them
- Thread starter DUALDISASTER
- Start date
Wow, that's ALL of sony's electronics except their TVs... Not sure what the details are, but if Sony keeps getting this kind of attacks and if they actually pay them, they won't have much of the money they made out of the videogames market left....
I can't imagine a technology company as large as Sony not being sued over patents on a pretty regular basis. The Immersion case was only notable because they lost.
DUALDISASTER
Newcomer
Think they'll win?
DUALDISASTER said:
Who knows. Without having more details about the patents in question and Sony's use -- and the wild card of how the judge will rule -- it is up in the air.
That said it does seem that Sony is not denying using the patents, but is argueing they had the right to use them. So the debate is over the licensing of the IP and not whether Sony knowingly used them to begin with.
I find this quote fun:
"...is arguing that it actually has the rights to use seven of the eight patents through a 1989 cross-licensing deal with AT&T and Lucent (whose microelectronics group eventually became Agere Systems)."
So according to Sony, they have the rights to use seven of the patents, but the 8th they didn't have the rights to, but used anyhow?
Sony can just pay them off with some of the loot they got from their 80 billion $$ loan.
"...is arguing that it actually has the rights to use seven of the eight patents through a 1989 cross-licensing deal with AT&T and Lucent (whose microelectronics group eventually became Agere Systems)."
So according to Sony, they have the rights to use seven of the patents, but the 8th they didn't have the rights to, but used anyhow?
Sony can just pay them off with some of the loot they got from their 80 billion $$ loan.
I've decided that patent law is like civil law: It had a purpose once, but now it only exists to make lawyrrs rich.
gokickrocks
Regular
Last edited by a moderator:
inefficient
Veteran
AntShaw said:
It was 80B Yen not dollars. $688M dollars.
If you read futher down in the article, the reason they claim they don't need rights to the 8th was because it is not covered by any existing patent. The patent Agere's does hold is only vaguely similar and does not include enough information on the solution.
It looks like Agere has tried this before... and lost. I bet they have more lawyers than engineers working for them.
inefficient said:
Which company doesnt these days?
Patents really are out of control, you cant go a night without hearing about some company being sued over a patent. So the need for having all of those lawyers is actually there, to not only protect yourself but to go after others.
Right, there seem to be companies popping up that basically buy a patent portfolio for the express purpose of suing people. They don't have any business model beyong that. Look at Sco years of Unix related litigation. Same thing, who needs a product to sell when you can extort a bunch of Fortune 500s?
