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Patent troll claims ownership of interactive Web—and might win (ars technica)
Ars technica is reporting on a patent trial taking place in ... you guessed it ... East Texas that could have quite an impact on the web as we know it. Eolas Technologies is suing eight companies including Google and Yahoo for $600 million in a series of four trials, the first of which (to determine the validity of the patents) could go to the jury today.
"Today, Doyle and his lawyers say he’s owed royalty payments for the use of a stunning array of modern Web technologies. Watching online video, having a "search suggestion" pop up in a search bar, or even rotating an image of a sweater you might want to buy on an online shopping site—all are said to infringe on the idea-space of Doyle and his company, Eolas Technologies."
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Patent troll claims ownership of interactive Web—and might win (ars technica) Posted Feb 9, 2012 18:55 UTC (Thu) by PO8 (guest, #41661) [Link] "The tech companies in the case asked to transfer the case to California, but Judge Leonard Davis, who is overseeing the case, refused to allow it. After all, Davis reasoned (PDF), Eolas picked six defendant companies that were based in Texas, including four—Perot Systems, Frito-Lay, JC Penney, and Rent-A-Center—that were headquartered in Plano, a Dallas suburb which is within the Eastern District of Texas." Nice. Note to self: do not locate your tech business in Texas. Note to others: if you have a tech business in Texas, move out. "The new Eolas suit has also put the University of California in an unprecedented and awkward situation, as a not-so-silent partner to Eolas’ increasingly widespread, and controversial, business. While the UC could reap many millions from an Eolas win, it is suing the world’s biggest internet companies—the same companies that recruit its students, and are enmeshed with the UC in many other ways. The plaintiff’s lawyers have been referring to the patents as the 'university patents' and make reference to the innovative history of the UC to make their case to the jury." Nice. Note to self: no freebies for UC. If they want any special help around your research or research results, make them pay through the nose. I would feel a lot more sorry for the defendants (much less all the companies who've settled) if they had lobbied aggressively for the necessary changes in patent laws (including elimination of software patents) in the past. As it stands, I think this is just the price they get to pay for generally being able to keep small players out of their markets. The system is this way because they wanted it this way. Hope it's worth it for them—it sure screws things up for the rest of us.
Patent troll in a troll state in a patent country Posted Feb 28, 2012 21:13 UTC (Tue) by gvy (guest, #11981) [Link]
Well, "out of Texas" might be extended in advance as "welcome to Russia". I know a man who moved already, and have heard of more.
Patent troll claims ownership of interactive Web—and might win (ars technica) Posted Feb 29, 2012 20:19 UTC (Wed) by gvy (guest, #11981) [Link]
PS: is it the same UC that promotes gay boyscout leaders?
And the good guys win one! Posted Feb 9, 2012 23:22 UTC (Thu) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] See the Ars Technica coverage. The jury has rejected the main patent as invalid.
And the good guys win one! Posted Feb 10, 2012 0:18 UTC (Fri) by dashesy (subscriber, #74652) [Link]
Great, great to have a sensible jury, but as long as the software patent laws are not fixed this is not going to stop.
Some random professor gets funded by some random company; the result is pseudo science and worthless papers for the professor, and a generic enough patent to be added to the company's patent arsenal. Even if the original company (with the good intent of self-defense in the patent wars) goes out of business, those patents might be sold and eventually used.
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