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More--yes, MORE--Patent Fun!

Hey, Kids! Jump on in! EVERYBODY can get in on the action!!!

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DEC 1998 - Mouse Designer Sues Microsoft. Goldtouch Technologies has sued Microsoft for $1 billion in punitive damages and compensatory damages for patent infringement, theft of trade secrets and fraud. Gouldtouch met with Microsoft in 1997 in hopes the industry giant would license and market its ergonomic mouse design. Instead, the suit claims, Microsoft carefully examined the product, then imitated it and marketed the imitation as the IntelliMouse Pro. This is not the first time Microsoft has been accused of this trick.


Footnote: Goldtouch won.

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June 20, 2002

Burst.com Sues Microsoft Over Corona

By Thor Olavsrud

Santa Rosa, Calif.-based video delivery technology Burst.com provider Tuesday queued up as the latest technology firm to take Microsoft (Quote, Chart) to court for alleged anti-competitive tactics, including the alleged use of its patented streaming technology in Microsoft's upcoming next generation Windows Media technology.


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Acacia steps up lawsuits against cable TV

Acacia Research, the Los Angeles-based company that claims to have broad patent rights to on-demand streaming-media technology, sued a second round of cable companies Monday for patent infringement.

The company has already filed suit against most of the largest cable TV and satellite companies in the United States, including Comcast, Cox Communications and DirecTV, charging that their video-on-demand programming and a handful of other services violate its patent rights.


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Firm sues Microsoft over music download service

E-Data says the Vole infringes

By INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 14 October 2003, 08:24

A US FIRM is suing Microsoft for allegedly infringing its patents on music download technology, according to reports.

Microsoft has started piloting music downloads in Europe, but US company E-Data alleges that the Vole, Tiscali and OD2 have breached patents which are 20 years old.


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Microsoft Accused of Violating Patent

Judge gives go-ahead for trial over use of halftone technology in Windows, Office.

Joris Evers, IDG News Service
Wednesday, January 28, 2004

A federal judge has found that Microsoft encroached on patents held by a Tucson, Arizona-based company for a process that improves the quality of images displayed on computer screens and paper printouts.

Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) filed suit against Microsoft on December 21, 2001, in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, in Tucson. RCT charges that Microsoft Windows uses technology covered by some of RCT's patents. Its patented technology is also being used in some Office applications, according to Brian Ferguson, an attorney with McDermott, Will & Emery, which represents RCT.


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AVG takes of the gloves on 3D graphics patent

Posted Nov 6, 2004, 10:07 AM ET by David Touve

AVG, American Video Graphics, has sued every major game manufacturer - Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo- along with 12 game publishers to court over a patent allegedly covering the display of 3D environments on 2D screens. According to the Register:

The technique described is used by almost every game that uses 3D modelling, from the latest titles right back to the likes of Quake and possibly right back to Doom and even Wolfenstein - all products of the 1990s. It covers the use of a 3D space - the UAC HQ on Mars, say - to encompass one or more 3D objects - half a dozen Cacodeamons, say. The patent details how panning across the scene - sidestepping past a plasma bolt, say - can be realistically depicted on a 2D display, such as a computer monitor.

Debate goes on whetherh prior art, in the form od early 3D games will force the patent claims to fizzle. The patents in question are 4,734,690 and 5,109,520.


From another article on the expansion of the AVG suit:


American Video Graphics (AVG), a Marshall, Texas, limited partnership, has wielded its arsenal of seven patents related to the display of 3D computer graphics to sue a who's who of companies in the computer gaming industry.
Defendants in the three suits, filed August 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas, Tyler Division, range from game makers Nintendo, Sega, Atari and Activision to entertainment companies LucasArts and Vivendi to hardware vendors Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell and Gateway to consumer electronics companies Sony, Fujitsu, JVC, Sharp, Matsu****a and Toshiba.

Many of the complaints stem from those companies' distribution of Microsoft's 3D software with the Windows operating system. Microsoft also is named in the complaint, specifically for its Xbox computer game system.


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InterTrust sues Microsoft (on just about everything)

By ComputerWire

Published Tuesday 25th June 2002 06:48 GMT


InterTrust has brought four new patents into play, bringing the total involved in the suit to 11, covering 144 claims and over 190 "infringement scenarios", the company said. What started out as an infringement claim against Windows Media Player now covers Windows XP, Windows CE, the .NET framework, ActiveX and Xbox, among others.

"This company's sole business focus is filing questionable patent lawsuits against us," said Microsoft spokesperson Jim Desler, referring to the almost half-dozen times InterTrust has filed or expanded its lawsuits over the last year. "Microsoft is an intellectual property company that respects IP rights."

However, it seems likely that this will be the last batch of claims made, as every additional patent added to the lawsuit further delays the crucial Markman hearing, in which the judge will decide upon exactly what the patents describe under the law. InterTrust CTO David Maher suggested that InterTrust may be finished expanding its suit - for now.


Later on...

Microsoft Lawyers Keeping Busy

April 12, 2004

(CBS/AP) Microsoft Corp. is paying $440 million to InterTrust Technologies Corp. to settle a 3-year-old patent infringement lawsuit over technology for protecting music, movies and other digital content against piracy.


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Dell sued for alleged global sales patent abuse

By Tony Smith
Published Friday 5th November 2004 14:25 GMT

Dell has become the first company to be targeted by the owner of a broad-brush patent that covers international ecommerce.

The patent in question, 6,460,020, covers a "universal shopping center for international operation". It describes a system that allows buyers to order goods online, and have their international delivery charges calculated there and then. If they accept the total amount, they can authorise a credit card payment.


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AND, last but not LEAST...

The new Chinese counterfeit game

By Brad Spurgeon International Herald Tribune

Monday, November 15, 2004

SHANGHAI International pressure on China to stop its counterfeiters is producing an unexpected twist. Rather than just copying another company's product, many Chinese businesses are filing patents and claiming other intellectual property rights to the counterfeits locally, in effect becoming the legal owners, at least in China.

Companies in the counterfeiting industry, which make everything from knock-offs of Calloway golf clubs and Zippo lighters to brand-name clothes and DVD players for a small fraction of their price in the West, may then even sue foreign companies for ostensibly stealing their patented products.

Whereas counterfeiters used to hide from the law, they now use the law to strengthen their position, legal and trade experts say.

"Chinese industry has a phrase for it," said Xiang Wang, an intellectual property lawyer at the Shanghai office of the international law firm White & Case. "They call it 'a Great Wall of Patents."'

Posted by: Yen_z   Posted on: 02/15/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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