MSFT Founder Sues Google, Apple, eBay, YouTube

[gamerk316]

Once upon a time, BCD was patented. The courts threw it out. Hopefully all vauge patents will suffer the same fate.

 

[elbert]

The last patent is a rip off of a search engine filed September 7, 2000. Many search engines predate this patent. The only thing to this patent is the search maybe repeated automatically looking for new links. This in no way is enough to lay claim to the cookie. This is the user only side patent for a program to automatic update a search and return only the new information found. IE a smart search.

 

[Tedders]

Some key words in the intro. "Made headlines last week." LAST WEEK

 

[kartu]

Somebody fix patent laws in US pretty please?

 

[Stifle]

With language like this...

"Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."

Its amazing that the US patent department doesn't have to put up safety nets around its office rooftops to keep the patent clerks from jumping to their deaths.

 

[hamstamps]

wow

 

[aethm]

I thought this was a joke at first. I can't believe you can patent something like "Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest." It's extremely obvious that the ENTIRE patent system needs an overhaul.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]aethm[/nom]I thought this was a joke at first. I can't believe you can patent something like "Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest." It's extremely obvious that the ENTIRE patent system needs an overhaul.[/citation]
Err, like said earlier - title only, content of patent contained in a hefty document therein.

 

[drwho1]

I probably should file a lawsuit against this Paul character for wrongful use of the middle finger against the "handfull" of companies that are actually doing something with the rest of their hands.

 

[Guest]

What this case shows is that there is seriously something very wrong with the US Patent Office. How can they allow you to patent such ridiculously broad things?

Did you guys know that the US Patent Office is allowing pharmaceutical companies to patent human genes and proteins?!?! Are they gonna pop up 10 years later and sue humanity for stealing their patented genetic material?

 

[wildwell]

[citation][nom]vertigo_2000[/nom]I hope he's doing this just to make a point. Maybe this will help set a precedent.[/citation]
Finally, a positive take here.

 

[NotYetRated]

[citation][nom]rrobstur[/nom]***thumbs up for usfull message if if its a message people dont want to hear***[/citation]

"if if its a message people dont want to hear"..... Even if?

Of course people don't want to hear about something like this. Giving our such broad patents inhibits future growth. With companies scared that their new innovative product infringes on some broad patent, which was patented for the sole purpose of future lawsuits, stifles growth. Patent a revolutionary new idea, not "Alerting users to items of current interest." Take the patent out and DO something with it. Do not take out the patent and then sit and wait until as many companies as possible infringe upon it as possible before pursuing legal action. Ridiculous.

 

[jgiron]

he just sue the american people after we slap him with a trout

 

[bhaberle]

[citation][nom]COLGeek[/nom]I really hope they choke on this litigation. Too bad you can sue anyone for anything these days.[/citation]
Yeah really... this guy should take a page out of Bill Gates' book and start doing something good for the world.

 

[malikxaxu]

[citation][nom]jmindriks[/nom]Did you guys know that the US Patent Office is allowing pharmaceutical companies to patent human genes and proteins?!?! Are they gonna pop up 10 years later and sue humanity for stealing their patented genetic material?[/citation]

Dude, the USPTO does not allow patenting of naturally occuring genes within the human body. It allows patenting of ISOLATED genes, i.e. transformed by the hand of man, for instance, amplified by PCR and inserted into a plasmid for use in transformed bacteria and/or yeast, etc. Not the same thing....

 

[azcoyote]

SERIOUSLY???

"Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."

GTFOOH

 

[leo2kp]

-- U.S. Patent No. 6,034,652, for "Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."

...which is a technical way of saying "for being really really annoying."

 

[storageinventor]

Has anyone here ever filed a patent or invented anything? Judging by most of the comments, few people here understand anything about patents or how the patent system works.

 

[FlynnSerlant]

I'd like to naively believe that the suit was only filed now because it was only just noticed, but... yeah...

Now, through peripheral contact, any good press that Microsoft may have recently gotten is now possibly defunct.

The irony, is that Yahoo! and Bing recently merged. So, Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, is suing a Microsoft subsidiary?

 

[Spore]

Well, if there was anybody who was going to take millions from companies via patents, I'd like it to be a guy who has pledged to give away half his fortune. At least some of it goes somewhere.

 

[kcorp2003]

Wasn't Paul Allen who the one donating 95% of his money to research?

I totally agree with this and couldn't say it any better myself.

"This lawsuit against some of America's most innovative companies reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace. Innovation -- not litigation -- is the way to bring to market the kinds of products and services that benefit millions of people around the world," a spokesperson for the search giant said.

Another ridiculous patent system is Genetics.

 

[dman157]

While people in Dubai are making millions and billions of dollars, building some of the best technologies and architectures feats if ever seen in my life, the United States lags far behind with corporations sitting on their lazy asses sueing over patents for ideas that even a 10 year old can make. United States, best country in the world? Yeah right...

 

[volt-aire]

This lawsuit is a bit much (and I mean, he's basically patented "using the internet" on there. It would have been difficult to see that at the time, but in hindsight..). There does need to be an overhaul of the patent system, as it was made to deal with sprockets and widgits, not with genetic code (patenting a human gene is pretty absurd) nor with computer code. If a firm invests millions of dollars in a novel implementation of something that's one thing, but patenting "Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest"? Come on.

The hatred of lawyers is one thing, but on the other hand, for every startup destroyed by a patent case there is another that can only exist because it patents a novel way to do something and thus muscles its way into a marketplace because it can produce a superior product. The Venture Capitalist system of funding startup after startup and feeding them to the larger companies in buyouts does foster innovation, because it moves the risk from the companies to the capitalists, who invest more, allowing for larger R&D gains in less time.

 

[codewarrior]

Hmmmnn where can I apply for these patents? I have an Idea of a patent a "device that sticks inside your shorts to keep you comfy" then I'll sue everyone for violating the use of an undergarment...

 

[garyshome]

If you haven't noticed Law Suits are the American way. I hate to tell it like it is but Lawyers run this country.