Encyclopaedia Britannica's New Business Model: Sue For Patent Infringement
from the how-educational dept
Just as many are starting to question Encyclopaedia Britannica's ability to survive in the Wikipedia world, it appears that the company has come up with a new business model: suing completely unrelated businesses for patent infringement. Apparently, the company is suing navigation device makers TomTom and Magellan for infringing on a bunch of patents having to do with a computerized map system. A quick stroll through the patent files shows a number of such patents, with this one being a recent one. If you're in the business of providing mapping and navigation systems, this seems like a fairly obvious progression of the art, rather than something that deserves patent protection -- but apparently the lawyers at Britannica don't agree. Yet another example of companies whose traditional lines of business are being challenged relying on patents not to further innovation, but to hold it back.






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Innovation continues to slowly grind
The way companies flood the US Patent office (USPO), it is no wonder that when a company begins to falter, it pulls out it patent portfolio and starts to troll.
Remember one definition of Troll:
Creature that lives under a Bridge and extorts payment for passage.
Company that lives off of extortion payments for patents.
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Who you like better.
On that basis, I like Brittanica better than TomTom or Magellan, so they fairly should win damages, without regard to originality or novelty.
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Dates
I'm pretty certain that what they are describing in the patent was around before that.
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Irrelevant company trying to stay relevant
So now like any good corporation they are trying to "enhance shareholder value" so they start grasping at anything that makes them money.
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Stop.
Seriously.
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Prior Art
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22 Posts from Mike about patents.
zzzzzzz......
We get it.
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BONBON!!!
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Re: BONBON!!!
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To Anonymous Coward
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Don't stop
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Re: Don't stop
Boy, it must be nice to live on Planet Insane.
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Re: To Anonymous Coward
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Mike's patent bashing
He is just sucking up to his corporate masters:
http://www.patentfairness.org/
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Re: Re: BONBON!!!
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Re: Re: Don't stop
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Google next?
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Re: Google next?
This strategy only reveals how bad things are at Britannica and how desperate they are to stay alive. It's been nice knowing you Encyclopaedia Britannica, but your time to shut down has come. Thanks for all the good times.
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change
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To: All the bitchy kids
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Using Britannica's Assets
They are sitting on a fortune if done right.
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PATENT HATERS
F@CK PATENT HATING PIGS!@#$$%^&*())
F@CK WIKIPEDIA!@#$^%&*&
F@CK MERKLE AND FRIETAS!@#$%
F@CK SHOCK JOCKS IN ALL THIER STINKING PUTRID FORMS!
THIS IS LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD FOR THE IDIOTS
GO WATCH YOUR GANSTER RAP AND B> SPEARS BIMBO!@#$^&
YOU WON"T GET ANY MORE REAL ART OUT OF ME!@#$%&
PIGS.
re:
http://www.molecularassembler.com/KSRM/3.16.htm
And Cornell stole my replicator on all this and gave it away, lord high felons PIGS.
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