Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 8 May 2012 22:30:00 PDT Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120419/02113518553/sgi-back-dead-again-suing-tons-companies-patent-infringement.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120419/02113518553/sgi-back-dead-again-suing-tons-companies-patent-infringement.shtml going patent troll. However, we thought we'd avoided that ignoble result when SGI sold most of its assets to Rackable for a mere $25 million three years ago. Silly us for assuming those patents would just go away.

While Rackable changed its name to Silicon Graphics International... the original company actually retained the patents, and renamed itself Graphics Properties Holdings... and over the last few years has been suing lots of companies for patent infringement. In the last year alone it has sued Apple, HTC, LG, RIM, Samsung, Sony, Acer, ASUS, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio and Motorola Mobility.

As the link above notes, while some of GPH's patents are relatively early, it appears that lots of similar inventions predated key patents. However, the early date may make those patents look stronger, and give GPH much more leverage in getting companies to pay up -- or risk losing the ability to produce devices with nice graphics capabilities.

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]]> troll-troll-troll-troll http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120419/02113518553 Wed, 6 Jan 2010 14:52:00 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100106/0142117627.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100106/0142117627.shtml has sued the Chinese government and a bunch of companies for $2.2 billion. The lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles, and I would wonder what jurisdiction a Los Angeles district court has over the Chinese government concerning software that was only to be used in China.

While the lawsuit does include the expected copyright claim, it also goes much further to claim trade secret violations and "conspiracy." And while the Chinese government is obviously the headline grabber, it also includes Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, ASUSTek, BenQ and Haier, claiming that these computer makers were in on the conspiracy. While many of those have US operations, it seems like a longshot that (a) the court has jurisdiction over their actions in China or (b) the charge of "conspiracy" has any chance of sticking.

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]]> good-luck-with-that http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100106/0142117627 Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:56:26 PDT Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091013/1901346515.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091013/1901346515.shtml just sued Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Sony, and Toshiba. Oh, and take a guess where this "subsidiary" set up shop? East Texas... of course. All the better to file patent lawsuits apparently...

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]]> ghosts-of-companies-past http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20091013/1901346515 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:22:15 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081215/1638153125.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081215/1638153125.shtml wondered when it would reach the stage where mobile operators would subsidize the cost of a laptop, just as they subsidize the cost of mobile phones in many cases. In early 2006, we started to see such subsidized laptops go on sale in Europe, with the mobile operators selling the laptops directly for well below list price, as long as you bought into a long term data plan. The whole idea seemed a bit strange, as mobile operators have long ranted long and hard about how much they hate, hate, hate subsidies, and how they wish they could do away with them. So, why add them to laptops?

However, the idea has now traveled over to the US as well, in a deal between Acer, Radio Shack and AT&T allowing people to buy an Acer netbook for just $100, so long as they agree to a 2 year $60/month contract for an AT&T mobile data plan. It's still a little confusing as to why the mobile operators are agreeing to this, following so many vehement arguments against mobile phone subsidies, but perhaps they're finally realizing that those subsidies aren't such a bad thing when they get people using their services. Still, how long will it be until buyers start complaining about early termination fees for laptops like they do for mobile phones?

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]]> good-or-bad? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20081215/1638153125 Thu, 1 Nov 2007 22:09:25 PDT Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071101/185058.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071101/185058.shtml WiFi patent problem, focusing on the Canadian company Wi-LAN who claimed a bunch of patents related to WiFi technology. The company started off by suing Cisco. That lawsuit was eventually settled, but Wi-LAN clearly wasn't done yet. The company has now sued 22 different companies for violating its patents. This strategy seems to be the new strategy of patent holders: sue a ton of high profile companies all at once. It's what Sandisk did for example. Why is it becoming more popular? Because these patent holders are afraid that one of the potential targets might sue them first, seeking a declaratory judgment saying they don't infringe, and do so in a court other than the patent friendly court in Marshall, Texas. Oh yeah, Wi-LAN also notes that it's more economical to sue everyone at once. How nice of them.

Of course, Wi-LAN is hardly the only company that claims patents having to do with WiFi. It's a true patent thicket. If all these patents were actually valid and needed to be licensed no one could afford WiFi and it would be worthless. It's also worth noting that Wi-LAN's target list is somewhat ridiculous as well. It appears to be suing up and down the supply chain from chip suppliers like Broadcom and Intel to computer makers like Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sony all the way to retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City. Assuming that all are somehow responsible for paying Wi-LAN the company could conceivably get license fees three or four times for the same computer. It's not hard to start adding up the questionable things going on here: (1) broad patents that are claimed to be important for a standard long after that standard has become widespread (2) these patents are one of many, many patents that claim to cover WiFi technology (3) filing the lawsuit against many companies at once (4) filing the lawsuit in east Texas and (5) filing the patents up and down the supply chain. This isn't what the patent system was designed to do and patent attorneys know it.

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]]> this-is-innovation? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20071101/185058 Tue, 9 Oct 2007 17:33:00 PDT Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071009/004750.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071009/004750.shtml plans to buy Gateway -- and while the announcement included some info about intentions to also roll Packard Bell into the deal, that part of the deal has only just been confirmed. Basically, Acer is giving Gateway the money to buy Packard Bell, which will then be included in the Acer acquisition. Of course, Gateway also bought eMachines a few years back, though that's one company that didn't exist back in the 1993 Computer Shopper era. However, if you do remember Computer Shopper in those days, it was dominated by ads from these companies, along with Dell and Micron. Are there still any other mostly forgotten also-ran PC makers from the early 90's that are available for the new Acer/Gateway/PackardBell to buy?

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]]> who-else-is-out-there...? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20071009/004750 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:07:42 PDT Joseph Weisenthal http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070827/084933.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070827/084933.shtml Gateway had been acquired by Acer would have been a significant development in the computer industry. But it's a sign of how far the company has fallen that the move isn't expected to have any material impact on the company's competitors. Basically, Acer, based in Taiwan, is looking to expand its footprint in North America and Europe and it was able to pick up the distant #4 in the US computer market for just $710 million. Because margins are low across the industry, every player is in a desperate race to keep volume high. At one point, Gateway tried to break out of its core business with an ill-conceived foray into consumer electronics, but it was eventually forced to return to its roots. However, things might not change much from the perspective of customers. Owing in part to Gateway's recognizable brand (the cow print boxes), Acer plans to continue, if not expand, the Gateway line.

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