This is just a marketing gimmick on Sony's part and worthless in light of poor engineering, unreliable products, and atrocious service.
Sony built a great reputation over decades and has squandered it in a few years. Apple and Google, both members of the Piracy Coalition are doing the same today.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
This is just a marketing gimmick on Sony's part and worthless in light of poor engineering, unreliable products, and atrocious service.
Sony built a great reputation over decades and has squandered it in a few years. Apple and Google, both members of the Piracy Coalition are doing the same today.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
The courts have a very well developed process for determining what is obvious. It is a fact that most people are incapable of recognizing once they have been told how to do something that it was not obvious.
It is also a fact that no one at TechDIRT is qualified to comment on the patent system. It is also obvious that TechDIRT's position on patents is closely aligned with the companies they are doing business with. What is not clear is rather TechDIRT's bias was driven by these association from the beginning or was it a gambit to get business.
Considering the Conduct of both the Coalition for Patent Fairness and their members I am inclined to think that the relationship has been there from the beginning.
As to poor misunderstood Microsoft, they have been caught repeatedly with their sticky fingers in others' patent cookie jars, and they paddies have been repetitively slapped by the courts. There is an OBVIOUS pattern of conduct and it is understandable why they want to Deform the patent system to facilitate their pattern of conduct.
In any event, we are all judged in part by the company we keep and the company TechDIRT is keeping does not paint a pretty picture. Classic short term gain orientation.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
There is a thriving industry of paid bloggers.
Some serve to harass disgruntled clients for big business which does not understand that delivering fair value and good service is the best way to cultivate a good reputation.
Others promote big company's political goals.
At this point I think that reasonable people may wonder if TechDIRT is a haven for both types of promotion of less than reputable businesses which are looking for insight into how they can cover their their tracks.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
patent pirating companies, the kind of companies who are TechDIRT's clients, count on being able to abuse the process of law to bankrupt their victims.
The reason inventors and big companies alike flock to the court is that they do not tolerate the kinds of abuse of the legal system which is the hallmark of the way members of the Coalition for Patent Fairness (aka. the Piracy Coalition)conduct themselves.
Every crook thinks that those who hold them accountable are are nasty but in the end the only ones who are nasty are the thieves.
There would be no need for litigators or courts for patent cases if not for big corporate patent pirates.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
There is no question that some politicians are for sale. But how is their conduct any different than any business who carries water for their clients?
Take TechDIRT as an example. TechDIRT is incredibly hostile to inventors and the patent system. I have been suspicious for a long time that TechDIRT was acting on behalf of certain anti-inventor business interests.
It is an incredible coincidence that TechDIRT has business relationships with HP, Sun(Cisco), Microsoft and Intel. All of whom are Piracy Coalition members, actually FOUNDING members.
American Express is also a client, the plot thickens.
I am looking forward to Mike Masnick's explanation for this incredible revelation.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
I believe that this is the first time I have seen Mike write an unbiased article involving intellectual property. Perhaps this is the start of a trend?
One does have to wonder who in eBay was responsible for the idiotic deal they signed on to? I suspect that they will cover the cost of this by bending over sellers on eBay yet again.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
"Regardless, patent attorneys are your worst nightmare. We have the tenacity of attorneys and the calculation of engineers."
Many patent litigators are not patent attorneys. In any event there is a joke in the industry is that some patent attorneys are engineers first and attorneys second. They tend to draft patents and not litigate.
The second group are attorneys first and engineers second. They tend to be litigators or licensing specialists.
The point is that there are many different kinds of attorneys associated with intellectual property and it is impossible to pigeon hole them.
This is another example of how TechDIRT forums spew utter nonsense about patents.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
Now, I want everyone to know that I having nothing against open source which is not built on the rotten foundation of theft of others inventions. I think it serves as a nice counter balance to big corporations who have in many cases built their fortunes on theft of others inventions.
I have yet to see anyone file a patent suit without having good reason to believe a company is infringing. The reason is simple, in that bringing suits is an expensive process.
McKool Smith is well known as a reputable firm. We have a known good player suing, alleging infringement, and an unknown open source defendant belligerently crying that they are innocent.
Big and small infringers all whine that they are innocent. How many people think that companies like Microcrap and Research in Slow Motion (who repeatedly has found itself late to the invention table for technology) are innocent?
One problem independent inventors face is that some firms have been known to hide conflicts of interest and to make mistakes which do in their small inventor clients. They then go on to represent the infringer, presumably making big bucks in the process.
There most certainly is no shortage of asset thieves, spanning the globe from open source to really large transnationals.
One thing is certain, and that is that neither I or anyone else on TechDIRT has enough information to judge who is right in this dispute. That is why we have courts and appeals. While the system is not perfect it is definitely better than mob rule like we see on TechDIRT.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
I have watched RIM for sometime and do not buy their media hype that they invented these things on their own.
What RIM lacks in an ability to invent the things they need to succeed in their market they make up for in leaving no propaganda stone unturned.
RIM is repeatedly accused of infringement. Some people see this as evidence of RIM being a victim. I see it as evidence of RIM victimizing real inventors, corporate greed and arrogance.
Considering their history we can all assume that they do not settle cases based on their moral compass. I think that they did learn a teeny bit from the mistakes they made with inventor Thomas Campana Jr. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Campana,_Jr.) and his partner and patent attorney Don Stout and they are now settling cases when they know that they are likely to lose and that the owner of the invention has the resources to get their day in court.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
Clinical trails are a part of R&D. They are a test of weather or not the drug works as intended. And those trials often lead to additional modifications of the drug chemistry itself or of delivery methods.
There is no reason that all drugs could not be created with tax dollars and that any intellectual property produced could be owned by all of us. The problem is that there is little willingness on the public's part to pay for this.
Contrary to all the free crap sentiment on TechDIRT there really are no free lunches.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
"Perhaps, but I'm guessing Canada and the EU do, so let's allow free importing of drugs from there. They seem to be able to recoup these tremendous costs at a far lesser cost to the consumer."
Canada, the EU and others ride the coattails of America's R&D. It is not so much that they recoup the costs as they completely sidestep them by taking the benefits of others investments.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
Mike says: "I'm not a fan of patent holders who try to stop actual innovators in the marketplace"
Belligerently misappropriating others' inventions does not make the entity doing so an innovator. It makes them a patent pirate.
This kind of abuse of process of law is standard fare among patent pirates and any company pulling this kind of stunt should be subject to sanctions.
I received an anonymous tip that Juniper has pulled this kind of stunt in the past. Perhaps someone with a legal background can research rather this is the case.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
And you can still get air for free. But you must pay for food, lodging, etc.
I donate my time for good works. I often go to DC to promote various issues. It costs me about $200 to $300 a day to stay in DC assuming one week stays. Clearly my time in DC is not free because there is overhead.
Staying alive is not free. There are basic overhead costs. Regardless of what you are producing, you still must pay those costs.
Marketing people tend to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Most marketing people are con artists and the essence of "free" to to lure unwary people to transfer their money to the marketing huckster one way or another.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
It was a trade secret claim not a trademark claim.
This should be a clear First Amendment issue. It is ironic that while schools are teaching children about their rights that many also try to trample speech and property rights.
Beyond this there are other issues such as schools entering contracts to force one brand of product on students.
I come from a family of teachers and have great respect for dedicated and effective teachers. It is unfortunate that those who cannot teach have a tendency to become coaches and administrators. Many of the problems schools get into are a direct result of incompetent administrators.
One notable case which comes to mind is the University of South Florida where the top dog was dismissed after he suppressed a serial rape case to allow the perpetrator to to continue playing sports. The same idiot also put one of their undergrad students in jail with a bogus trademark claim as a gambit to steal his inventions for a corporate sponsor. This has cost the University of South Florida dearly for over a decade.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
"@R Riley
You really do look like a major tool for constantly saynig you only speak on your own behalf, but listing all of your little worthless organizations right there and your ranks in them.
At least it provides a small piece of the list of organizations who are against the advanvement of the human race."
We are inventors. It is through a lifetime of hard work that we produce the advancements which improve everyone's lives.
Everyone has to earn a living and it is a fact that we cannot continue to produce the inventions which humanity needs if we are not fairly compensated.
TechDIRT seems to be loaded with people who who rationalize that they should be able to steal the investment which inventors have made to advance progress. The problem with this is that progress will slow to a standstill.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
These people are suffering from the Little Person Syndrome. It has nothing to do with physical traits.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
"by Mike Masnick - Jun 5th, 2009 @ 10:48pm
as if you don't know that patent system is not for protection of the little guys but for promoting the progress
But you know it, Mikey , yes ?
I do know it. In fact, I repeat it all the time. It's for promoting the progress."
Promoting progress is best done by protecting independent, academic, and small business from big corporate thieves. It is rare that big companies produce breakthrough inventions. They file lots of insignificant patents and generally steal from small entities all the important stuff.
Over thirty percent of patents are by domestic small entities. Well over ninety percent of job creation is by small entities. Those small entities need to be protected from anti competitive large entity parasites.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
Re: Trade Secrets vs Patents
The incentive to patent over treating an invention as a trade secret is that if and when someone else produces the invention they can then exclude the trade secret user form use of the invention. So while the person using the trade secret might get more then twenty years of use they may well find themselves prohibited from using the invention well before twenty years.
So called Prior User Rights were originally promoted by Bill Budinger, I believe his situation was a result of greed and stupidity. Other large companies realized that a claim of being a prior user was another defense for stealing others inventions, and jumped on the band wagon.
By pushing Early Publication it lowers the uncertainty about when an invention is conceived and that facilitates manufacturing false evidence to invalidate a patent.
Examples of companies who have been caught committing fraud on the court are Microsoft and Research in motion. It is quite difficult to catch those committing fraud and often those doing so get away with larceny on a grand scale.
Members of the Coalition for Patent Fairness have many issues of this nature. They have been caught committing many other indiscretions such as illegal spying on media, employees, and competitors, cooking their books, insider trading, knowingly putting their customers at risk of injury or death, the list goes on.
Today plenty of people recognize that banking and insurance entities are very nasty players. What most do not realize is that much of the tech industry, at least the largest companies are every bit as corrupt.
All three of the mentioned groups are behind attempts to eviscerate the patent system in order to facilitate their theft of American ingenuity. They are collectively stealing billions of dollars a year and spending a few hundred million to promote Patent Deform.
The bit of historical imformation I have given here is a perfect example of the kind of perspective that TechDIRT staff lack about IP issues. Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
If TechDirt had its way America would give up the only thing which stands between Americas' current standard of living and a drop which the current recession look like child's play.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.