Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
 ·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
1 edit | reply to SRFireside
Re: They've patented customer DBs too
Yours is a good point. While the RAMBUS case is a text-book example, I see this type of behavior still.
Unfortunately, I'd have to look more closely at the circumstances of this case, which I haven't done yet. So, I'm not very knowledgable.
One thing to note is that depending on the standards agreement, Verizon still may be in the clear. In certain cases, the standards group sets forth a specification, but it's up to the technology members to implement that in specific ways. So, the organization owns the spec, but each company owns its own patents on specific implementations.
Depending on how the agreement is written, the specific implementation by the patentee is subject to RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing to the other members. For non-members, the patent holder can go after them with guns ablazing.
So, the other members of the consortium may very well have some type of RAND agreement and will be safe from Verizon's lawsuits. Non-members, watch out. |
