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KenAF
join:2006-01-23
Arlington, VA
4 edits | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? No, it doesn't.
You'll find hundreds of patents for an "automotive engine." The title is just the title and the summary is just a summary. It means nothing. All that matters are the specific implementation (method) claims described within the patent. TiVo's patents deal with implementations for low-cost (i.e. very slow) processors.
As far as Ford, google "Ford patent infringement" and "Ford patent lawsuit" and you'll find that they've settled dozens of patent infringement claims. Remember that patents are only good for 20 years. | |
|   jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? I understand getting compensated if somebody steals your idea, but at some point you have to consider if everyone might be coming up with a similar design because it's just such an obvious solution. If 20 engineers all come up with the same idea, separately, maybe the patent needs to be investigated to make sure it's actually legitimate? Perhaps suing multiple ISP's will work against TiVo? If one ISP is sued for patent infringement, that makes sense, but if everyone all over the world is supposedly stealing your inventions, it might cause some to be more suspicious of the patent's validity.
I don't know enough about this particular case to make any kind of judgement call either way, but going off the Dish results, I'm sure that TiVo will be entitled to some legal compensation. Hopefully this won't come back to haunt TiVo, as it would seem to be in their best interests to be in more of a partnership with the providers. | |
| | | | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? It might be obvious to you now, 10 YEARS later. It wasn't quite so obvious when TIVO came up with the specific implementation. The original series 1 Tivo's ran on a 70-80 mhz PowerPC processor. Generic Intel computers ran around 400mhz at the time and cost close to $2k (and wouldn't have fit in the Tivo box). Show me a computer with the computing power of the original Tivo that could do what a Tivo could do. They didn't exist.
It's easy to look back a decade after the idea was created and say how obvious it is, but you didn't see any Tivo's before that time period because frankly you couldn't do what they did without the specific implementation they came up with. Now the idea is broadly supported, only after Tivo spent 5 years educating people on what a Tivo is and how it's different than a VCR and many of these companies (Motorola, SciAtlanta, etc) badly reverse engineered the technology. Frankly I hope Tivo forces them all to license the software just so the crappy software on the current cable DVR's gets replaced and people can experience what a real PVR is.
Personally I'd like to see the supreme court invalidate all software patents, but until they do we need to recognize that Tivo spent millions on R&D implementing PVR's on technology that was highly limited. Under the current patent system their software ideas were highly original, having been fought to the death by DISH they survived challenge. | |
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1 edit | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? I will readily acknowledge the patent system is screwed up, but anarchist ideas like invalidating all software patents are just inane. Right in front of your eyes you have a perfect example of the legitimate role patents can play in protecting a company's works. Without patent protection what incentive would a company like TiVo have, knowing that within a decade giant incumbents with huge economies of scale would just steal their work and implement it in their own products? | |
| | | scooper
join:2000-07-11
Youngsville, NC
kudos:2 | That suit is NOT finished yet...
Tivo celebrating maybe a bit premature. | |
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|  DataDocMy avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC | Those kind of obvious solutions used to be dismissed by the Patent Office, but now they seem to approve everything.
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When we get time travel, guess who will never have been President? | |
| | | KenAF
join:2006-01-23
Arlington, VA | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? Actually, rejection rates are at near all-time highs.
The PTO is now rejecting ~60% of patent applications. | |
| | | | DataDocMy avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC Reviews:
 ·Suddenlink
| Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? said by KenAF:Actually, rejection rates are at near all-time highs. The PTO is now rejecting ~60% of patent applications. Thanks, I'm glad to hear it.
Unless it's just because our current population of inventors are so badly educated that they think every idea they have is new.
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When we get time travel, guess who will never have been President? | |
| | | | | | | Re: When will Coke sue Pepsi??? It's more like there are more patent trolls than ever. It's like spam on the internet. It just keeps getting worse and worse, and they seriously clog up the system. | |
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