| Troll Sues Apple For Daring To Plug Headphones Into iPhone Oh my!
From The Register:
A patent hoarding firm is suing Apple for $3m for allegedly ripping off a protected design that describes plugging headphones into a mobile phone.
Intelligent Smart Phone Concepts, a Delaware company with no web presence, launched its legal action against iPhone-maker Apple in California. ISPC has demanded damages for the alleged infringement of its "Wireless mobile phone including a headset" patent, and has requested a jury trial.
Patent-holding companies that only use their vaults of amassed intellectual property purely for launching lawsuits are often kindly referred to as patents trolls. Their usual strategy is not to win any cases but to encourage major firms to part with reasonably small amounts of money in royalties or settlements so as to avoid the cost of a full-blown trial. |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | 7373182
I don't have time to wade through the neck-deep patent jargon, but doesn't this only claim the invention of having two jacks? |
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 MsradellP.E.Premium
join:2008-12-25
Louisville, KY | reply to FF4m3
Glad to hear that someone is finally hitting Apple with the same thing they have been doing to others! |
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OZOPremium
join:2003-01-17
kudos:2 | reply to FF4m3
Where is an actual innovation, that must be protected here?
One jack, two jacks? Is it about it? Clearly it's complete absurd. 
US Patent Office should stop making money from facilitating patent trolls...
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Keep it simple, it'll become complex by itself... |
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 BlackbirdBuilt for SpeedPremium
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:3
 ·Frontier Communi..
| said by OZO:Where is an actual innovation, that must be protected here? ... +1. If somebody's patent exists for a wireless mobile phone (or it's in the public domain), and somebody's patent exists for a headset (or it's in the public domain), there is simply no rational justification for yet another patent to be issued for plugging a headset into a wireless mobile phone. It trivializes the entire patenting process and leads directly into the nonsensical mess we've got today. I suspect that the majority of patents now fall into this trivial category, and the entire cottage industry of patent trolling has grown up around them. It's time to pull the plug on the entire mess: patent office (as it's now constituted), patents (unless truly meaningful), and trolling litigation.
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“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” A. de Tocqueville |
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 Smokey Bearveritas odium paritPremium
join:2008-03-15
Annie's Pub
kudos:4 | reply to Msradell
said by Msradell:
Glad to hear that someone is finally hitting Apple with the same thing they have been doing to others!
Apple is without any doubt the absolute Patent Troll King.
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»bit.ly/gUqYaH - C. Brian Smith: Think of the exclamation point as a car horn: a little goes a long way. Lay on it too hard and everyone’s going to think you’re a moron. |
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 burner50Proud Union THUGPremium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
Texas
kudos:1 | reply to Msradell
said by Msradell:Glad to hear that someone is finally hitting Apple with the same thing they have been doing to others!
Meh... I don't believe that the key to defeating apple is to stoop to their level.
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I'm tired of killing stupid people just trying to do my job and go home! |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | reply to Blackbird
But surely it depends on whether the phone is a rounded-corner rectangle or not? |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | reply to burner50
said by burner50:Meh... I don't believe that the key to defeating apple is to stoop to their level.
Maybe not, but perhaps the key to getting idiocy out of the patent system is to pile absurdity on top of absurdity, until even the patent office can see how much of the GNP is burned on this sort of crap.
(Naive, or what?  ) |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to FF4m3
These holding firms should be illegal. I cannot see how they serve any economic purpose.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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 AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ
kudos:1 | said by Kearnstd:These holding firms should be illegal. I cannot see how they serve any economic purpose.
because all firms are required to have an economic purpose(tm)?
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* seek help if having trouble coping
--Standard disclaimers apply.-- |
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AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ
kudos:1 | reply to FF4m3
For $3million, apple should just settle. |
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 JuggernautIrreverent or irrelevant?Premium
join:2006-09-05
Kelowna, BC
kudos:2 | That would be a dangerous precedent to set. Apple needs to fight it, and drain their bank account. It's the only way PT's will get it.
Of course, Apple is itself a patent troll. 
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I'm not anti-social, I just don't like stupid people. |
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 DrStrangeTechnically feasiblePremium
join:2001-07-23
West Hartford, CT
kudos:1 | reply to FF4m3
There should be a patent-and-trademark-law version of a SLAPP suit.
The troll AND Apple would be paying through the nose on a regular basis. |
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 Link LoggerPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB
kudos:3 | reply to OZO
said by OZO:Where is an actual innovation, that must be protected here? Same question could be asked of the of ocean of Apple patents or frankly about 99.9% of all the patents granted in the last 30 years.
I'll say it yet again, the patent office needs to be blown up, burned down and pissed on and really if we could stuff it full of IP lawyers at the time, that would be a huge bonus as typically these people are nothing but leeches.
Blake
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Vendor: Author of Link Logger which is a traffic analysis and firewall logging tool |
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 sivranOpera convertPremium
join:2003-09-15
Arlington, TX
kudos:1 | reply to FF4m3
I sure went into the wrong industry. I wonder where I can buy me some orphaned patents... |
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JuggernautIrreverent or irrelevant?Premium
join:2006-09-05
Kelowna, BC
kudos:2 | Why look? Create your own!  |
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BlackbirdBuilt for SpeedPremium
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
| Yep... I hear phones in rounded-corner triangle, hexagon, or circular shapes may still be available for patenting. Hurry, before they're gone!
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“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” A. de Tocqueville |
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JuggernautIrreverent or irrelevant?Premium
join:2006-09-05
Kelowna, BC
kudos:2 | Now, unless crApple has a patent on the radius of the corners (in millimeters), that would be open as well, right? 
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I'm not anti-social, I just don't like stupid people. |
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AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ
kudos:1 | said by Juggernaut:Now, unless crApple has a patent on the radius of the corners (in millimeters), that would be open as well, right?
just add or subtract .001mm
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* seek help if having trouble coping
--Standard disclaimers apply.-- |
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