Posted Nov 18, 2008 at 10:34AM by Isaac C. Listed in: Off Topic Tags: Sony, patent, Mylo
Ó

Sony fined 18.5 million in patent infringement case - Image 1*Cheesy advisory message voice* Are you out of money? Is your bank account dry? Then patent any old thing you can think of, then sue a video game company!

After a two-year court battle, Agere Systems won its patent infringement lawsuit against Sony, who was forced to pay the amount of US$ 18.5 million.

The patent involves "wireless local area network apparatus." How vague. That could describe my local Internet bar. As it is, it seems that Sony is being sued for the tech as it applies to some of their devices, like the mylo and the PSP.

It wasn't that long ago that Nintendo was also sued for a vaguely described patent, and lost US$ 21 million for it. Another company is trying to milk them for the tech in the Wiimote.

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9 Comments


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   by emcp - 2008-11-18
 » mm

*****IN WANKERS

endof

   by kupomogli - 2008-11-18
 » It sucks.

Old news, but the world is fully of ***** douchebags.

   by kopicha - 2008-11-18
 » major flaw

there is a major flaw in the patent law which should be revise. its pretty dumb for such thing as patent since incoporating wifi into any specific device is pretty common thing to happen. so what about dont use wifi and let the technology fail. those who file such lawsuit are really douch...


   Re: ISOHaven - 2008-11-18
 » WTF!?!?!?!?!

While that makes total sense, something tells me we aren't getting the WHOLE story. Which is typical of any news medium.

Also, look at the source. Then look at their source. Wow, a scanned PDF file. No one has ever faked that before.

While the news is probably true, we need the WHOLE news. So far, no other site I frequent is reporting on this.

   Re: FreePlay - 2008-11-18
 » ...

Yeah, a second source would be nice, but I'm inclined to believe it too.

There's a special place reserved in hell for patent trolls.

   Re: xche78x - 2008-11-19
 » agreed

but what is really the job of the PATENT OFFICE?
why did they allow new products to be patented if there are previous similar patents already approved?
shouldnt they tell new equipment makers that they will be are infringing an older patent if they continue their new design unto the market?

im tired of hearing this kind of news! this is what i consider legal money extortion.
the patent system should be fixed asap so there will be less patent infringements.

and to the court/judge that decided the case, did these companies really deliberately infringe such patents? if so then shame on these companies, if not then i feel sorry for them for getting robbed legally.

   Re: ISOHaven - 2008-11-19
 » WTF!?!?!?!?!

"shouldnt they tell new equipment makers that they will be are infringing an older patent if they continue their new design unto the market?"

Nope, not their job. Think of them as a HUGE filling cabinet and it's YOUR JOB to sift through it.

That's why it's broken. The system was not designed to be as large as it is.

Also, you have to sift through cabinets in numerous countries. They aren't all the same. Are any of them same? I'm pretty sure they are all individual.
   by jmak0 - 2008-11-18
 » damn them

damaging the game industry just for something which they themselves couldnt implement and put on the market. I say if your idea isn't benefitting mankind then you should have to sell/licence the patent to someone who is going to actually implement it otherwise you are just sitting on an idea waiting for someone to sell loads and then make a load of money without actually deserving it. The vague patents like this shouldn't be allowed to be filed - we need people like einstein in the patent offices (again)!

   by ch4dwick - 2008-11-19
 » sigh

Americans and their lawsuits. This is a common business strategy in the patent war.

When I worked for one American company I was told that when you file a patent make it "as broad as possible" so that its influence on competitors are as wide as legally possible.



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