If you can't beat 'em, sue them! lol

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#460850 20-Apr-2011 10:26

The cost of patents to society today far outweighs the benefits imo, unfortunately it is really hard to reverse something that has been law for a long time. There are so many vested interested at stake now.

You do have to wonder how they ever thought giving an exclusive monopoly on a idea/design was ever a good idea.

The idea of patents actually goes against the fundamental basis of the free market. In a free market some combination of best/fastest/most reliable/cheaper should win out not whoever patented it and idea or design first and is willing to sue everyone.

I think trademark law is sufficient to protect brands from imitators, see the Fashion and Cooking industry for examples of industries that don't have patents which work fine.

.. and if an imitator is better that the original product - hey that's working as intended!

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#511248 24-Aug-2011 14:18

i've been wondering ... if we're unlucky we'd soon be buying only mercs, watching only samsungs, eating only roast, wearing only levis ... and china will cease to exist ... ever thought of that?!

Kiwi1971

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#511266 24-Aug-2011 14:45

Ragnor: The cost of patents to society today far outweighs the benefits imo, unfortunately it is really hard to reverse something that has been law for a long time. There are so many vested interested at stake now.

You do have to wonder how they ever thought giving an exclusive monopoly on a idea/design was ever a good idea.

The idea of patents actually goes against the fundamental basis of the free market. In a free market some combination of best/fastest/most reliable/cheaper should win out not whoever patented it and idea or design first and is willing to sue everyone.

I think trademark law is sufficient to protect brands from imitators, see the Fashion and Cooking industry for examples of industries that don't have patents which work fine.

.. and if an imitator is better that the original product - hey that's working as intended!

So screw the genuinely inovative companies, just let them do the work and have other companies with deeper pockets just copy it and put more money into marketing. That sounds fair

What about the poor b*ggers who spend half their life inventing something genuinely unique, are you advocating that anyone be able to just take that device/idea and incorporate it wholesale into their own product with no repercussions or need to compensate the originator?

In any case a company can use someone elses patent, they just need to pay for it and not just rip it off and pass it off as their own

Trademarking doesn't translate to products only intangables like images, names & phrases and logos etc.

DLS

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#511278 24-Aug-2011 14:59

good point, but what about cars and tvs, ABS, stability control, etc? I suppose i'm no engineer and each company needs to come up with their own algorithms ... but left pedal for brakes and right pedal for acceleration - i'm so glad no one's patented it! otherwise we need to accelerate with the middle finger on one car and and the wife's car we need to bang our head on the steering wheel

Linuxluver

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#511287 24-Aug-2011 15:11

semigeek: And this is one good reason why I won't touch Apple products.

+1

Is it true that Apple Photoshopped the images they took to the German court to make the Samsung Tab 10.1 look more like an iPad2?

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Debin

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#511290 24-Aug-2011 15:15

Not sure, wouldn't put it past them, but not sure how it would have escaped notice until now.

+2 for not buying Apple.

The stuff about the 2001 Space Odyssey copying the ipad is good advertising on Samsung's part.

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#511311 24-Aug-2011 15:38

Kiwi1971: So screw the genuinely inovative companies, just let them do the work and have other companies with deeper pockets just copy it and put more money into marketing. That sounds fair

What about the poor b*ggers who spend half their life inventing something genuinely unique, are you advocating that anyone be able to just take that device/idea and incorporate it wholesale into their own product with no repercussions or need to compensate the originator?

In any case a company can use someone elses patent, they just need to pay for it and not just rip it off and pass it off as their own

Trademarking doesn't translate to products only intangables like images, names & phrases and logos etc.

DLS

Unless you've got deep pockets you can't enforce your patents anyway, so they are really only useful to the rich.

alexx

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#511325 24-Aug-2011 15:57

Samsung to Apple: Kubrick made first iPad
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/5499345/Samsung-to-Apple-Kubrick-made-first-iPad

#include <standard.disclaimer>

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#511361 24-Aug-2011 16:46

Linuxluver:
semigeek: And this is one good reason why I won't touch Apple products.

+1

Is it true that Apple Photoshopped the images they took to the German court to make the Samsung Tab 10.1 look more like an iPad2?

More or less, yes.
http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Apple+Caught+Photoshopping+Galaxy+Tab+101+to+Look+Like+iPad+for+Lawsuit/article22459.htm

http://www.dailytech.com/Apple+Caught+Using+Photoshop+to+Fake+More+Pics+in+Lawsuits/article22500.htm

They scaled the devices to the same size using photoshop to emphasise the similarities.
All this patent stuff is getting really messy. Hopefully Google brought enough patents with the Motorola deal to get some patent sharing deals going and make some of this nonsense go away.

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#511366 24-Aug-2011 16:51

What worr_es me _s what _f Apple get the patent on the letter _ that they use _n front of everyth_ng then no one else w_ll be able to use _t.

toyonut

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#511374 24-Aug-2011 17:08

People making thin and light notebooks had better watch out too.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/macbook-air-patent-intel-ultrabook,13241.html

Intels Ultrabook concept might be DOA if this stuff continues.
Manufacturers like Asus will be stuffed:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Asus-UX21-core-Intel-Ultrabook,12827.html

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#511485 24-Aug-2011 21:01

Like said earlier Samsung produce parts / components for a lot of Apple products as well as many other companies selling high end tech stuff. I agree that maybe Samsung should simply stop supplying them and that will shut them up pretty quick.

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#511491 24-Aug-2011 21:08

I don't think that will work...
They are a sizeable customer of Samsung, and after all, if Samsung won't make it, someone else will...
It's not like Samsung are the only manufacturer in the world.

billgates

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#511492 24-Aug-2011 21:08

jtbthatsme: Like said earlier Samsung produce parts / components for a lot of Apple products as well as many other companies selling high end tech stuff. I agree that maybe Samsung should simply stop supplying them and that will shut them up pretty quick.

I am sure there is a contract signed by both parties (Apple and Samsung) which states that 'you cannot just 1 day tell us that we are not supplying you the parts anymore' until it expires.

Do whatever you want to do man.

macuser

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#511499 24-Aug-2011 21:20

Patents do make sense, Trademarks also make sense! Some patent hoarders don't.

Imagine if you were in a business where you sold a product, that looked and functioned a way that no other product does, which attracted customers because they specifically sort out your product as they hear it works great!

And then another manufacturer comes along selling a product on the virtue that it's just like yours, it looks like yours, works like yours meaning that the customer that once recognizes your product for it's specific traits is now confused! Not good.

It would piss me off if someone copied all my photographs, inspiration is fine, I'm inspired by other photographers work, but I try not to copy it.

Bringing google up, they're a cool company, but they're inherently not creative, it's a company of software engineers, there isn't a lot of taste involved. Mircrosoft is filling itself with those who have taste, and it's nice, Windows Phone 7 is beautiful!

Moral of my story is that I believe that companies have a right to defend their trademarks and IP if it makes their product unique, but I think IP that doesn't go far enough to make their product individual shouldn't stand up in court.

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