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X-Plane developer on CBS This Morning about Patent Trolls
Two years ago, Meyer made an X-Plane app for the Android smartphone. Things were going great. Then, this past summer, he received a letter. Meyer said a company called Uniloc was filing suit against him for patent infringement. According to the lawsuit, Uniloc says it owns the idea of a computer program checking a central server for authorization. It's a routine source code from Google that Meyer and many others plug in, simply allowing the app to confirm it was purchased legally. (www.cbsnews.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I believe that a lot of you that complain about patent trolls have spare bedrooms that you aren't using for anything but storage. Just because you don't use the bedroom should some bum be able to move in and complain that he is entitled to live there just because you aren't using the room? It is the same with patents. Inventors and other R&D entities spend years and pay thousands of dollars to invent new products, both hardware and software. Often they have their products copied by the very companies they try to license to, those companies betting that the inventors don't have enough money to do anything about their theft. When one does get called out for their illegal, yes illegal, theft they whine about how they are entitled (much the way people that don't want to work whine about how they are entitled to unemployment) and how the mean patent troll is after them. People and companies with entitlement attitudes are ruining this country.
Took him to court an won. Look up "Selden patent" There's tons of stuff.
Perhaps one should read and research the lawsuit against Microsoft brought by Unilock. Unilock always held he patent for software authorization/license authentication and Microsoft stole the work and used for its OS etc. it never paid due compansantion to Unilock. CBS News just sensationalized the issue without proper research. Meyer doesn't highlight how his IOS apps are authenticated. Android authentication in my opinion is just sloppy. Perhaps authentication process has to change from androids end before accusing Unilock as a troll. By the Unilock had the patent well before android was a tech zygote! Meyer should save his million and do a thorough research to his problem.
There was nothing for Microsoft to steal, because any such patent never should have been granted in the first place. Such a software process would fail both the "new" and the "obvious" tests since at least the late 1980s, and, arguably, much earlier.
Odds are that if the facts are as clear as Austin Meyer says they are, he will be able to suspend the lawsuit and have the Patent and Trademark Office reexamine the patent and find it invalid for very little money. I have done that with several patents without problem.
Austin Meyer should talk to Drew Curtis of Fark about patent trolls. He has a great Ted Talk on how he beat the trolls.
http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_curtis_how_i_beat_a_patent_troll.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_curtis_how_i_beat_a_patent_troll.html
The US patent system has been broken for decades and it seems nothing is being contemplated or done to fix this situation. The "trolls", who produce and manufacture nothing and don't ever intend to, now account for roughly half of the patents. A simple fix, produce it or lose it and you've got 3 years to show results.