Sounds like a submarine patent, which was discussed at length here in relation to why Apple was not supporting Ogg Theora.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_patent http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/decoding-the-html-5-video-codec-debate.ars or in past history the Unisys Compuserve GIF patent debacle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Interchange_Format#Unisys_and_LZW_patent_enforcement CB James & Nash wrote: > I thought US Federal law as well as international commercial law stated that > if a company or individual held a patent for something that it had to be > used within three to five years otherwise the patent would be invalid. I > think this was done because companies were just holding on to things as some > of them didn't know how to create the technology and were getting massive > payouts from court room brawls. > > Take care > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chris Blouch" <[email protected]> > To: "MacVisionaries" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:04 PM > Subject: Touchpad patent holder sues just about everyone > > > >> From Slashdot yesterday. >> >> "Okay, well, maybe not everyone but more than twenty companies >> (including Apple, Qualcomm, Motorola and Microsoft) are being sued for a >> generic patent that reads: 'Apparatus and methods for controlling a >> portable electronic device, such as an MP3 player; portable radio, voice >> recorder, or portable CD player are disclosed. A touchpad is mounted on >> the housing of the device, and a user enters commands by tracing >> patterns with his finger on a surface of the touchpad. No immediate >> visual feedback is provided as a command pattern is traced, and the user >> does not need to view the device to enter commands.' Sounds like their >> may be a few companies using that technology. The suit was filed on July >> 15th in the favoritest place ever to file patent claim lawsuits: Texas >> Eastern District Court. It's a pretty classic patent troll; they've been >> holding this patent since 2003 and they just noticed now that everyone >> and his dog are using touchpads to control portable electronic devices." >> >> http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/22/213256/Touchpad-Patent-Holder-Tsera-Sues-Just-About-Everyone >> >> CB >> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
