4 ms·

Apple to Pay $21.7 million to Patent Troll

17 points by J3L2404 16y ago

wccrawford 16y ago
Think maybe Apple will put some money towards fixing the patent system now? I keep waiting for the big names to really start pushing for reform, since they are only ever hurt by patents and never helped by them. At least, as far as I can tell.
- e40 16y ago
  I think this sum is tiny compared to what they are paid. So, no, they won't do anything to fix it.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    Especially considering they are playing the patent game and suing people as well.
- binarymax 16y ago
  Actually, many big companies (like Apple, Microsoft, IBM, etc) have a huge arsenal of IP that they benefit from and enforce when needed.
- CountSessine 16y ago
  Why? They've settled this lawsuit for a pittance and now presumably OPTi will scamper off and harass Apple's competitors with similar lawsuits.
atomical 16y ago
"It seems like each week we hear of another company that has decided to roll the dice in court to try to make a profit off of an idea, regardless of how obvious an idea it might be, because "they had it first." I'm no lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV, but it seems like this sort of thing was almost unheard of even a few years ago." This makes me cringe when compared with the beginning of the article, "I have only a vague idea of what that even means." It's so damn obvious you can't even understand it!
smalter 16y ago
The article linked to is a summary of this article, which I think is better, and has less of this I-don't-know-what's-going-on-but-I-don't-think-it's-right language: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/07/apple_drops_appeal_of_21_7_million_opti_patent_suit.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/07/apple_drops_ap.... Still, the appleinsider article says that the case was brought in the Eastern District of Texas which is "notorious for catering to patent trolls." Yet, the case was settled the day before argument in the USCA for the Fed. Circuit which is the consolidated court of appeals for patent cases. That suggests to me that OPTI had a defensible case. There is the broader question of whether our patent system is broken, but there's nothing that immediately stands out as egregious in this case based on the facts that i read here and in the Bloomberg article (vs. the inflammatory language used in the linked article and the subject of the OP).
jacquesm 16y ago
If you live by the sword you should not be surprised if you are either hurt or killed by other people's swords.
- tptacek 16y ago
  This settlement was %.1 of Apple's Q4 revenue. Exercise: figure out what %.1 of your own top-line revenue is for Q4. Now, look at the number, disregard the percentage. How big a deal would that number be to you?
gst 16y ago
Why should this company be any more of a patent troll than Apple, or any other of the companies that register trivial patents and then sue other companies?

17 points by J3L2404 16y ago

Think maybe Apple will put some money towards fixing the patent system now? I keep waiting for the big names to really start pushing for reform, since they are only ever hurt by patents and never helped by them. At least, as far as I can tell.

e40 16y ago
I think this sum is tiny compared to what they are paid. So, no, they won't do anything to fix it.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  Especially considering they are playing the patent game and suing people as well.
binarymax 16y ago
Actually, many big companies (like Apple, Microsoft, IBM, etc) have a huge arsenal of IP that they benefit from and enforce when needed.
CountSessine 16y ago
Why? They've settled this lawsuit for a pittance and now presumably OPTi will scamper off and harass Apple's competitors with similar lawsuits.

atomical 16y ago

"It seems like each week we hear of another company that has decided to roll the dice in court to try to make a profit off of an idea, regardless of how obvious an idea it might be, because "they had it first." I'm no lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV, but it seems like this sort of thing was almost unheard of even a few years ago." This makes me cringe when compared with the beginning of the article, "I have only a vague idea of what that even means." It's so damn obvious you can't even understand it!

smalter 16y ago

The article linked to is a summary of this article, which I think is better, and has less of this I-don't-know-what's-going-on-but-I-don't-think-it's-right language: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/07/apple_drops_appeal_of_21_7_million_opti_patent_suit.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/07/apple_drops_ap.... Still, the appleinsider article says that the case was brought in the Eastern District of Texas which is "notorious for catering to patent trolls." Yet, the case was settled the day before argument in the USCA for the Fed. Circuit which is the consolidated court of appeals for patent cases. That suggests to me that OPTI had a defensible case. There is the broader question of whether our patent system is broken, but there's nothing that immediately stands out as egregious in this case based on the facts that i read here and in the Bloomberg article (vs. the inflammatory language used in the linked article and the subject of the OP).

jacquesm 16y ago

If you live by the sword you should not be surprised if you are either hurt or killed by other people's swords.

tptacek 16y ago
This settlement was %.1 of Apple's Q4 revenue. Exercise: figure out what %.1 of your own top-line revenue is for Q4. Now, look at the number, disregard the percentage. How big a deal would that number be to you?

gst 16y ago

Why should this company be any more of a patent troll than Apple, or any other of the companies that register trivial patents and then sue other companies?