4 ms·
Congrats! How is the case of fighting off Dolby's patent racketeering going? They tried to attack Snapchat for using AV1.
by shmerl 4mo ago
Congrats!
How is the case of fighting off Dolby's patent racketeering going? They tried to attack Snapchat for using AV1.
- mmastrac 4mo agoLast update seems to be "lawsuit was filed" with zero updates since then. That stuff tends to move slowly.
- shmerl 4mo agoHopefully their patents will be busted and preferably Dolby will be also forced to pay damages for filing invalid lawsuits. That's the only way to teach patent trolls proper lessons.
- lofaszvanitt 4mo agoHow is Dolby a patent troll? :D
- shmerl 4mo agoBecause they have nothing to do with AV1, they simply want to leech on it. It's fitting to call them a patent troll.
- adgjlsfhk1 4mo agothey're a company that doesn't make any products. they just get actual hardware engineers to pay them to put a logo on their devices and to prevent Dolby from suing
- necovek 4mo agoWhile I agree with the general sentiment, I would not classify Dolby as a "patent troll" — they still do invest in research and developing products, right?
- kasabali 4mo agoPatent mob seems more fitting. Another example is Qualcomm
- shmerl 4mo agoI'd classify any patent racketeer as a troll. Dolby has nothing to do with AV1, they just want a parasitic rent on it. Whether the troll actually does anything else besides the trolling part isn't really relevant.
- basilgohar 4mo agoThis will always happen. There are just some entities that can't stand not seeking rent.
- ethin 4mo agoIt may always happen but it would happen less if we updated patent laws to fine people who filed invalid patents or enforced some kind of similar punishment. If you file a patent, it's up to you to verify that your patent is actually valid, and the courts shouldn't have to do that legwork for you. It also doesn't help that the patent office/components of governments don't review patents as thoroughly as they used to. Same with trademarks.
- shmerl 4mo agoEven better, software patents should not be allowed in the first place.
- zamadatix 4mo agoI generally don't like the current patent law but it sounds a bit off to pay the government & wait for them to review your patent claim and then get fined by the government when both of you were wrong about it. There are already processes to additionally fine a company bringing about a truly frivolous patent lawsuit, it's just rare because usually it's not so cut and dry as we'd like it to be.
- ethin 4mo agoI mean my idea isn't the only one in that solution space. My reasoning was to ensure that the government actually reviewed the patent and ensured it was valid instead of rubber stamping it. Or, even better, the filer of the patent application would do that. Although the best is probably to make software unpatentable anyway.
- zamadatix 4mo agoYeah, I wouldn't mind getting rid of software patents. Or, at least, making the patent reviews more rigorous before assignment.
- cyberax 4mo agoDolby's patents are garbage, and they know it. They managed to patent entropy coding somehow. This will not stand to challenges, and they managed to poke a well-resourced company.