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back to article UK court rules Nokia infringed patent, Finns party on anyway

A top UK court has ruled that Nokia's old 3G handsets infringed a telecoms patent owned by technology warehouse IPCom, which wants a ban on every mobile made by the Finns. The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected Nokia's attempt to dismiss IPCom's case against it. The two companies, both of which claimed victory, continue to …

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  1. g e
    Stop

    Fresh batteries

    For Kneelie Kroes, please!

    There's something seriously unpleasant about a business model based on suing people for shit you never had the brains to invent yourself. I should think about the only thing IPTroll IPCOM created was jobs for lawyers.

    There's a real need for agreement that if you're not utilising 'your' IP then you don't have the right to defend it or demand a license. In fact if you don't utilise it within 5 years of grant/acquisition it's voided and made fully open.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fresh batteries

      Initially, I liked your idea. I thought it could work and I thought it would put an end to companies who exist only to profit by screwing others. But then I realised it would also kill off those companies that sell licence packages consisting of all the licences required to build a type of product. And then I realised, it doesn't work because then you'd get a whole heap more claims.

      Additionally, as lawyers are in fact a most innovative breed, they'll always find another way to screw people. Presently IP lawyers argue that X's products infringe Y's patient. Your suggestion would result in lawyers arguing not only that X's products infringe Y's patient but also that Y's products implement Y's patients. So the net result would be that they'd be able to drag out some cases for even longer and they'd word patients differently to perform better under new legal conditions.

      I know, I'm disappointed too.

      AC because I don't want to get screwed too. Where is my tin foil hat?

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      1. Havin_it
        Reply Icon
        Headmaster

        Re: Re: Fresh batteries

        >Where is my tin foil hat?

        Be patent, I'm sure it'll turn up.

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      2. Charles 9
        Reply Icon

        Re: Fresh batteries

        Don't patent applications require examples of their use, typically in drawings? Why can't the patent judge simply go, "let's see this example in action"?

        But I'll tell you one set of companies that would be dead-set against the idea: pharmaceutical companies. Developing new medicines literally takes years (I once read that out of a 25-year design patent for a medicine, companies can typically only take advantage of five years or so--it takes that long to develop and test new drugs) and costs mucho moola. They take out the design patent as a safeguard against industrial espionage and more-mondane copycatting (few things more frustrating than plunking a few billion into a new wonder drug only to find your rival firm, working independently, beat you to market).

        It would take a significant change of patent law to deal with each problem without running afoul of each other.

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  2. AndrueC Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Apparently I'll never be a phone developer. It all sounds to me like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Like most patent cases - just a big waste of time and an excuse for lawyers to trouser more money.

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    1. Vic
      Reply Icon

      > It all sounds to me like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin

      Not so.

      It's arguing that the pin manufacturer needs to buy a licence to put a head on that pin... :-(

      Vic.

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      1. Stratman
        Reply Icon

        Or that Terpsi Corps have patented the dance.

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  3. Karirunc
    Mushroom

    problem is that patent offices are not exactly stuffed with einsteins

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    1. Charles 9
      Reply Icon

      Or just ordinary people for that matter. So you've got a few ordinary people trying to deal with a mountain of highly-technical patents full of legalese (thanks to patent lawyers)...every year. And you wonder why so many bad patents seem to slip through the cracks. It's like trying to analyze four live television shows...in realtime...simultaneously.

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    2. Steven Jones
      Reply Icon

      Not many Einsteins to go round, but...

      "problem is that patent offices are not exactly stuffed with einsteins"

      Whilst not exactly stuffed with Einsteins, the Swiss patent office at the start of the 20th century could, at least, claim the only one anybody has ever heard of.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Abolish patents now!

    Ideas are not invented, they are discovered, and they belong to all humankind.

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    1. Giles Jones Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Abolish patents now!

      Having patents allows for a small company to have some protection against their new ideas being ripped off. It is hard to start a new company with a great new idea without them.

      The problem is patents are also granted to huge companies and this is where the system fails.

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