back to article OpenTV slaps Netflix with patent lawsuit

Netflix has been hit by a patent infringement lawsuit by Open TV, now a subsidiary of Nagra, the Switzerland-based conditional access company, part of the Kudelski Group. It has not said what the patents are, but the filings at the US District Court for the District of Delaware show that they are all software patents. There …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    dont people get penalised...

    For bringing vexacious, malicious suits that waste the court's time?

    1. AdamT

      Re: dont people get penalised...

      I _think_ this can happen in the UK at least, but that you have to be a very persistant offender and eventually a judge can label you as a "vexacious litigant" that will then make it much harder for you to bring any case at all, no matter how legitimate - so it's used as a last restort. But I don't think there is any means for your "first case" to be attract that penalty, it will just be thrown out on the first day. Obviously I've got no idea about the US ...

      1. kain preacher

        Re: dont people get penalised...

        The US has the same thing. In some states it works this way. you must have an lawyer who is not going to make any money of the case sign off saying that the suit has merit. In other states the court will review the case to see if it has and validity.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: dont people get penalised...

        BT should be penalised, who can forget their hyperlink patent. They've tried a few times to use old viewdata patents against the web. They should be banned from such lawsuits.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Stupid patents

      Yes. (It's not as necessary in the UK because a total loser pays all of the costs. So UK patent trolling is more likely to target small fry or be done by a front companies that can be liquidated when they lose.).

      Thing is though, if they own stupid patents they're completely entitled to stupid court cases to defend them.

  2. Mage Silver badge

    Copright. ... not patents

    It only benefits Trolls and Lawyers that "software patents" exist rather than just normal copyright protection.

  3. Trollslayer

    Got to agree with Mage

    Parasites who suck others dry instead of working for a living.

  4. Turtle_Fan
    FAIL

    Analysis!?

    Where is the so called analysis in this article?

    I think it's so biased that at best it should have been called opinion as analysis has some undertone of objectivity and lack of bias; whereas this sounds like Netflix's corporate counsel's reposte.

    1. Captain Underpants
      Thumb Down

      Re: Analysis!?

      @Turtle_Fan

      Well, if technical details of the patents involved haven't been released and they cover handwavey ideas rather than specific implementations, technical analysis is difficult. And the political/business analysis is already there - though apparently you disagree with it, since you've ignored it.

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Re: Analysis!?

      I find the article refreshingly contemptuous of the patents - I hope, accurately so.

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        Re: Analysis!?

        Given the history of this sort of thing, the timing and choice of target seems suspicious here. This case should have been filed sooner and probably against Apple rather than Netflix.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Netflix and alternative platforms...

    I suppose the same patent company are also going to go after Lovefilm, Tesco, BT Vision, Virgin Media, TIVO and all others who provide this sort of technology. OpenTV 2 middleware is already in Sky.

    Seriously. Without seeing the technical content of these patents I wonder what the patents relate too?

    http://www.nagra.com/dtv/products-and-solutions/client-technologies/opentv-middleware/ shows that it's an open Ecosystem and platform.

    Netflix is built on Silverlight so fail to see where to two different platforms meet.

    1. JEDIDIAH
      Linux

      Re: Netflix and alternative platforms...

      Prosecute the victim.

      If Netflix is just building on Silverlight then there's a good chance that it is their suppliers like Microsoft that are the real patent violators here. Netflix just seems to be using someone else's software. They aren't the real "violator" here.

    2. Colin Wright

      Re: Netflix and alternative platforms...

      Neflix might be built on Silverlight on Windows, but I doubt they're using Silverlight on the version for my Linux-based Samsung BluRay player.

  6. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Alien

    Pass the popcorn,

    Will Nagra be able to get Velvin Hogan past the voir dire????

    "And so it begins"

  7. David Kelly 2

    Software Patents Are Protected

    "Given that these are all software patents, and mostly just ideas, not relating to specifics, we suspect they are completely without merit once a court has taken a deeper look and that many of the patents will not stand scrutiny."

    I don't disagree that some fool is probably trying to patent what other systems have been doing for an eternity and set top boxes have been doing for only a little less time. But the fact that an invention is implemented in software makes it no less worthy of protection.

    1. LordHighFixer
      Trollface

      Re: Software Patents Are Protected

      Reminds me of an old argument I used to have on quite a frequent basis with a software developer friend in the old days. His line was "I can implement that function in software", to which my response was "I can implement in hardware and it will be 100 times faster". I guess if software patents did not exist I could argue I could implement that in hardware, and get a patent on it.

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