Apple sued in Texas troll territory for iMovie patent infringement Apple has been sued by a small Texas firm for patent infringement related to how it tags, stores, and assembles video content in its consumer-level video-editing app, iMovie. The patent in question, US Patent No. 5,684,514, "Apparatus and method for assembling content addressable video," was filed in May 1994 and granted in …
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"If they prove to be entertaining and halfway "competent" the lawyers will be bought out and added to the front line of the Apple <--> Sammy war.. ;)"
If Apple suspected for one moment that Samsung might also be infringing the same IP, they'd probably buy the company rather than just the company's law firm.
This continuing abuse of the public by the US P.O. has to stop - it's more damaging than most anything.
Patents should have a limited life of 5 years and only extended if the patent owner can demonstrate a good reason.
Patent holders should be required to produce a viable patent that is used in production within two years of filing, otherwise they lose it and it becomes prior art.
"more damaging than most anything"? It's "more damaging" than armed conflict? Than the anti-vaccination movement? Than lack of access to clean water and safe heating and lighting for millions of people around the world? Than unchecked hyperbole?
The USPTO does not make the laws regarding patents.
If only manufacturers can hold patents, then you've forced small inventors out. You've also made it impossible to capitalize patents, which is the main source of collateral for funding innovation outside of large, established companies and scientific grants to universities - and in the latter case, captialization is a major source of recouping research costs and funding further research. Good job!
(Honestly, this topic seems particularly effective at bringing out the dumbest ideas from the Reg readership, regardless of how often people point out how dumb those ideas are.)
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