the patent office

well i glanced thru the past few pages of anything goes and didn't see anything on this, so i'll start a topic.

while reading my RSS feed from engadget, i noticed an article quoted from slashdot which was quoted from techdirt, here.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080124/16382062.shtml

apparently, someone has patented "smartphones" and is pretty much suing anyone involved with making what they deem a "smartphone".

i'll save the long speech i just gave my room mates about it and just say i think it's rather stupid someone's suing everyone else for making "smartphones" which they somehow patented, on 1/22/08.


opinions?

The patent itself was actually filed a while ago, but it was just granted. However, I'll agree that the guy is a blatant patent troll in that his sole purpose of applying for such a patent was for litigation.

Unfortunately, all that it's going to take to make this endeavor worthwhile is a single settlement from any of the companies that are being sued. The guy could then just drop every other lawsuit after having made his cash. Let's hope every court throws this guy on the basis of being frivolous. Plus, he's gotta be either really brave or really stupid to go up against massive teams of lawyers each of those companies employ.

Like some of the comments over at Slashdot mentioned, this should be the catalyst that leads to the overhauling of the ridiculous patent system.

no kidding. and i didn't read the entire patent itself, but from the first few "points" (i guess they're called?) it really sounded like my chocolate could be a smartphone by that definition because it has removable memory and internet access and a built in GPS.

let's hope apple comes in and saves the day because the iphone doesn't have removable memory card slots... or gps... lol

Apple could technically file for summary judgement and then countersue the patent holder for having filed a frivolous lawsuit simply on the basis that the iPhone does not have removable storage. ;P

I read a bit more into it and you gotta love the slimeball. The lawsuits were all filed at 12:01AM the day after receiving their patent.