Results 31 to 60 of 78
-
2012-11-16, 10:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
I'm just gonna patent the letters "P," "A," "T," "E," and "N." Then I'll win!
-
2012-11-16, 11:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
-
2012-11-16, 11:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
-
2012-11-17, 03:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Brooklyn
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
this is almost as bad as the guy who patented the stick as a method to exercise dogs...
-
2012-11-17, 07:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
- Location
- TGaPT
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Rational?
I'm sorry, I really don't see how 16:10 horizontal ratio is identical to 3:4 vertical. Can someone enlighten me?
They are so different that Apple had to defiantly photoshop both tablets and phones made by Samsung in order to make them similar to Apple products, including outright removal of Samsung's horizontal logo (and, as you can see on the pic, they replaced Samsung's main UI with widgets with alternative vertical UI in another attempt to make it more similar to iPad) - and this somehow didn't caused Apple attempt to be immediately thrown out of the court and punitive damages slapped on them, it won them the case, in fact.
Maybe I'm just not rational, but if it's the case I'm not going to feel sorry for long.Come one, come all! GitP MLP Steam Group is open!
Current location of the last MLP Thread OP, too.
Want to ask me something? Use MAIL or message me on Steam!
"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"
-
2012-11-17, 08:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
...maybe you're speaking Trixiese?
More seriously, why is it so important? Okay, this strange and moderately bad thing has happened, but, is focusing on it intently worth our time? Is there some lesson to be learned here about the quality, or lack there of, in the judicial persons and process that allowed the patent?
I don't mean to be rude or offensive. I...just want to ask the question. "Can we make a difference? If not, is thinking about these events the best use of our time?"
-
2012-11-17, 09:12 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
- Location
- TGaPT
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Why bother?
Maybe disliking Apple is my hobby, you know.
But seriously, one and only thing stopping companies from engaging in dubious and unethical behaviour is potential customers hearing about it and reacting to these. Maybe posting this on the forum won't change much, as you say...
But not posting it is indifference that won't solve anything, only will make matters worse. Maybe, just maybe, a lot of people pointing out to others that it is in our best interest to see world where people fight with inventions, not with troll lawsuits, is in out best interest.
Yes, pretty stupid hope, I know.
Otherwise, we will wake up in a world where we don't have choice, because big companies with troll patents can kick out any innovative startup out of business. And you know what? I actually saw such world. Up until 1989, my area of the world had only one brand of everything on the shelves, with competition being officially forbidden. Guess how cool these days were for potential customers?
One example - why sell chocolade bars, when you can have similar profit selling chocolate-like product made from margarine? I see Apple going in pretty much the same way (only with computers) with all speed they can muster, and I don't care for reliving the experience, TYVM.Come one, come all! GitP MLP Steam Group is open!
Current location of the last MLP Thread OP, too.
Want to ask me something? Use MAIL or message me on Steam!
"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"
-
2012-11-17, 09:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
-
2012-11-17, 06:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
I'd like to be serious for a second. Thubby was being rational because that's the way the law works. The governments of most nations of the world have given them the right to sue other people that made designs similar to their designs.
Those same governments put a system in place to protect people's inventions and industrial designs and they made part of that system work by awarding legal rights and monopolies to people that file first unless someone else can show evidence that the invention or design isn't really new.
So, yeah, Apple got some pretty ridiculous-looking design patents. But a lot of lawyers got paid a lot of money to come up with any evidence that someone else had made similar designs. And they failed. If you think that's messed up you either need to argue that the whole system is messed up, or that somewhere along the way some people made really serious mistakes (judges, lawyers, patent examiners, all of the above).
If you don't think anyone messed up and you don't think the system is wrong, I don't get how you can argue that Apple is being bad.
-
2012-11-17, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
I happen to believe both are true- the system is designed to grant and protect incorrect patents, and the process of patent litigation allows for *staggering* amounts of both malfeasance and simple human error that grants such patents a value ridiculously greater than they could possibly truly be worth. I have absolutely no problem saying Apple is Doing It Wrong, along with nearly every other part of the patent system.
-
2012-11-17, 09:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
-
2012-11-17, 09:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- Washington
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
The view that such as thing as these patents is necessary is moronic.
A patent on a decorative design such as this is pointless, it would be like patenting a painting. in a similar note; would not patents like this encourage such idiocy as the patents on parts of the human genome!? Do humans truly wish to live in a world ruled by tyrants, and live without thinking as human sheep?
Order needs chaos to exist properly, some patents might prove to do some good some day, but their existence encourages many more people with dishonorable intents to create patents such as the ones this thread is about.Last edited by Togath; 2012-11-17 at 09:36 PM.
Meow(Steam page)
[I]"If you are far from this regions, there is a case what the game playing can not be comfortable.["/I]
-
2012-11-17, 09:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Well, that's a totally fair stance. I think there is a lot of theoretical opposition and "sky if falling" fears from people that are invested in the continuation of the patent system, but if you got over that, you and I would agree that the whole system likely needs an overhaul.
Collective action problem.
-
2012-11-17, 09:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
- Location
- 東京
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Goofy patents; the "frivolous lawsuits" of the 2010s. Come 2018 and people will be sick of talking about it. You heard it here first, guys.
-
2012-11-17, 10:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- Washington
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Meow(Steam page)
[I]"If you are far from this regions, there is a case what the game playing can not be comfortable.["/I]
-
2012-11-18, 06:05 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Location
- Bristol, UK
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
As far as I'm aware, the US patent office is basically sitting at the bottom of a dogpile and has no hope in hell of actually inspecting a patent to verify that it's legitimate. It's basically assumed that that's acceptable because the courts (outside of Texas) will scrutinise a patent properly if it's ever used.
That said, large and reputable business companies generally have much better things to do with their time than the patent trolls.Last edited by lesser_minion; 2012-11-18 at 06:15 AM.
-
2012-11-18, 11:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Considering that Apple made the argument that "tap to unlock" is a "slide to unlock" with a slide length of zero, I think the problem is not the lawyers failing to find evidence of a design feature existing prior to Apple's patent, but that Apple was able to successfully litigate based upon a patent that is too broad to be meaningful. It's arguable whose fault that is, but the point is less about Apple creating the design than it is the design patented being too generic to be reasonably enforced, yet being enforced nonetheless.
-
2012-11-19, 11:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
- Location
- Where ever trouble brews
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Hey, if it gets me a cut of casino profits and RPG money, I'll gladly compensate.
While we are at it, we should sue for emotional trauma caused by the very idea that someone else was using those shapes without our permission or knowledge.
I feel violated knowing that my dice were in the hands of total strangers, being thrown around on tables or in randomizers or in cups. Ugh. How terrible.Last edited by Karoht; 2012-11-19 at 11:48 AM.
~~Courage is not the lack of fear~~
"In soviet dungeon, aboleth farms you!"
"Please consult your DM before administering Steve brand Aboleth Mucus.
Ask your DM if Aboleth Mucus is right for you.
Side effects include coughing, sneezing, and other flu like symptoms, cancer, breathing water like a fish, loss of dignity, loss of balance, loss of bowel and bladder control."
-
2012-11-19, 11:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2008
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
I've decided that I need to patent innovation.
-
2012-11-19, 01:09 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
- Location
- Where ever trouble brews
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Last edited by Karoht; 2012-11-19 at 01:11 PM.
~~Courage is not the lack of fear~~
"In soviet dungeon, aboleth farms you!"
"Please consult your DM before administering Steve brand Aboleth Mucus.
Ask your DM if Aboleth Mucus is right for you.
Side effects include coughing, sneezing, and other flu like symptoms, cancer, breathing water like a fish, loss of dignity, loss of balance, loss of bowel and bladder control."
-
2012-11-19, 02:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2011
- Location
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
U.S Patent law scares me.
As far as I'm aware though, we still have specific legislation over here that actually stops insane American copyright, corporate and patent law being argued in inter-jurisdictional disputes. I'm running off of possibly outdated hearsay on that one though - Private International Law isn't really my thing
-
2012-11-19, 04:07 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
I hate to break it to you, but that one's already been filed.
-
2012-11-20, 01:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
- Location
- An Abyssal Tower
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Society has clearly failed us...
Mauve Shirt, Savannah, Gnomish Wanderer, Cuthalion and Smuchmuch get cookies for making me avatars. (::)
(::) Current avatar by Smuchmuch (::)
Co Founder of LUTAS - For all your less than useful heroes out there.
My Deviant Art. Careful, it's full of ponies.
Dragons!
-
2012-11-20, 12:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
- Location
- Where ever trouble brews
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
Last edited by Karoht; 2012-11-20 at 12:27 PM.
~~Courage is not the lack of fear~~
"In soviet dungeon, aboleth farms you!"
"Please consult your DM before administering Steve brand Aboleth Mucus.
Ask your DM if Aboleth Mucus is right for you.
Side effects include coughing, sneezing, and other flu like symptoms, cancer, breathing water like a fish, loss of dignity, loss of balance, loss of bowel and bladder control."
-
2012-11-20, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
-
2012-11-20, 07:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
- Location
- TGaPT
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
But it's backwards. The system is supposed to protect inventions - good. But now, the system is really loose on what you could patent and burden of proof you did not infringe lies on the accused. It's a bit as if we had presumption of guild and the prosecution could give anything as evidence, no matter how dumb. The burden on proof should rely on accusing party.
So, yeah, Apple got some pretty ridiculous-looking design patents. But a lot of lawyers got paid a lot of money to come up with any evidence that someone else had made similar designs. And they failed. If you think that's messed up you either need to argue that the whole system is messed up, or that somewhere along the way some people made really serious mistakes (judges, lawyers, patent examiners, all of the above).
Why I can't say system is theoretically good, and people work as good as they can, but it is the way people are picked for it that skews things?
Leaving for a second concept of jury, which is IMHO ridiculously flawed (why 12 random people are better in deciding the case than a judge that had to work his ass off to get a difficult degree - why they are even needed?) the problem lies in how quickly technology base grows and diversifies.
Consider, for example, this photo. We touched the matter of Samsung pad on it being false. Both me and you can grasp the concept - Photoshop is nothing new to us. But, both judge and jury who doesn't see shopped photos daily might greatly overestimate how hard it is to doctor such picture and treat it as a proof, even subconsciously. Someone who see, though, can look at iPad photo to the left, notice faux glare (as this photo was probably pulled from iStore), then conclude it's doctored as thoroughly (albeit for marketing reasons) as Samsung.
In short, neither device is "real", both are manipulated images. It should be immediately rejected out of hand as proof of anything - but how many judges know this? How many juries? Even if they do, what abound finance cases? Medicine? Etc? These people try to do well, but the truth is, they're more and more under-qualified for the job, and even if system was perfect, it would warp it. And so it was accepted as damning proof.
If you don't think anyone messed up and you don't think the system is wrong, I don't get how you can argue that Apple is being bad.
Let's look at this - rapid patentization of competition is threatening to destroy stock market exchange in USA. Another might cause net encryption illegal without paying - meaning, someone might be conceivably able to tax the entire internet and a big chunk of world economy alongside it. Do you think this is normal?
Sad thing is, patents are needed. But, IMHO, only patents for true innovations, not a few ambiguously worded sentences that might be used in plain violation of their spirit to extract revenue and kill innovation.Come one, come all! GitP MLP Steam Group is open!
Current location of the last MLP Thread OP, too.
Want to ask me something? Use MAIL or message me on Steam!
"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"
-
2012-11-20, 08:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: So, Apparently Apple Patented Square?
...please be careful, Trixie. I, at least, wouldn't want to see you eject a spring.
Spinning one's wheels builds unreleased stress.
Obviously, I'm not going to argue against the above points. Most are correct from an ethical or philosophical perspective. But I'd like to ask a question. "What can we do to improve the situation?"
-
2012-11-20, 11:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
- Location
- An Abyssal Tower
- Gender
Re: So, Apparently Apple Patented Square?
Mauve Shirt, Savannah, Gnomish Wanderer, Cuthalion and Smuchmuch get cookies for making me avatars. (::)
(::) Current avatar by Smuchmuch (::)
Co Founder of LUTAS - For all your less than useful heroes out there.
My Deviant Art. Careful, it's full of ponies.
Dragons!
-
2012-11-21, 01:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
This is my question as well. Some people say throw out the whole system. I don't agree with that one. Since Trixie says it's theoretically good, I'm guessing we agree there.
I've heard a lot of other proposals. Some people suggest that patents should only be for a finished invention, meaning the actual physical thing (or computer program or production process) that you can show someone. Anything else that's similar wouldn't be protected.
Some people think they should just be more strict: patents are supposed to only come out for novel stuff and if the invention is "obvious" then it's not supposed to get a patent. Right now "obvious" only means that two or more older things could be combined to get the new thing and there was some reason to think to put those things together. But it could mean what we normally think the word "obvious" means and then we could say that rectangles with rounded corners are obvious.
There are also proposals for changes to how patents are read or what evidence is accepted in trials, as both of those are really strict right now.
It's really hard though because some industries that depend on patents are so big. Imagine you were the one that had to make the call on sweeping changes, and you realized that if you make a big mistake, maybe you ruin a $100 billion industry. It's really scary.
-
2012-11-21, 02:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- Washington
- Gender
Re: So, apparently Apple patented square?
If you ruin an industry to do good. So be it.
Meow(Steam page)
[I]"If you are far from this regions, there is a case what the game playing can not be comfortable.["/I]