Judge Posner To Apple & Motorola: Go Home 63
reebmmm writes "Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, voluntarily sitting as a district court judge, in the patent infringement dispute between Apple and Motorola has, tentatively, dismissed the case on the eve of trial. In this hilariously short order, Judge Posner states, 'I have tentatively decided that the case should be dismissed with prejudice because neither party can establish a right to relief.' Because it is 'with prejudice' the parties cannot refile their case. The parties are likely to appeal the order (when it's finalized)."
Red Slashdot Header (Score:5, Funny)
You shouldn't.. (Score:1)
You shouldn't. That means you're seeing it before it has gone live. Which is generally a plum that only subscribers enjoy.
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Nope. Seen plenty of those colored green.
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That shows the quality of coding that goes into /..
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It takes some time to populate and propagate the content to all proxies. Add possible time desynchronization and there comes your too-early/too-late.
We are talking tech news, not some high-precision announcement so the amount of cpu-power, engineering and system maintenance required to reduce the delay to e.g. a few seconds is simply unacceptable
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I think, also, those with very high Karma can sometimes get a story early for free. I've posted on red-header stories, before, and I'm not a subscriber.
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I get 'em regularly, and I'm not a subscriber either. I thought everyone did!
Huh (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like ol'timey judgin'.
Y'all idjits go home now, and stop actin' like children in my here courtroom.
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Re:Huh (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like ol'timey judgin'.
Y'all idjits go home now, and stop actin' like children in my here courtroom.
I don't necessarily like every one of Judge Posner's decisions or opinions, but he is a remarkably erudite man. He writes opinion pieces fairly regularly, and they're generally informed and well-reasoned. Just Google his name for samples.
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Common sense (Score:5, Insightful)
This seems like common sense and the first good news in a while about our seemingly broken patent system.
It seems to me that if it can be done on a computer any computer, than it's not automatically "novel" if you can do it on a slightly different type of computer (desktop, laptop, mobile device, in car navigation system, etc.) Stop "pretending" to invent something new for Mobile devices when the same technology already exists for desktops, Etc.
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Exactly. Software patents based on platform are stupid. The logic didn't change.....just the libraries called (and sometimes, not even those -- Windows Phone uses many of the same .Net calls as regular Windows).
Re:Common sense (Score:5, Informative)
The (tentative) ruling has nothing to do with definitions of patentable subject matter, novelty for patent purposes, or validity of the patents for any other reason; it is all about the inability of either side to demonstrate damages tied to the alleged violation of the presumed-valid patents, and the lack of any basis for any relief aside from an award of damages. From the ruling:
"Apple concedes that [...] it cannot prove damages for the alleged infringement of the '002 and '949 patents. [...] I tentatively conclude that its admissible evidence of damages with respect to [its claims for infringement of the '263 and '647 patents] does not [...] withstand Motorola's motion for summary judgement. I likewise conclude that the admissible evidence of damages with respect to the alleged infringement of Motorola's '898 patent also fails to create a genuine issue of material fact. That leaves only the parties' claims to injunctive relief. [...] I cannot find a basis for an award of injunctive relief."
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A Fine example... (Score:5, Insightful)
of the job a judge is supposed to do.
tentative view (Score:1)
"...I may change my mind..."
I don't hear no fat lady yet
When they appeal his order ... (Score:1)
... Judge Posner should run back over to his appeals court and tell them to go home again. :P
Love Posner (Score:5, Interesting)
Posner is my new favorite judge. He also supports legalization of marijuana and LSD.
Read the ruling, it is only 1.5 pages, it is worth it :)
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I didn't see anything at all in the ruling about marijuana or LSD, and what do either have to do with the Motorola / Apple thing anyway?
Re:Love Posner (Score:4, Funny)
Goes to credibility, your honor.
Personal connection, apropos of nothing (Score:5, Interesting)
22 years ago last December, Judge Posner presided over my marriage.
I knew him a little bit and my wife and I got our marriage license. Posner was walking across Dearborn toward the Daley Center and I introduced him to my bride. We told him we were leaving on a honeymoon the next morning and he invited us to his chambers, which were in the Chancery section of the Circuit Court at the time, if I remember correctly and he performed the ceremony with a law clerk as witness.
We later had a more ceremonial ceremony.
Posner is a pretty good egg. The fact that he was an appointee of Ronald Reagan shows just how far our political frame has come from those days. Not one of the last two Republican presidents would have touched nominating Posner because the Republicans in congress would have shit themselves, not to mention the current Republican (free) base.
Re:Personal connection, apropos of nothing (Score:4, Insightful)
He was making a conclusion based on facts. It's like when someone says Goldwater would now be considered far too left to ever have a chance at the Republican nomination (especially given that back in '96, Goldwater said he and Bob Dole were now the liberal wing of the Republican party). It's partisan in that it's about a particular party, but that doesn't make it wrong or distasteful unless of course you're in blind allegiance to that party -- and even then, you could instead be proud that your party has changed as much as it has.
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Good grief, I didn't realize Tea Baggers came to Slashdot...
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Lots of deranged Libduhtarian types on /.
Re:So a wedding judge story is basing thing on fac (Score:4, Funny)
In this corner, we have... ANONYMOUS COWARD!!!
And his opponent, in the other core, ANONYMOUS COWARD!!!
This is the fight of the century, gentlemen... *DINGDING!* Here we go!
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You're the dummy. You are, you are.
Everybody knows it's a 2/3 empty glass of water.
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The Republicans are headed right back there, herded by the Tea Party.
But the Republicans were never so far away from that standard as you think, you've just bought into the propaganda.
Re:Posner == Poser (Score:4, Informative)
He did no such thing. He issued a tentative ruling as a heads' up courtesy to the litigants. This will allow one, the other, or both one mad dash, last-ditch effort to get their shit together if they actually have any shit to get together before they get kicked up to the next level.
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Judge Posner is in every casebook that every 1L will read in every law school in the country. Perhaps if you read the case you would understand what he is saying.
A short order (Score:4, Insightful)
And yet, we get a link to scribd.com. Why? Did someone think we'd miss all the overhead of oddball formatting, disks spinning, Facebook popups and network LEDs flashing?
Great moments in south park and star wars history. (Score:1)
Wow, Both parties got got the judicial version of Screw you guys I am going home. Why should the court waste its time when you will apeal it later.
Trully a great moment for the US Judicial System.
Almost as good as when the Death Star (AT&T) was destroyed by Judge Greene in 1981.
Judge Posner is an interesting guy (Score:5, Interesting)
This guy is the most accomplished, most intelligent judge who will never ever be considered by anyone for an appointment to SCOTUS. He's way too frank, way too likely to follow his own excellent interpretation of the pro-social intentions behind laws and is routinely completely inappropriate, at least as adjudicated by either and both sides of the current US political bifurcation.
Although some observers count him as a conservative, ( I guess because he's not expressly liberal?) the kind of independence, fearlessness and good common sense he delivers on a regular basis, often in pithy, high IQ, quotable-quote form, makes him ineligible to be considered one of the current crop of psycho, Ayn Rand worshiping, anti-science anti-evolution religious zealots that is the means test for "conservatives" these days.
If we could populate our court system with judges like this guy (Republicans would filibuster) , our nation's judiciary would work more like it's supposed to and less like a force multiplier for corporations and special interests.
If you're into the law either where it intersects with tech or broader society, this is a guy's name is worthy of a weekly Google alert.
Some very Posnerian Posner quotes:
âoeModern judicial opinions tend to be too long, and we shall try to be brief. We shall even forgo the usual prefatory statement of facts, which would disclose an utterly routine, though very large, illegal drug operation.â
U.S. v. Herrera-Medina (1988).
âoeThe filing of an appeal should never be a conditioned reflex. About half the practice of a decent lawyer consists in telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop.â Hill v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co. (1987)
And here's one that's sure to raise his esteem around these parts: .
âoeGilding the lily, the officer testified that he was additionally suspicious because when he drove by [the suspect] in his squad car before turning around and getting out and accosting him he noticed that [the suspect] was âstar[ing] straight ahead.â(TM) Had [the suspect] instead glanced around him, the officer would doubtless have testified that [he] seemed nervous or, the preferred term because of the vagueness, âfurtive.â(TM) Whether you stand still or move, drive above, below or at the speed limit, you will be described by the police as acting suspiciously should they wish to stop or arrest you. Such subjective, promiscuous appeals to an ineffable intuition should not be credited.â U.S. v. Broomfield (2005)
And finally:
âoeOnce a case gets to the jury, all bets are off.â Speakers of Sport Inc. v. ProServ Inc. (1999)
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