Patent Troll VirnetX Wants To Ban FaceTime and iMessage, Increase Damages Award By $190M (9to5mac.com) 94
An anonymous reader writes: Earlier this year, patent troll VirnetX won a court battle with Apple to the tune of $625 million. Now, the company wants to increase the damages award by $190 million. Law360 reports: "At a post-trial hearing Wednesday, Texas technology company VirnetX argued that although an injunction blocking Apple's popular video chatting and messaging features, along with a virtual private network on demand feature, may seem like a harsh remedy, it is necessary because of the irreparable harm Apple's infringement caused the company. VirnetX also asked the court to increase the jury's damages award by at least $190 million, arguing that Apple has been the 'poster child' for unreasonable litigation tactics." VirnetX also wants the court to block FaceTime and iMessage entirely. "Meanwhile, Apple argued that in light of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decisions rejecting the four patents-in-suit, an injunction would be inappropriate, as would any ongoing royalty based on FaceTime, iMessage and virtual private network on demand features. The tech giant also sought a mistrial based on a purportedly inappropriate argument to the jury and argued that the company is entitled to a judgment of non infringement, despite the jury verdict, based on VirnetX's allegedly insufficient evidence," reports Law360.
Good Grief... (Score:5, Insightful)
When are legitimate IP and patent holders going to band together and take out the courts in Texas? Sure, we all have different ideas about "Intellectual Property" and patents, but this has to stop. The courts in Texas are a money making enterprise that should be taken down with the RICO Act. It's a State of Texas sponsored SCAM. The "big players" like Apple and Microsoft (I know, I know...) need to "pony up" and kill this shit off.
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So the little guy that has a valid patent but has no business training, no capital to fund production or pay employees is SOL?
The patents were bought from SAIC, so that's not relevant to this case.
Re:Good Grief... (Score:5, Interesting)
The patents were bought from SAIC, so that's not relevant to this case.
To rephrase that for the unacquainted:
The patents were bought from the DIA by a CIA patent troll front.
SAIC is one of the top 10 defense contractors. You remember Q from James Bond? His American counterpart is an employee of SAIC. This is all about encryption and decentralized chat: who gets to use them, and who does not get to use them. You do not get to use them. If you think this is just about patent trolling, you don't know the players.
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I honestly hadn't thought of that, but this is an awesome conspiracy theory. The government can't technically outlaw strong encryption, so they just send a patent troll front against any company that tries to do it instead. I would read that book.
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Re:Good Grief... (Score:5, Interesting)
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There are cases where you fight companies in law courts and the others you fight them in the media, then again they may be so scummy that they don't get care how people view them?
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Public perception of a company only works when they have an actual product to sell. With patent trolls, the products are the lawsuits, and lawyers don't give two shits about public perception in the media.
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SAIC wants you to know that they don't care how reasonable you think you are, or how right you are, if you screw with them, you have better know what the fuck you are doing. They do not even want to set the precedent that they could be anything but right about their use of whatever they are using.
Aside from how evil that sounds, the sad truth is that if these companies show any weakness, they become a target. That is how litigation works in this day and age. Someone with more resources who smells blood i
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So in the end you decided weakening GPL was the easier course of action? Way to go.
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The GPL works like any other license. It give someone a tool to work with, but it is only as good as who is operating it. No one gives a jackhammer to a toddler and suggests that the failure to break up concrete with it means that the jackhammer was the part of the process which was deficient.
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1. They took money on the application and processing fee.
2.They claimed this was for due diligence to make sure you have the right to the patent
They should be included in the law suit
Additionally why do patent trolls pick this part of Texas? is the system a part of the local economy
As for the little guy who has no business training, no capital to fund production or pay employees something like an angel investor can be found be smart your first id
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They pick this particular court in Texas because the judges there have been shown to be more friendly towards the patent holder, regardless of if they hold a ridiculous patent or not. It's called venue shopping, and you better believe that every single company does it. Much like how there are shitloads of companies that are incorporated in Delaware, even though they probably don't have a single Delaware employee - corporate law in Delaware is far more friendly to the company than where they actually are.
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It's one (sleazy) thing for a state like Delaware to decide to be a tax haven for corporations - and write their tax law to encourage corporations to 'locate' there.
It's another thing for supposedly neutral judges in a jurisdiction to decide to interpret the law according to their personal beliefs - or to alter their personal beliefs - to generate legal traffic to their jurisdiction - if that's what you're saying is happening in East Texas.
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I think they are merely suggesting that the Texas venue just happens to have judges who favor patent holders. In theory, new appointments could change that, but as judges hold terms that can be as long as lifetime appointments, a court packed with patent-holder friendly judges could persist for decades.
I don't think there is actually the assertion that the judges are paid off, although that's not impossible in some cases. If it happened in such a famous jurisdiction, though, you'd think it would have attr
Re: Good Grief... (Score:2)
Uh it is the same issue. These unethical and evil trolls know the USPTO is understaffed and rubber stamps patents. They buy overbroad patents that should never have been issued and try to extort money. That's not ethical, sure as hell shouldn't be legal, and certainly doesn't advance the sciences. The US constitution states that the purpose and requirement of patent law is that it advances the sciences or arts.
Re: Good Grief... (Score:1)
It's not a state of Texas issue as virtually all of these cases are lodged in the Eastern District of Texas, a federal court, where the judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The trolls establish domicile in Texas so they can claim in this court, which is seen as friendlier to patent trolls. Not sure what you mean by taking out a court, especially when the issue is the patent legislation in the first place.
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Not sure what you mean by taking out a court
Nuke from orbit?
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Spot on. I actually looked through the statistics back in 2013 or so after hearing so many people talk about the district. What I found was that aside from a one-year blip in the mid-2000s (which was entirely due to a particular judge who is no longer sitting), the Texas East District has never again been at the top spot of the rankings for federal districts that are friendliest to NPEs (non-practicing entities, i.e. patent trolls). As I recall, it was typically ranked #3 or #4 behind districts located in F
Quick question (Score:2)
When are legitimate IP and patent holders going to band together and take out the courts in Texas?
Apropos of nothing, how does one go about "taking out" a federal court?
Just curious...
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Except that Federal judges are basically on a lifetime appointment. Unless you can convince the US House of Representatives to have full-blown impeachment hearings, followed by having the US Senate convict them, the judge stays until they retire or die.
There's a theory argued that the 'Good Behavior' clause in Article III of the US Constitution may permit removal by way of a writ of scire facias filed before a federal court, without resort to impeachment; but it's never been tried and you would have to fig
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We are also curious and would love an answer.
Sincerely,
The FBI
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FTFY
Another Hateboi that needs to consult the dictionary on innovation and invention. They are different terms with different meanings - Apple didn't invent power cords that attach magnetically, but being the first company to put them on laptops was innovative.
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Yes. "Innovation." I hate those stupid "mag-safe" power adapters. All Apple succeeded in doing was inventing a power adapter that can't stay plugged in. The weight of the cord itself is enough to pull the stupid thing out if you let enough of it dangle.
There's nothing like going into work and discovering that the laptop you left to charge overnight didn't charge at all because Apple likes "cool fancy" over practical power adapters.
Of course, the theory is that you won't be able to dump the laptop on the flo
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Yes, I know, I'm holding it wrong.
This is why I don't bother asking Apple users for help any more. The huge issues you run into with Apple products are never Apple's fault (why do I have to reboot at least once a day to keep wifi working?), they're always somehow your fault.
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why do I have to reboot at least once a day to keep wifi working?
You must have an old router. ;)
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As time has progressed, I've started to ponder if any patent is really "legimate".
I've got a few good ones. We build them all and they go into real products. I wouldn't describe any of them as obvious.
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And if history is anything to go buy - there's a 90% chance at least 3 other people had those same ideas at the same time you did - they just didn't get patents, got there after you did, or didn't think they were as non-obvious as you think. Historically that's the case with just about any invention you can think off. Innovation is an unavoidable consequence of the state of human knowledge at any given time, once the knowledge exists for something to be invented, multiple people will independently have the
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>there's a 90% chance at least 3 other people had those same ideas at the same time you did
Nope. Not a chance.
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When are legitimate IP and patent holders going to band together and take out the courts in Texas?
The answer to this is, unfortunately, "never". Lawyers make up the majority of state and federal legislatures. Lawyers and judges don't think the system is broken. In fact, they think it's working quite well, thank you. My best friend is a lawyer and he's taught me a lot about the law. One of the things he has also taught me is that lawyers don't think anything in the legal system is broken or needs fixing anywhere. Their response to literally every issue is to just sue over it.
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Name one patent Apple has sued over which they have never used in a product. Please refrain from breathing while you perform the search. Keep searching until you find one.
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Hmm yeah, Apple is always suing people over patents they hold and don't use in any products, and they venue shop for just the right judge in just the right Federal court.
No wait, they sue over patents they hold that they are actively using in products they ship by the millions, where they show actual evidence of their competition using the patent in products that directly compete. And they file these lawsuits in the District Court for Northern California, which presides over Santa Clara County, where Apple
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100% false. I've switched my SIM between my iPhone 6 and my Galaxy S5 and have no problems sending text messages to/from the Android device. When I put the SIM back into the iPhone, iMessage is re-enabled.
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"pretty much the only way" excludes using Google for 20 seconds: https://www.google.com/webhp?s... [google.com]
Stop trolling.
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https://www.google.com/webhp?s... [google.com]
The first Google-provided result shows how to do it if you still have your iPhone. The first search result is the god damn link the GP provided.
I'm pretty sure people know how to use Google. This was an issue, YEARS ago, and has long been solved. Stop trolling.
With a patent system like this... (Score:2)
With a patent system like this, who needs terrorists to attack you?
Damages? (Score:1)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume VirnetX is a pure patent troll and doesn't produce anything.
So, how can they be damaged if they don't produce anything?
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Well, unfortunately, we have another case of Microsoft putting the screws to everyone else by licensing this bullshit. Now VirnetX can show damages due to lost licensing revenue.
I'm absolutely sure that wasn't a strategic move on Microsoft's part, either; they've absolutely never done anything like that in the past.
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What would Donald Trump Do? It's a huge issue....
All it needs is a minor change to his policy ... the wall has to be North of Texas
Why can't courts punish both sides? (Score:2)
Is there any outcome here where both parties get sent to jail? Cause that's the one I'm rooting for.
And Replace it with what? (Score:2)
They want to shut down Apple's services. Fine - but what competing products did Apple shutout of the market that will now be able to bounce back and increase market share?
If they desire to take away something - what is the replacement? If this is an NPE - they have no product. So Apple pays the patent tax - is granted a license - and we all move on.
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They don't want to replace it.
VirnetX works for the intelligence community. They don't like Apple's end-to-end encryption because it makes life harder for them.
Originally, this patent dispute arose over encryption and decentralization: iChat/FaceTime, like Skype. made direct connections between computers, which cut out the middleman relay server which also cut out an easy logging point. Microsoft bought Skype and immediately eliminated direct connections; Apple continued to make direct connections until V
I'm really glad because... (Score:4, Funny)
My VirnetX phone has literally been useless since Apple put Facetime on their phones. I haven't had a single video call since that day. I was gonna switch to an Apple or maybe an Android, but now I'm sure VirnetX will re-start development of an upgrade phone and I'll be back on easy streets once again.
Promoting Science and the Useful Arts (Score:1)
Gee, thanks Constitution.
Perhaps an idea about technology from 1789 no longer has value.