Opinions expressed in this blog are those of James Robertson.
The more you read about the TechCrunch/JooJoo thing, the more you have to shake your head and be amazed. From what I can see, the only winners in this mess - regardless of the eventual outcome - will be the lawyers, who get paid by the hour.
Technorati Tags: TechCrunch, JooJoo, Fusion Garage
Looks like Paul Allen has gone to the dark side - he's decided to sue companies that - unlike the ones he was involved with - actually brought useful technology to market. And no, I don't mean Microsoft - I give Gates most of the credit for that.
Billionaire Paul Allen has made major forays into cable television and sports teams since leaving Microsoft Corp. more than two decades ago. Now he's adding another pursuit: patent litigation.
Patent litigation is the last refuge of the incompetent, IMHO. Along with copyright, I think patents have become more of a hindrance than a help.
When I first heard this claim about a New York guy who claims that he owns Facebook, I was sure that it was bogus. Now I'm wondering - are the statements from Facebook's lawyers typical legal stuff, or is there actually something there?
A lawyer for Facebook Inc. said she was “unsure” whether company founder Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract that purportedly entitles a New York man to 84 percent of the world’s biggest social-networking service.
Technorati Tags: facebook, social media
Apparently, being a judge means not being able to think - instead, you just robotically take the claims of absurd claimants seriously:
A New York judge has issued a temporary restraining order restricting the transfer of Facebook Inc.'s assets, following a suit by a New York man who claims to own an 84% stake in the social-networking company.
Why do I say this is absurd? Well, the claimant says that he was contracted (in 2003) to deliver a website for Facebook - and hasn't done so in 7 years? Then there's this:
In 2009, New York's Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo accused Mr. Ceglia of defrauding customers of his wood-pellet fuel company, according to a news release from the Attorney General's office.
One wonders whether the judge who issued the restraining order can read, much less use Google....
I love the latest class action suit against Apple over the exclusivity deal with AT&T - claiming monopoly status (Android, anyone?) is dumb enough, but this?
The latest lawsuit, filed on July 8, argues that iPhone customers who signed a two-year agreement with AT&T were in effect locked into a five-year contract with AT&T, due to the exclusivity contract between the two companies.
Apparently, part of being a trial lawyer involves willful ignorance. Someone go find the lawyers involved and hand them an unlocked (possible after your 2 year contract is up) iPhone on T-Mobile. With any luck, their tiny little heads will explode....
Tort lawyers doing what they do best: subtracting value:
The lawsuit was filed by Ward & Ward, PLLC and Charles A. Gilman, LLC. on behalf of Kevin McCaffrey, Linda Wrinn and a number of other iPhone 4 users. It is not the same iPhone 4 class action lawsuit currently said to be in the works by the California law firm that sued Facebook and Zynga.
I can't say I've run across this problem myself. It's been reported too widely to not be real, but it doesn't seem all that serious to me.
I really dislike this aspect of the legal system - trial lawyers who go fishing for cases:
Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, LLP is looking for people who "recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals." That's the same firm that filed a federal class action suit over deceptive "offer" ads in games like Mafia Wars and Farmville.
The "beneficiaries" in these sorts of cases get little or nothing; the lawyers, on the other hand, pocket millions for "helping" the rest of us. The worst part is that their "help" usually results in higher prices. All firms like this do is subtract value - everywhere they go, things get worse.
Viacom loses their ridiculous suit against YouTube:
Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.
I'm sure it didn't help when it came out that Viacom's marketing staff were uploading material as fast as their lawyers were issuing takedown notices...
Technorati Tags: copyright
I see that Microsoft is suing Salesforce - get a load out of two of the supposed infringements:
The patents cover a variety of back-end and user interface features, ranging from one covering a "system and method for providing and displaying a Web page having an embedded menu" to another that covers a "method and system for stacking toolbars in a computer display."
The real question in cases like this is simple: what complete idiot at the US PTO granted those patents? I think it's high time that the entire concept of software patents just went away. Their only use seems to be as weapons.
Apple may have gone too far with their development restrictions for the iPhone/iPad - there's a story in the NY Post claiming that the feds may be looking into those policies on anti-competitive grounds:
According to a person familiar with the matter, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple's new policy of requiring software developers who devise applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad to use only Apple's programming tools.
I thought the efforts against Microsoft were silly, and I think this is too - the market will (eventually) deal with Apple if they have gone too far. However, that's simply my opinion. Apple should be more worried about what the folks at Justice and the FTC think.
| Next | (19 total) |
