[asterisk-biz] Click-to-call lawsuit - Voip Inc.

[C F]

Which brings to mind this:
http://www.bnet.com/2407-14061_23-217992.html?tag=content;col1
Next he'll have a patent on verbally reading an email message using a
human that is.


On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Trixter aka Bret McDanel
<trixter at 0xdecafbad.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-08-05 at 13:10 -0400, C. Savinovich wrote:
>> How can a concept be trademarked?  Isn't it the technical implementation
>> (architecture) of the concept that can be trademarked??
>
> no.  Trademarks cover logos and similar things.  Copyright covers
> implementations, and patents cover processes or too often enough "vague
> ideas that a 3 year old had".
>
> There is some overlap between the two, think of the 3 circle primary
> color image thingy.  http://img.tfd.com/wn/CB/660B6-color-circle.gif
>
> This is not exactly correct, but ...  If one circle is copyright, one
> trademark, and one patent law, any given thing can fall somewhere on
> that, either 1,2 or all 3 spheres.
>
> With asterisk, the name is trademarked, the code is copyrighted, and
> some processes are/were patented, like GSM 6.10 (partially and that
> expired last year).
>
> You cant trademark a concept, you cant patent a name.  Because patents
> cover a method or process if you write one generic enough, like using a
> laser to play with a cat no one else will easily be able to do that.
> Seriously, the segway guy has that as one of his "over 100 patents" only
> 1 he has is real the rest are just as insane.  Now if you switched the
> laser out for say a flashlight, you may be able to get away with it.  It
> depends on how the claims are specifically written.  You just need to
> change enough so that you have a different process from what the patent
> describes.
>
> And because I know this list I would like to say I AM NOT SPEAKING ABOUT
> THE PATENTS VALIDITITY IN THE ABOVE EXAMPLE.  I just know that if I dont
> make some large disclaimer about that it will start a flurry of posts
> about how you can just challenge it in court.
>
>
>>    Am I wrong? Fine, I am no trademark lawyer.  Someone please correct me if
>> I am.  But to me it just looks like someone who wants to bully its way into
>> the market by scaring companies who won't want to spend the legal fees.
>
> That was the most accurate thing you said so far :)  Many companies are
> formed for no other reason than to get patents and try to do "nuisance
> lawsuits", basically demand small enough amounts of money that its not
> cost effective to go to court.  RTI with their LCR patent asking only
> $20k for example, J2 with their fax->[email,ftp,web,almost everything]
> at something like $1/customer, its just easier to pay than fight, and
> often cheaper.
>
> Even if the patent is bogus and you can show that through prior art, or
> other means useful for voiding patents, it still costs money to goto
> court over it, often a lot of money.  This is how SCO is able to demand
> $700/cpu for linux licenses and get it, most companies dont want to
> spend millions when they could spend a much smaller figure - and SCO
> sees millions to pay to their lawyers.
>
>
> --
> Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
> Belfast +44 28 9099 6461        US +1 516 687 5200
> http://www.trxtel.com the phone company that pays you!
>
>
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