

Google, Facebook Lose Social Network Patent Ruling - hornokplease
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/27/us-google-facebook-wirelessink-lawsuit-idUSTRE74Q5KP20110527

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evgen
Google and Facebook did not lose the case, they just failed to have the
complaint dismissed outright. It will still go to trial (or settlement) but
the only thing this ruling states is the the judge overseeing the case
believes that there is sufficient evidence to take the case to trial and that
adjudicating it is not a complete waste of the court's time.

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inkido777
You are being silly... Do you own the Microsoft Windows program that you are
using to post on? No... Microsoft owns it because of patents. Doesn't matter
that it's on your computer. You do not own it.

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hamner
This is yet another example of an absolutely ridiculous patent lawsuit, where
companies that lose in the marketplace sue successful ones, costing both the
companies and general public money and providing a disincentive for
innovation.

What can we do to prevent this from happening in the future? (preferably by
making software patents go away).

If nothing else works, how about reductio ad absurdum. Let's go through recent
sci-fi/academic literature, file patents for anything technologically feasible
that has a high probability of hitting the marketplace in the next 5-10 years,
and then troll away until Congress acts.

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SomeCallMeTim
>reductio ad absurdum

iPhone and Android developers are being sued by a patent troll for using in-
app payments [1], based on technology developed by Apple and Google, using a
patent that doesn't even apply to any of the code written by the developers.
[2]

To make it worse, Apple and Google each own licenses to the patent, so it's
like people who own washing machines being sued over a washing machine patent
that the manufacturer has already licensed.

Oh, and iPhone developers are being sued over apps that include "forms that
send data to a central server" by another troll. [3] Yeah.

How much more absurd can it get? I think someone already had your idea, and
they decided to turn it into a business plan.

[1] [http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/5-links-to-
help-i...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/5-links-to-help-ios-
developers-understand-the-lodsys-patent-mess.php)

[2]
[http://www.macworld.com/article/160031/2011/05/apple_legal_l...](http://www.macworld.com/article/160031/2011/05/apple_legal_lodsys_letter_text.html)

[3] [http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/macrosolve-
joins-...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/macrosolve-joins-lodsys-
in-suing-mobile-app-developers.php)

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inkido777
Do you know what a patent is? Google and FB own many similar ones and they
will sue anyone in violation of their patents..

This is another example of large corporations think they can violate anyone's
Intelectual property and get away with it..

What make America GREAT is that you get to own your ideas!

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itswindy
Live by sword, die by the sword.

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dstein
Facebook is one of the most egregious patent and trademark trolls of late. The
article has no insight into what the potential ramifications are if they lose
this suit, but I think a company that trolls around suing every company with
the word 'book' in their name deserves a major kick in the ass. Google on the
other hand seems to encounter more than their share of software patent
nonsense.

~~~
kmavm
Excuse me? I'm assuming you read the story, and realize Facebook is the victim
of patent trolling here, and has never (no, never) used its patent portfolio
offensively?

~~~
inkido777
Patent trolling is only when you don't put your idea/patent into practice.
Winksite went live in 2003 when FB was still in a dorm room using university
servers...

