igoeIP Apple Patent Blog

As I read the patent description, I could not help...

2012-09-21T21:18:07.667-04:00

As I read the patent description, I could not help but remember the terminal I used in grade school to enter answers to math questions.

1. A system comprising:

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units of a commodity that can be used by respective users in different locations,

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That is nothing more than a networked computer. A commodity can be just about anything, including a mathematical equation.

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a user interface, which is part of each of the units of the commodity, configured to provide a medium for two-way local interaction between one of the users and the corresponding unit of the commodity, and further configured to elicit, from a user, information about the user's perception of the commodity,

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The computer I am remembering had commodities (mathematical equations). Those commodities were displayed and the user (the student in this case) responded with their perception (the answer) on the keyboard.

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a memory within each of the units of the commodity capable of storing results of the two-way local interaction, the results including elicited information about user perception of the commodity,
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The units contained local memory to stored the results of the two-way local interaction. By prompting with the mathematical equation (the commodity), they elicited a response from the user about the users perception (the answer) of the commodity.

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a communication element associated with each of the units of the commodity capable of carrying results of the two-way local interaction from each of the units of the commodity to a central location, and
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This also was fulfilled. The element associated with each of the units of the commodity (each mathematical problem) . The system also carried the results of the two-way local interaction from each of the mathematical equations to a central location (the server).

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a component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collecting the results of the interactions at the central location.
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The component capable of managing the interactions of the users in different locations and collecting the results of the interactions is the server. The room had multiple stations so that multiple students could take the test together. The stations then transmitted that information to the server where it was stored.

My experience with these computers was during my grade school or middle school years back in the 70’s. I graduated from high school in 1980. That is 14 years prior to the earliest patent grant mentioned.

Scott A. Tovey

very interesting post . i like your idea behind it...

2011-11-17T12:33:16.955-05:00

very interesting post . i like your idea behind it .That’s a pretty good idea,

Can you email a screenshot of the problem to pigoe...

2011-07-26T08:20:03.411-04:00

Can you email a screenshot of the problem to pigoe@igoe-ip.com? I just loaded the latest Chrome on my Air to check and do not see any obscured blog content. Thanks!

Sorry to post on a specific article but I couldn&#...

2011-07-26T03:27:17.992-04:00

Sorry to post on a specific article but I couldn't find a contact link.
Do you know that the body-fauxcolumn div in your main page obscures the top of the content (in Chrome 11 & IE6 at least). I always have to delete that node (using Chrome dev tools Ctrl+Shift+I) to see the page.

Aside from that though - love the blog. thanks

I have a number of software patents including a sy...

2011-07-07T10:30:13.843-04:00

I have a number of software patents including a system for software distribution which includes "in app" microbrowser to make a fully automated transaction within the app.

This issued patent recognizes the other traditional in app purchase processes including browsing to sales sites etc.

I hope this and other transaction systems will eliminate this particular enforcement.

@BT Richards, I have no RICO expertise, but the id...

2011-07-07T08:25:12.847-04:00

@BT Richards, I have no RICO expertise, but the idea has been floated: http://www.yjolt.org/files/silver-11-YJOLT-70.pdf

What is the chance the US Justice Dept can get inv...

2011-07-06T12:02:53.928-04:00

What is the chance the US Justice Dept can get involved and go after these guys under the RICO act?

This is extortion, pure and simple and could easly be covered by the definition of a "protection racket".

Considering the company's bidding strategy on ...

2011-07-04T23:12:40.725-04:00

Considering the company's bidding strategy on the Nortel patents, one has to wonder whether Google was ever very serious about its bid. If so, hopefully it learned its lesson: next time, instead of Pi, go with Feigenbaum's constant ($4,669,201,609).

Add #SlothMedia, LLC makers of #KosmicMath - a chi...

2011-07-02T17:01:11.573-04:00

Add #SlothMedia, LLC makers of #KosmicMath - a children's math game for IOS to the list of developers being picked on by Lodsys. #Lodsys knows full well that develpers are more prone to settle than stand up against them. Its the classic bully story rather give up the lunch money than take one in the eye...

The question I have is why Google didn't enter...

2011-07-01T07:29:12.965-04:00

The question I have is why Google didn't enter a consortium, either the Strange Bedfellows or one of it's own making (HTC, Moto, LG, etc.) it might just be as you say, money better spent elsewhere but when you attack every competitor around by giving away their core product you're likely not going to have many friends, even among competitors. I wonder which is at work in this case? Just ruminating

From what I remember the argument between NOK and ...

2011-06-14T07:32:04.261-04:00

From what I remember the argument between NOK and AAPL was over the price of the licensing with Apple claiming that it was being charged more than other licencees and therefore refused to pay. I guess we'll never know who actually "won" the argument but I think Florian Mueller feels that he did ;-)

Eric

@Ed Technically, it might be based on some diction...

2011-06-13T06:53:31.929-04:00

@Ed Technically, it might be based on some dictionaries, but in reality, I just wrote a bad title before I had coffee. Fixed. Thanks.

Is it really acceptable legalese to use motion as ...

2011-06-12T22:18:05.419-04:00

Is it really acceptable legalese to use motion as a verb? As in:

"I motion to strike" or "I motion to intervene" instead of the normal verb form: "Move"

Well, he's certainly not using a Mac, that'...

2011-06-10T14:03:28.351-04:00

Well, he's certainly not using a Mac, that's for sure ;)

Owning a single patent would give Marco exactly ze...

2011-06-07T15:05:59.271-04:00

Owning a single patent would give Marco exactly zero protection against Apple. If he were to go after Apple, they'd simply show him the pile of Apple patents he violates. "You sue us? We kill you."

Software patents are a numbers game. Everyone violates everyone's patents, and you can only win by either not playing and hoping nobody sues you, or playing at the table with the highest stakes. And only the biggest companies can afford to do that.

Well, there's one third option. It's to not produce anything, and only make money with patent litigation. That's the only way you can guarantee that you won't violate anyone else's patents. Are you suggesting that Marco should go that route?

This post is a little misleading. The title appear...

2011-06-07T13:45:32.198-04:00

This post is a little misleading. The title appears to quote someone as saying that Apple stole someone's ideas, and then the article goes on to be largely in response to Marco Arment. Thus, it would be easy to infer that Marco apparently made that accusation in a sudden flare of hypocrisy. I don't think it was intentional, but it's the effect.

On the contrary, Marco has been neither foolish nor hypocritical. He has voiced, in earlier posts on his blog, what many programmers would see as a truly principled stance: If Apple or some other factor should shoot his iOS-based business in the head, well damnit he'll just come up with some other awesome thing. Because that's what he does: he creates new stuff, rather than waste months or years defending what is already done.

"Donating inventions to multi-billion-dollar ...

2011-06-07T12:26:57.671-04:00

"Donating inventions to multi-billion-dollar companies is not an effective long-term business strategy."

Neither is patenting everything you do.

The most effective long-term business strategy is innovation.

I think the antisoftware patent crowd will use thi...

2011-06-04T07:23:15.312-04:00

I think the antisoftware patent crowd will use this instead to pressure congress to ban software patents. They are not interested in supporting legal action since that only validates the basic concept of software patents.

There's another community that needs to be con...

2011-06-04T07:20:17.182-04:00

There's another community that needs to be concerned about Lodsys, and that's patent attorneys. Perhaps they should develop a collective response.

Methods* not brigid Auto complete can be annoying...

2011-06-02T09:16:25.624-04:00

Methods* not brigid

Auto complete can be annoying....

What is the possibility they are going after brigi...

2011-06-02T09:14:56.120-04:00

What is the possibility they are going after brigid and concepts? If they are, however, the internet its indisputably prior art...

Any idea of how long it takes to get any response ...

2011-06-01T19:44:46.288-04:00

Any idea of how long it takes to get any response back from the named companies in the suit?

What a transparent attempt to show strength. Manu...

2011-05-31T19:56:22.611-04:00

What a transparent attempt to show strength. Manufactured and weak on delivery. You're right, we might have taken it serious if they actually put themselves in a position to lose something more than $1k (even times 13).

I satisfied with this blog post.It's discussio...

2011-05-31T03:19:50.241-04:00

I satisfied with this blog post.It's discussion prove that important about the patent document.
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intellectual property lawyer los angeles

I think the point is that for a small iOS develope...

2011-05-23T13:13:43.819-04:00

I think the point is that for a small iOS developer, even something like $100,000 of income would be a significant amount.

With the Lodsys patent troll tax currently set at 0.575% that would cost maybe $575. I doubt a competent patent lawyer would even get out of bed for that much. Getting a decent patent lawyer involved would cost maybe 100 times that much.

Sure there is the risk that a pack of patent trolls might come along to feast but as things currently stand, there is a fair bit of logic to what Marco is suggesting.