Bluetooth Lawsuit

Krish writes "The Seattle Times reports that a local Washington state group is suing cellphone makers for patent infringement on bluetooth devices. Research conducted by a University of Washington undergraduate more than a decade ago has become the subject of a lawsuit filed against some of the largest cellphone manufacturers in the world. The suit claims that consumer electronics giant Matsushita and its Panasonic unit, as well as Samsung and Nokia, are infringing on four patents sold under the 'Bluetooth' name."

how stupid are these people?!

[ILuvRamen]

I think there should be a certain time limit set on patent infringement cases called "the dumbass period" where after that time has passed, you're a complete dumbass for just realizing the patent infringement then and your case is automatically thrown out. Unless he was stuck in a desert island for the last couple years and just got rescued, he or the group or whatever should stop this pathetic attempt at scamming some money from companies.

Re:Timing of Patent

[ThePopeLayton]

The patent was filed in 2001 and granted in 2003, however, bluetooth [wikipedia.org] was developed in 1994 and formally announced in 1998. It seems kind of backwards to me that someone would try to patent technology that has been circulating for a few years, let alone that someone would grant said patent.

Re:how stupid are these people?!

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

scam [skam] noun, verb, scammed, scamming.
noun 1. a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.
verb (used with object) 2. to cheat or defraud with a scam.

There's no fraud going on here. As strange as it may seem, it's not the patent owner's fault if the infringer didn't do their research and the patent owner either didn't know or didn't bother to sue until significantly after the infringement happened.

Re:how stupid are these people?!

[WgT2]

What the nay-sayers above fail to realize is this:

are infringing on four patents sold under the "Bluetooth" name. (emphasis mine)

Meaning: the patents have been there and these companies, knowingly or not, have created products that infringe on the patents and have called it "Bluetooth". Whether it falls under the "Bluetooth" standard or not, these patents, they feel, apply to their chips.

Also, should they have read the article, they might have realized that licensing has been sought, and gained, with other companies and that this lawsuit would somewhat be wasting time if they haven't already sought such licensing with the companies they are currently suing. (INAL, but I would think the courts would require 'reasonable' pursuit of resolution prior to bring a lawsuit).