Palm Responds to the NPD Suit
Palm, Inc. has issued a statement in response to a patent-infringement lawsuit filed against it by patent-holding company NTP Inc. Palm asserts that the lawsuit is "unwarranted" and remarks that NTP's patents are "Dubious."
The statement reads:
The NTP lawsuit claims that certain Palm products infringe seven NTP patents. All seven of the patents asserted are being re-examined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and have been rejected by the re-examiners as invalid. Palm also noted that the NTP patents disclose a pager-based email service that has nothing in common with the mobile-computing devices invented by Palm. Continued...
Palm has been in occasional contact with NTP concerning a license to these patents. When Palm last communicated with NTP many months ago, however, each of the patents already was the subject of re-examination proceedings by the Patent and Trademark Office. Palm is disappointed that, after many months of silence and repeated rejections of NTP’s claims by the PTO, NTP has chosen to sue on patents of doubtful validity.Palm respects legitimate intellectual property rights, but will defend itself vigorously against the attempted misuse of the patent and judicial systems to extract monetary value for rights to patents that may ultimately have no value at all.
Earlier today, NTP announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palm, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. NTP, Inc. is the company that recently forced RIM into a $612 million dollar settlement over similar patent claims earlier this year.
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RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
Pat Horne
RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
"Many men stumble across the truth, but most manage to pick themselves up
and continue as if nothing had happened."
- Winston Churchill
RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
Palm isn't going to spend a million $ fighting an ethical battle with N T P. It's simply not worth their time and they don't have the money to go after the sleazebags. Even the Big Boys decided (pre patent invalidation) it was cheaper to simply pay N T P off for their bogus patents than it was to risk fighting it out in court. The cost of doing business. A bit like paying "protection" to sleazy cops...
You smell like a two bit lawyer, Bubba.
TVoR
RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
In contrast to the RIM case, here NTP has to prove that Palm has actually produced and developed software-based push email technology that infringes on their patents. I do not recall a hardware device that can only implement push email thru a third-party application as being an infringement of their patent. And if they (Palm) have made/acquired push email technology - tell us all where that is - then there could be a case. Ironically, thru this reasoning, Visto can and should sue Palm as Visto owns pull email patents (and they went after MS already).
Palm was smart for refuting, however, I don't know that they want to burn cash on proving that they are right. Hopefully, there is no settlement needed and the USPO can step up and fix this before it gets out of hand - out of hand: NTP will go after Cingular, Verizon, TMobile, and Sprint as they will claim that pushing text messages to mobile devices also infringes on their patents (mark my words, they can pull that out of their hats quite easily).
mobileministrymagazine.com
antoinerjwright.com
RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
The NTP guys took RIM’s money and bought new homes, private planes and yachts and spent the summer enjoying them. Now that winter is upon us, it is time to go squeeze money out of another company.
Palm has $527 million in the bank and NTP would like some of that. NTP does not want another long court battle. What NTP wants is a series of modest but quick settlements before their patents are invalidated. After settling with Palm they will just go on to another target – probably Motorola, or do they go for the really big game with Nokia?
RE: N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
I hope Palm gives them the courtroom/legal equivalent of Mike Tyson in his glory days.
_________________
Sean
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
Association of Trial Lawyers of America
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) has 56,000 members worldwide. A lobbying heavyweight, the association has been battling any attempt at tort reform, including recent proposals to cap awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. ATLA also lobbies Congress on any legislation that may inhibit the ability of consumers to bring lawsuits, particularly against health care providers, asbestos companies or insurance companies processing claims related to terrorism. The association favors Democrats, who oppose most attempts to initiate tort reform.
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
I's not sure if Gekko's point is pro or con trial lawyers - anyone protecting my right to sue a company that ruins my lungs with asbestos, screws me on an insurance claims that I've paid years of premiums toward, or a doctor that operates on the wrong leg doesn't seem like such a bad group.
However - if they are just squeezing companies or people on dubious patents... I guess you gotta blame the ones feeding the money just like you blame the mafioso not just the hitman for wanting to eat.
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
W.R.T. NTP's pursuit of its IP protection, however, the patents are valid and reamin valid until they are invalidated finally (which is not the "Final" determination already made for a couple of them by the PTO! How weird...).
As such, NTP is doing exactly what they should be doing - defending their turf from unlicensed intrusion (because, like it or not, they DO have their patents whether or not we currently agree that those patents have any merit).
======
(*) When a surgeon pays SO little attention during SUCH an important operation - permanently removing a limb - you have to SERIOUSLY wonder what went wrong.
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
All I'm going to say is BWAHAHAHAHA.
When a surgeon pays SO little attention during SUCH an important operation - permanently removing a limb - you have to SERIOUSLY wonder what went wrong.
As I've always said, the reason that malpractice insurance is so costly isn't because of lawsuits, it's because of malpractice. U.S. hospitals kill 200,000 people every year from medical mistakes.
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
-------------------------------
PocketFactory, www.pocketfactory.com
Elitist Snob, www.elitistsnob.com
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republicans out of office
It's actually not as hard a mistake to make as you might think. The surgeon doing the operation may never have seen the patient before of may have seen them only briefly several months before the procedure. When they enter the operating room the patient may already be anesthetized, prepped and draped, with only the leg visible. If a scrub nurse or OR tech prepped the wrong leg it could be easy to overlook this. That's why it is now standard for surgeons to confirm with the patient on the day of the procedure what side is being operated on + then mark the side with a marking pen. Bottom line is that once she makes the first incision, the surgeon assumes all responsibility.
Cocaine Crispies???
Cocaine Crispies??? Yummy!!!
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
-------------------------------
PocketFactory, www.pocketfactory.com
Elitist Snob, www.elitistsnob.com
RE: Another Reason to Vote Republican Today
Now that was more entertaining than any of the political dialogue, you two...
_________________
Sean
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
OT: Geeko, George Allen is just another dumba$$ Republican
This guy deserves a political Darwin Award. Congratulations, George!
OT: Geeko, George Allen is just another dumba$$ Republican
This guy deserves a political Darwin Award. Congratulations, George!
stick it
Palm m125 > Palm Zire 71 > Tapwave Zodiac 1 > Palm Zire 72 > Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000
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N T P is pure, unadulterated SL**ZE
The government needs to crack down on outfits like this and reform the patent process. It's pathetic to see how much money companies waste on legal fees required to deal with parasites like N T P. Unfortunately, until there is a price to be paid for filing bogus lawsuits (victims should be allowed to file countersuits in obvious cases of extortion like this) then the victimizing of companies will continue unabated.
Now you know why consumer goods are so expensive. It's amazing ANY companies can survive in such a sleezy, lawyer-infested environment.
TVoR