(sarcasm)We know that last company that you would ever expect to be involved in a patent infringement lawsuit would be Research in Motion(/sarcasm), however, that is exactly what the BlackBerry maker is wrapped up in with Motorola.
Motorola is claiming that the way most BlackBerry 8xxx series devices store contact info in wireless emails and the ability to recognize incoming phone numbers infringes on their patents.
In a clever legal move often referred to as the “Whatever you can do we can also do“, RIM has filed their own claim against Motorola stating that the thumb keyboard is awfully similar to those found on BlackBerrys.
I am growing weary of everyone suing everyone for everything. Maybe I would have a different though if it was my patent. Am I infringing on someone’s patent on using the toilet? Do I need to start paying everyone I go? It seems to me like it stifles innovation by this constant,”This is kind of, sort of, something like, something that we have a patent on.”
There definitely needs to be some sort of reform re intellectual property law. These lawsuits just make the lawyers wealthy, and of course ultimately the consumer pays for these legal fees.
But the most damage is done by the fact that this discourages true innovation and invention. The thinkers, dreamers, doers of this world should not need to worry about always being sued.
There needs to be protection of intellectual property, but the laws need to be reformed to take into account the modern digital era.
Getting patents by the thousands is a practice of IBM’s that everyone else has followed. IBM patened everything they could think of back in the day, and still do to a certain degree today. It has worked out quite well for them, and everyone else has followed a similar business model when it comes down to patents. It’s stupid and reform needs to be addressed now that everyone has been doing it, all the down to individuals who don’t even know how to materialize their own idea and patent.