Apple Faces Another Patent Lawsuit as it Beefs Up Litigation Team

People use Bluetooth? Hmm...

So we actually have a confirmed patent-troll here?

Has anyone taken out a patent on going to Texas to sue people yet? :p

Patent law needs to be reformed to be similar to trademark law. With trademarks, if you don't use it you loose it. In order to sue someone for trademark infringement, you have to demonstrate that you are actively using said trademark. Likewise, in order to sue someone for patent infringement, you ought to have to demonstrate that you actually intend to build whatever it is you claim to have invented. If you hold the intellectual rights to an invention, but can't prove that you are actively working on producing a prototype, your patent should be unenforceable.

Is there a website that follows these sorts of suits particularly as they apply to products Apple sells like computers, phones (inclusive of pads), base stations, accessories?

It seems to me a valid patent should be compensated for use of the technology and the lawsuit is basically a way to determine if the patent is valid, if the specific claims apply to the product at issue, and what if any license value that has.

It also seems to me the patent owner or troll as some like to malign them as, could probably make more revenue for less overhead cost through settlement or negotiation rather than litigation, unless the "abusers" are merely being as litigous themselves as possible as a tactic to invoke suffering rather than payment to outlast them, which is a typical lawyerly tactic since it funnels 100% of the costs to the lawyers themselves.

Is there a site that follows past conclusions to the end to see what if any benefit this process has to each player? The patent holder, the idea user, the lawyers, the customers of the offending devices.

I don't doubt obscure patents are infringed and some of them are entitled to royalties, but in the case of Bluetooth as an example this is a very minor feature with really poor adoption and use, compared to say wifi or Ethernet or something.

Rocketman

Hmz, the Law department is having a good year so far.. 2010, the year of lawsuits and iPad spam

Good, I hope WiLAN takes them to the cleaners.

And here comes cmaier to babble on and on about why not all patents are invalid, why the patent system is not as broken, or at least not in the same ways, that you think it is, etc.

Actually, I'm too busy today for that. So go ahead and start posting how the patents are clearly obvious, how patents destroy innovation, etc. Go nuts :)

Confidence!!

Good, I hope WiLAN takes them to the cleaners.

Why, exactly?