Samsung's case was rejected as being to ridiculous in the UK but in California Apple got 1billion.  :wacko:  That's beyond insane. Obama wanted to do something but was blocked by dumb republicans as usual. :angry:

Even in Switzerland, I cannot afford lawyers anymore. I feel sorry about Austin, if in Texas some cowboy judge...

This is a very difficult area. Patents are imperative to inventors, how else could one protect his/hers work from "leachers".

 

We want patents, but where to draw the line is the difficult part. Which ideas should be allowed to patent, and which shouldn't. I'm glad I'm not the one figuring that out.

Such a shame.  Patents are available to protect inventors from those who would steal from them, but now patents are being used by thieves to steal from inventors.

We live in a world where far too many people are willing to sue anyone for absolutely anything. It's about time that the words "common sense" were utilised in cases like this, and indeed in every day life. Do we really want to live in a world like this? I heard the other day that teachers in the USA are afraid to put their arm around a crying child in case they are sued for "harassment" by the child's parents. This is just insane! :mad:

 

I agree... just look at the TV, and all of the Lawyers permeating the airwaves with their battle cry, "If you've been (injured, hurt, insulted, hacked on, called names by your friends... then Call me!)."

 

Reminds me of the Jerky Boys bit about the guy calling the Lawyer, wanting to sue his Employer for being hurt at work.

 

When the lawyer asks how he was hurt, the guy says, "Well, he actually hurt me with his words. Then I got so upset that I turned, mis-stepped, and fell down the stairs."

Just a game the rich play. If one can afford to give millions to pet rescue then they should be able to afford lawyers to protect their investments. I dont have much sympathy for either party's.

I wasn't planning to buy X-Plane, but figured it would be a nice way to support Austin.

 

Lawyers are one of the few professional groups that has the ability to secure their own perpetual necessity in a way that is inversely proportional to the quality of their work.

 

That's why there are so many broken laws left unfixed.

 

 

 

Let's not start putting down others' professions because of a few bad apples. 

Let's not start putting down others' professions because of a few bad apples. 

Hi Anthony,

 

I'm not putting down the profession - I'm putting down the willing participants.

 

Yes, it's a generalized statement; however, if there is an abundance of evidence pointing to the process by which most lawyers (and by association, lawmakers) are demonstrably  actively and successfully reducing the complexity of the law, please share your resources.

 

A effort to improve our legal system, while implied, is not mandated by admission to the bar, as we plainly see. In other words, if you're not part of the solution...

 

Again - I'm generalizing to stress a point.

 

Maybe Austin was wrong; I'm not intending to become a legal scholar in order to decipher the idiosyncratic drivers of the case. I do feel, however, that it's clear that the transgressor here is the system itself, and by extension, those with the authority to govern it. In my opinion, it seems to allow undue leverage, the governing rules for which were born out of a shortsighted and incomplete process, regardless of intent.

 

In this case (no pun intended.. or WAS it?!?) - we're all passionate about flight simulation, so it hits close to home; doubtlessly, there are countless other similar unrelated cases which likely would not be ongoing had there been a better quality of consideration that went into the process in the first place.

 

Perhaps that's going on now.

 

regards,

Andrew

Does anyone know who this guys is? What is his name and where does he live... Anyone?

 

Bob

The company is Uniloc and they've been at it for a while and they don't always win

 

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/you-cant-patent-simple-math-judge-tells-patent-troll-uniloc/

 

 

Just a game the rich play. If one can afford to give millions to pet rescue then they should be able to afford lawyers to protect their investments. I dont have much sympathy for either party's.

 

Doesn't make it right though. This company is a virus against innovation and needs to be stopped. They even went after Rackspace because they offer Linux on their servers. Just because Austin is "rich" doesn't stop me feeling bad for him and not respecting the comments he said in the video, especially regarding sticking to his own guns and not using patents with X-Plane.

This is why no one wants to do business in the US our laws are set up to benefit crooks, like the people who sue McDonalds for getting them fat #####? Ronald McDonald didn't duct tape them to a chair and shove Big Mac's and fries down their throats they chose to eat them and if they thought a Big Mac and fries were healthy then they are MORONS!

Let's not start putting down others' professions because of a few bad apples. 

 

Arent most of the politicians lawyers ?

In the United States it has always been far easier to be granted a patent than anywhere else in the world. This was seen as a way to stimulate innovation. Now that policy is biting us in the &@($*.

Just a game the rich play. If one can afford to give millions to pet rescue then they should be able to afford lawyers to protect their investments. I dont have much sympathy for either party's.

 

What does one have to do with the other???  

No one knew there was anything to protect.  This was something that was freely available to use.  If there was something to pay, don't you think Austin would have paid it??  

Austin isn't the only one being sued.  Electronic Arts and MOJANG are 2 others, among many, affected by this lawsuit.  Last I heard, all the companies affected are pooling their finances together to take this to court.  

It's not about the money.  Austin can afford to settle the case.  It's about principle.  Being charitable of your own free will and being sued over something frivolous that you weren't even remotely expecting, are 2 completely different things.

Yes, this is a mess, and a horrible distraction for Austin, who has taken the suit against him to heart.  Unfortunately, as many find out the hard way, you can spend stupid amounts proving you're totally innocent - only to 'lose the war' because you bankrupted yourself fighting the suit.

 

Most attorneys tell their clients to settle out of court, because regardless of which side 'wins' the suit - both sides bleed huge legal fees - and that's just the twisted state of the business of jurisprudence.
 

Attorneys will argue they are necessary to protect people from evil-doers, and our justice system is set up to compel all but the foolhardy to appear with paid counsel.  I urged Austin to consider settlement at the beginning of this mess, not because I thought he did anything wrong, but because of my deeply held fear that he might lose the world defending himself.  I also advised him to try to compel Google to defend the suit, but apparently that argument won't work.

 

"I didn't know the patent existed" is not a valid defense, and I worry that after fighting tooth and nail, Austin may learn just how twisted our court system can be.  If in fact it can be shown that the anti-piracy copy protection used by Laminar in their Android version of X-Plane falls under a patent owned (now) by Uniloc, Austin and company likely will be sad at the end of the case.

 

The patent system is out of control, and the sheer volume of software patents that exist are likely unknowable.  Apple sued and beat Android, and I wouldn't be shocked to see the little guy "Laminar" beaten by Uniloc.

 

Every time someone passes a new law, a cash register rings somewhere in the nation.  In the case of software patents, it is completely out of hand.  The idea is to protect against intellectual property theft. Some things in programming are so commonplace, it is inconceivable to think someone could own the 'right' to a given software code process.  It's actually more than inconceivable.  It's depressing -and- terrifying at the same moment.

 

In such a situation, innovation is clearly the victim.  Only the monster companies with the deepest of pockets can afford the luxury of going to court to prove their point.  Companies with huge market capitalization, like Microsoft, Apple or Google.  They have their own army of attorneys.  A smaller company paying per-hour legal fees?  $200,000 sounds like a lot in fees, but I'll bet at the end of the case Austin will have spent at least twice that amount, and likely will lose.  I don't want to see that happen.  Austin is a good guy, and X-Plane is a terrific product.  I suggested a settlement idea to Austin, that he share revenue from the Android version of X-Plane with Uniloc.  Is it fair?  No.  Is it just? No.  But does it protect Laminar's future?  YES.  Since the technology was used only in the ANDROID version of X-Plane, the other versions of X-Plane should remain exclusively under the control and inure to the benefit solely of Laminar.

 

My one hope is that Austin see the wisdom in putting this case in his rear-view mirror.  The peace of mind alone would be priceless.

 

 

The patent system is out of control, and the sheer volume of software patents that exist are likely unknowable

 

This craziness goes well beyond software. I also read a while ago (and maybe it's rubbish) that companies and certain individuals also hold patents to parts of the human genome, so if a pharmaceutical company or even a low-paid researcher/scientist is able to use this to create medicine, they will also have a court battle on their hands. It's a disgusting system that promotes greed and kills innovation (and in this case, development of life-saving medicine). I don't know much about out how the US government or laws work, but I can't understand in my head how such an awful law and abuse of patents is allowed and tolerated. All we mostly hear about from tech companies these days is how they are all suing each other.

 

 

 

My one hope is that Austin see the wisdom in putting this case in his rear-view mirror. The peace of mind alone would be priceless.

 

Problem is, if he does this and pays out, this company has won again and won't stop there. They will then have a stronger case to go after more people using the same copy-protection system. Of course, I hope he doesn't bankrupt himself, but I'm glad he's putting up a fight.