Because Nokia And Apple Aren't In Enough Patent Lawsuits...

from the let's-add-some-more dept

Mon, May 10th 2010 4:31am — Mike Masnick

Ah, the patent nuclear war in action. After Apple roundly destroyed Nokia's reputation as being the leading innovator when it came to smartphones, Nokia got petulant and sued Apple for patent infringement. In response, in typical patent nuclear war fashion, Apple turned around and sued Nokia back for patent infringement. Nokia's response? Find some more patents and sue again and also use the ITC loophole to get two shots at Apple with the same patents. And why stop there? Now that there's an iPad on the market, Nokia has sued Apple yet again for patent infringement. Isn't it great to see how two companies compete in the courtroom rather than the marketplace? Just like the creators of the patent system intended...

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Filed Under: ipad, patents
Companies: apple, nokia

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Josef, 10 May 2010 @ 5:07am

Teach the USPTO a lesson
I think the system should teach itself a lesson. A court should give an injunction to both companies so that none of the products under suspicion of infringement could be sold until the suits are resolved.

I'm willing to bet a settlement would be reached in hours.... OR both companies would suspend sales in a game of corporate chicken and the secondary market for their products would benefit.
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Terry, 10 May 2010 @ 6:16am

Competing where?
Apple is competing in (or rather, leading) the marketplace.

It's only Nokia that is competing in the courtroom "rather than the marketplace".

Apple is just defending itself from Nokia's crap!
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- Boost, 10 May 2010 @ 7:09am
  
  Re: Competing where?
  Technicaly, Terry, Nokia is the leading handset maker in the world and in every market with the exception of the US. Just because the US consumers are pawns of trendy shit doesn't mean the products that they buy are superior.
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  - Terry, 10 May 2010 @ 8:26am
    
    Re: Re: Competing where?
    But Apple is GOOD!
    
    I love them so much.
    
    All Nokia products should be destroyed and there should be a law that everyone in the world should buy Apple products.
    
    Disclaimer - Steve Jobs is my dad.
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- Jon B. (profile), 10 May 2010 @ 8:16am
  
  Re: Competing where?
  You just keep on smoking it there, Terry.
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Owen, 10 May 2010 @ 7:26am

Re: Competing where?
Ironically, had nokia sued apple from the get-go with the first infringement on the iphone when it was first available instead of letting it become a hit in the marketplace, the iphone wouldn't exist, lol
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Anonymous Coward, 10 May 2010 @ 8:34am

"Isn't it great to see how two companies compete in the courtroom rather than the marketplace?"

You don't think that they are competing in the marketplace also? Nokia and Apple stopped selling their products, running ads, competing for business?

From a Harvard Business Review article:

""Hundreds of thousands of groundbreaking innovations are sitting on the shelf literally waiting to be examined," he told an audience at a biotechnology industry conference this week. "[This results in] jobs not being created, life-saving drugs not going to the marketplace, companies not being funded, businesses not being formed."

How many jobs are not being created because of the patent backlog?

"Millions," said Kappos. Millions of jobs!

A recent study put the costs of the "forgone innovation" resulting from patent delays in the many billions of dollars annually."

Does the patent system need to be improved? Of course, but then again, our roads are in bad shape right now but I wouldn't suggest blowing them all up and going with something else.
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- Vincent Clement, 10 May 2010 @ 1:10pm
  
  Re:
  Getting a patent does not mean one has a groundbreaking innovation. Hundreds of thousands of already approved patents are sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
  
  A recent study put the costs of the "forgone innovation" resulting from patent delays in the many billions of dollars annually.
  
  Why would not getting patent approval delay you in using your "innovation"? I see plenty of products with "patent pending" on them? The lack of approval didn't seem to stop them from using their invention.
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Mr Big Content, 10 May 2010 @ 2:59pm

Leaving Aside All The Patent Lawsuits ...
... the patent system is still working really well.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 7:43am

Vincent, the company was awaiting either VC funding or partnerships with drug companies before they could begin to invest money in clinical trials. Without a patent, those deals kept falling through.
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