[opendtv] Re: MobileMedia's Unusual Patent Infringement Campaign
- From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 06 May 2010 22:42:47 -0400
Kon Wilms wrote:
> One of the latest in the trend:
>
> This week: A closer at the holding company behind recent suits against
> smartphone makers Research in Motion, HTC, and, most interestingly,
> Apple.
>
> MobileMedia Ideas LLC didn't create a big stir when it launched in
> January. Instead, the holding company simply issued a press release in
> which it let the world know that it would "make available" its
> innovations, (which is, of course, generally considered to be
> patent-speak for, "We will be suing people shortly"). MobileMedia,
> which holds 122 patents it acquired from Sony and Nokia, was even
> quieter when it acted on its euphemistic pledge in March by filing
> separate infringement suits against three leading smartphone makers.
>
> There's nothing new or unusual about a patent-holding company tossing
> a few lawsuits against the wall to try to wring some cash out of the
> smartphone industry, which has lately become crowded with lawsuits
> filed by holding companies and competing companies alike.
>
> What is unusual is who owns MobileMedia: MPEG-LA
>
> ...
>
> http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2010/04/mobilemedia-ideas-v-apple.html
>
>
The article continues.
"What is unusual is who owns MobileMedia: MPEG-LA
<http://www.mpegla.com/main/default.aspx>, the private company that
oversees a total of eight patent pools covering important digital video
standards—MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 being the most common—used in DVD players
and pretty much every other device that supports digital video.
Contributors to those pools, whose contents MPEG-LA has licensed to
literally hundreds of companies, include Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic,
Sony, and Cisco subsidiary Scientific Atlanta (see full list
<http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/M2/Pages/Licensors.aspx>).
MPEG-LA's CEO Larry Horn also heads MobileMedia."
I remember some years ago I inquired to MPEG-LA about licensing, as a
private individual and just out of curiosity. Larry Horn was helpful
and sent me some useful documents. Maybe a month or so after that
MPEG-LA mailed me a package containing just a small black rock, with no
explanation. I emailed Larry and was told more or less it was just a
marketing gift. I never did understand the significance of it. It was
sort of scary for some reason.
But, as pleasant as Larry was, I do believe the MPEG-LA and similar
cartels of patent trolls are just gaming the system and the rules should
be changed to remove their current exclusion from collusion and
restraint of trade restrictions.
All intellectual property law should be subject to review based upon
cost/benefit to society as a whole. If it's not worth it, repeal it.
- Tom
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