Folks in another of those "I,ll sue you for making something of an idea I managed to get a patent on years ago " cases, it seems apple has made a deal that will see them use their financial muscle to enforce the patent on others , what an about turn :shock:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2275A recent out-of-court settlement between Apple Computer and a Vermont-based inventor has landed Apple the rights to a prestigious software design patent that may allow the company to seek royalties on a broad spectrum of digital downloads.
Michael Starkweather, a lawyer and author of the 10-year old patent, issued a statement on Thursday calling it a "billion dollar patent" that will have affects on the future of the "cell phone, iPod and PDA" industries.
"I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be after every phone company, film maker, computer maker and video producer to pay royalties on every download of not just music but also movies and videos," he said.
Its one thing to fend off a settlement, its another to try to snare others with what is a wide ranging patent detailing a not totally original idea, if it was worth anything I,m sure it would have been snapped up a long while ago.
The devil in me hopes all the big media companies are taken for a ride but I,m sure it would end up with the consumer being strongarmed to pay for the negligence of the media comapnies lawyers in not spotting this "possibly important" patent.
