Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Trolls -- Including Acacia -- Attack Linux Users/Devices

Patent troll (cat)



Summary: McKesson, Android and G1 hit by patent trolls

HAVING SHOWN possible relationships between Microsoft and Acacia [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], more recently we showed Acacia's moves of aggression in the world of technology, for example (sorted reverse chronologically):





McKesson Besieged



Acacia has just resorted to successful extortion against a large user of GNU/Linux.

Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTG) announced today that its Hospital Systems Corporation subsidiary has entered into a license agreement with McKesson Information Solutions LLC covering a portfolio of patents that apply to medical picture archiving and communication system (PACS) technology. This agreement resolves the parties' dispute that was pending in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.


Got that? Eastern District of Texas again.

This may be particularly interesting because McKesson uses GNU/Linux. To cite an old article:

LinuxWorld: Health care IT solutions

At the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco, McKesson CIO Randal Spratt explains why his company deploys its health care applications on Linux. He says these applications are scalable, affordable on tight hospital budgets, and reliable--making better patient care possible.


Here is a press release from McKesson:

As a leading provider of technology solutions to the healthcare industry, McKesson has been at the forefront of innovative technologies, deploying many of its advanced Horizon Clinicals applications on Linux running on Intel-based hardware. Hospitals with these deployments have already realized cost savings of up to 60% compared with traditional system deployments.


Acacia's targeting is unlikely to have been intentional, it is not related to the underlying platform, but it shows that Linux devices/appliances are not immune to patents trolls. There is another case of point further down at the bottom.

According to this new press release, EFI too is a victim of Acacia's patents extortion. Sure, it must be all about 'innovation' when a company without any products is taking money away from those who have some. The industry is saturated if not occupied predominantly by patent trolls who have nothing to lose in terms of public perception.

Android Besieged



Google's Linux-powered (well, Android-powered) phone is a new victim of Judah Klausner, who is yet another patent troll that has already extracted money from other companies.

Google has agreed to settle an intellectual property claim brought by serial inventor Judah Klausner, who has won settlements in the past from Apple, Skype and LG Electronics, Klausner said on Monday.

The dispute concerned patents that Klausner holds covering so-called visual voicemail, which makes voicemail work more like email by sending visual alerts of voice messages to computers or phones, allowing users to selectively retrieve the messages.

Visual voicemail is a key feature of many of the latest touchscreen phones on the market, including Apple's iPhone. New York-based Klausner holds several patents relating to the technology in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Klausner grabbed the attention of the mobile phone industry in late 2007 when his company, privately held Klausner Technologies Inc, sued Apple and six other companies for $360 million for violating patents on visual voicemail technology.


"Visual voicemail" is no invention, but who has the energy to fight? Google publicly complained last week, arguing that approximately 90% of the patent lawsuits against it come from patent trolls.

More coverage in:

  1. Google bites the bullet and pays up for visual voicemail
  2. Inventor says Google settles patent claim


G1 Besieged



Bernhard Frohwitter is another patent troll whose attack on an Android-based phone we mentioned briefly a couple of days ago. Here is another report on the same subject:

According to the dirctor of IPCom GmbH, Bernhard Frohwitter, if IPCom can’t attain an agreement with HTC then HTC may well be force to stop selling UNTS mobile phones in Germany, and that will include the Google Android T-Mobile G1, and the soon to be released HTC Magic.


Additional coverage in:



Shades of GIMP



A couple of times in the past we wrote about the GIMP losing a great plug-in due to patents and -- specifically -- intimidation from a patent holder who was prepared to take legal action. This is quite a rare event when it comes to Free software and it's happening right now to this Blackberry program. Watch what it says at the top of the homepage:

If you have purchased this program, I will refund your money. It seems that there is a patent on a program that does this already made by Cequint. and they want me to stop selling this program.


Can the USPTO smell the scent on innovation in the air?

Might Be Getting Worse



Things will not improve based on this short report about judgments in East Texas.

Earlier this year, we noted that the judges in East Texas were actually transferring some patent lawsuits out of the court, following a ruling from a year ago at the appeals court level (CAFC) telling the district courts to move cases to where they were more "convenient." For a few months, however, various patent attorneys have been saying to keep watching, and that the folks in East Texas, who know they have a good thing going, will come up with ways to keep more cases in their favorite courthouse. And... that appears to be happening. In a few recent rulings in Marshall, Texas, Judge Ward has denied attempts to move the cases to more convenient locations, sometimes challenging the question of whether or not they really were more convenient -- but the reasoning doesn't pass the sniff test.


This seems like a patent crisis. Sooner or later, however, this bubble -- just like other analogous bubbles -- might suddenly burst.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day