Posted on 06/05/2013 1:22:45 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A U.S. trade agency says it is banning imports of Apple's iPhone 4 after finding the device violates a patent held by rival Samsung Electronics.
Because the phone is assembled in China, the import would end Apple's ability to sell new iPhone 4 devices in the U.S.
The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington issued a final ruling Tuesday in Samsung's suit against Apple.
The panel issued a limited import ban and a cease-and-desist order for AT&T models of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G.....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Clearly IP and patenting has gone haywire. Congress has overextended the process and the US Patent Office is in over its head. No judge has the skill to evaluate this stuff.
If we want to preserve the free market we need a simpler and clearer process. It’s currently out of balance.
Sounds like your kids have you figured out :)
I didn’t want to write an elaborate response in my last comment.
I generally can agree with what you write. Traditionally patents were limited to solid technological inventions - not all the crap they’re granted for today...
The existence of patents may always be onerous to a degree for all involved. Still better than the alternative, as experience shows.
I hope so. I bought one a few months ago.
Actually though, this could end up helping Apple. They would now have a reason to "up sell" customers to the more expensive I-Phone 5 rather than the cheaper "4" line.
Does anyone know what “patents” they are talking about?
No. They sell the 5 and the 4S, with a new model likely to come out this fall - any previous versions would be sold as refurb units only.
Most judges and juries have no idea about technical details of say a program or a chip. So when Apple or someone else comes in challenging a competitors product, they will often rule for the more well known player rather than the new innovation.
Seen it in my field a few times.
So much so that we are very careful about what we patent. To often it becomes lawsuit bait from our competitors. They will sue just to stop the process, and drag it out long enough that it becomes to expensive to keep fighting.
Vision is sometimes cloudy through the haze of doobie smoke.
So you might agree that it is not patents as such that are the problem but the procedural ability to abuse the system.
And it looks like the iPad models under the import ban are also devices Apple no longer sells new, either. So, a pointless injunction in that the imported items are not being imported anymore — makes me wonder if Apple even bothered to fight against the injunction in the first place.
Of course! Patents are good because they
1. Protect the original inventor for a limited time.
2. Put that invention or innovation out in the public domain.
We have moved to trade secrets, instead of patents, because we don’t want to spend the money fighting our competitors. They have done the same.
“No. They sell the 5 and the 4S, with a new model likely to come out this fall - any previous versions would be sold as refurb units only”
We know of a small group of I5 users, who are extremely unhappy with the product. This group doesn’t know each other, and we are the common link. They run the gamut of serious users who need the product daily for their business to those I call Apple junkies.
Interesting, two of the disappointed one’s spouses still have the I4S, and they are still very happy with their I4S’s.
It may be bad batches as many of those with new I5’s are very happy, including some guys, who use their I5’s for serious business each day.
I have the 4S myself, don’t think I’ve ever even seen a 5 up-close and in-person. But I’m a bit out of sync on the update cycles, too.
Funny thing, I rarely use my phone as a PHONE. I use it all the time for data, so I may actually not upgrade the phone next year, but pick up an iPad (maybe Mini) instead if I can find a lower-cost data-only plan and then just get one of the low-cost prepaid phone plans for those rare times I actually make or take calls.
Remember we live in a world of lost knowledge. The entire IP system in America needs a re-balance in favor of innovation. Right now the beneficiaries are the Big Boys aka Crony Capitalists.
“Funny thing, I rarely use my phone as a PHONE. I use it all the time for data, so I may actually not upgrade the phone next year, but pick up an iPad (maybe Mini) instead if I can find a lower-cost data-only plan and then just get one of the low-cost prepaid phone plans for those rare times I actually make or take calls.”
That is probably a good plan, and you can save a boat load of monthly access money.
One of our younger relatives on his own bought the big IPad and uses Verizon data service for about $40 per month. It is amazing what he can do with his IPAD. His immediate boss has an I5 phone, and they are in the process of convincing their management to allow them to go buy them IPADs and the monthly Verizon data service and simple LG 840 G TracFones with the triple minutes for phone and texting.
They can equip the two of them with IPADS w/the Verizon Data service and LG 840 G Tracfones for a lot less costs than their Iphone and company smart phone.
I have the LG 840 G Tracfone with a ton of minutes and two years of service for less than $200. I can make phone calls, text, take pictures and send them in text messages. It is more reliable re service than some of the I5’s. We are having some work and repainting done on our home. Our contractor with his new I5 and AT&T service was unable to call his painter to line up time for our house from our driveway. I loaned him my Tracfone, and it worked perfectly.
Apple has to be concerned that a lot of their heavy duty IP5 customers might buy an I Pad and a good TracFone to do more for less money.
A brother of the younger relative mentioned above has hijacked his wife’s big I Pad for a couple of days each week and is looking using one with the Verizon Data service to go to a cloud memory system for some heavy duty field use and to replace the Dell/HP computers in his home office.
Even more scary to Apple, IBM, AT&T, Verizon,? is what a cousin of these two brothers is messing around with in his free time. He thinks that apps can be designed to use the IPADs like IPhones for a little monthly fee for the app and something like Skype for an online phone use with the IPADS.
I’d say that’s scarier to AT&T, Verizon, et. al., than Apple. Apple sells the devices, not the service, so if people buy the more expensive iPad than iPhones, that’s fine by them.
What is the cost difference between an IPad Mini with WIFI versus an IPhone 5?
I’d compare the cell data versions myself, personally, to be fair head-to-head, instead of WiFi (because then you can just use the iPod Touch instead of the iPhone as the comparison).
But I was surprised, the phone was the most expensive - for 16 GB with cellular, the Mini is $459, the current iPad is $629, and an unlocked iPhone 5 is $649.
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