Kodak and their stupid patent

[gameoverDude]

http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/p...73185676035359

Next week, Kodak will be back in court trying to squeeze a billion dollars out of Sun Microsystems. They claim portions of Java infringe patents they purchased from Wang Laboratories in 1997.

The patents describe a method by which a program can "ask for help" from another application to carry out certain computer-oriented functions. That's generally similar to the way Java operates, according to Kodak and other experts.

Screw you, Ho-dak.

[kedawa]

Way to kill innovation, you greedy pricks.

This whole software patent free-for-all going on right now is really fucking stupid. Apple just got a patent for the way shit minimizes into the dock, so nobody else can do that.

Maybe Chris Rock should patent 'I hate niggas' jokes done by a black man, it would make about as much sense.

[Dolemite]

http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/p...73185676035359

Next week, Kodak will be back in court trying to squeeze a billion dollars out of Sun Microsystems. They claim portions of Java infringe patents they purchased from Wang Laboratories in 1997.

The patents describe a method by which a program can "ask for help" from another application to carry out certain computer-oriented functions. That's generally similar to the way Java operates, according to Kodak and other experts.

Screw you, Ho-dak.

"Wang". Hee hee.

[cka]

I have a receit from wang computers. They replaced my video card free of charge once.

[mollipen]

This whole software patent free-for-all going on right now is really fucking stupid. Apple just got a patent for the way shit minimizes into the dock, so nobody else can do that.

Not to support this whole patent situation, because it is REALLY out of hand, but a lot of times the big companies like Apple, Microsoft, etc. snatch up a lot of patents simply as protection. You usually only see the big guys going after each other if they are in desperate straights. For example, imagine how many patents each of the big video game companies must have. It ends up like a nuclear stand-off - one side doesn't attack the other, because it will then just become a big mess of back and forth attacks. The biggest patent fight I can think of video game wise was Atari vs. Sega, and that was because, as I said, Atari was deperate and needed cash.

The only time I've seen Apple be a real ass about this kind of stuff is when a product comes out that is trying to sell directly on the back of Apple and their stuff. For example, those computers that were almost direct clones of the original iMac.

Kodak is in trouble, and sees this as an "easy" way to get some quick cash.

[Eirikur]

I've always hated Kodak, and this annoys me.

[gameoverDude]

I've always hated Kodak, and this annoys me.

I've had no opinion of Kodak previously, but now they can kiss a frog's fat ass. Hopefully someone will buy them out.

[MVS]

Why the bitch fest given a Judge and a Jury ruled in Kodak's favor?

"(October 2, 2004) — Eastman Kodak Co. will return to U.S. District Court next week to seek $1 billion in damages from Sun Microsystems Inc. now that a federal jury has ruled in its favor in a dispute over the Java computer language.

The jury decided in Rochester on Friday that Sun infringed on technology belonging to Kodak when it developed and introduced Java more than a decade ago. The computer language is now used heavily by software developers, on the Internet and in computer schools."

[mollipen]

I think the bitchfest is more that the entire patent system is screwed up. Patents are being given for things that a lot of us don't feel patents should be given for.

[MVS]

This is why you guys aren't patent approvers.

Don't Patents generally have a limited time of legality?

I know that back in the 1800's Samuel Colt had a few patents on the repeating revolver, which, eventually ran out.