Absurd Patent Lawsuit

K

Kaci-April!

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An android developer is being sued over "displaying a city name and state on a LCD screen with a limited processor." Seriously? What next? Displaying any location on a mobile platform? Check out his blog for full details:

http://www.threadabort.com/archive/2010/02/20/city-caller-id-has-been-sued-by-cequint.aspx
 
The patent says "displaying a city name and state on a LCD screen with a limited processor". So... my LCD TV has a limited processor in it. If I'm watching a movie which shows a signpost with a city name on it on some road, along with the distance to it in miles (a number), does that mean I can be sued?
 
Well, the problem of late has been the granting of ridiculous patents because of not enough people in patent office to really determine their legitimacy. (And, being across the "the pond" isn't going to help you). Have you received a "cease and desist" order? What you do have going for you, if you are in Europe or the UK, is that frivolous lawsuits (which means your attacker can be made to pay your legal bills) are more often granted than in the U.S. Up to you if you want to fight.

I guess these are the dudes... http://www.cequint.com/ The other issue is are you offering the same service but with a unique technology? You cannot patent a concept without demonstrating -- real world -- how it works. Also, if the people "deploying" the service are in fact taking advantage of technologies created by others, it's unlikely their patent challenge can be successful. But... it cost money to be right.
 
Technically all processors are limited. Any program that displays city or whqtever, falls into that category. It seems like there must be more to the lawsuit going on then why meets the eyes...
 
SEATTLE -- Cequint, Inc., a leading provider of Caller ID and call screening products for wireless, announced today the purchase of U.S. Patent No. 6,353,664, a pioneering patent on the display of location information for screening incoming and outgoing calls. The patent was purchased from LSI, formerly Agere.
Originally developed by Lucent in 1997, the patent represents a significant innovation in providing location information on a device for purposes of enhancing caller identification.
Originally developed by Lucent in 1997?! Back then the abstract provided definitely *was* an invention! We didn’t have the advances in software and platforms that we do now. The fact that this patent is even allowed to survive is further proof that the patent offices in North America haven’t kept up with the rapid change of technology and the changing definition of “invention”.

They have also sued Blackberry Apps developer over same issue. IMHO a challenge to this patent would succeed.
 
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