Visto wins $7.7 million
Posted by rexdixon on December 20, 2006
Here is a nice little story that was buried today. Visto the owner of three patents concerning mobile e-mail has sued and won $7.7 million. This was originally done months earlier by a jury. In a U.S. District court, Judge T. John Ward of Texas, has ordered Seven Networks to pay the $7.7 million in damages.
Now when I said everyone “steals” something from someone else on the internet, the big guys take it one step too far I think. I don’t LITERALLY mean steal intellectual property. I mean come on guys, what kind of dork thieves are you? You are not suppose to LITERALLY steal! You borrow, you enhance, you shape and form it and make it your own.
If it is something you need to really have to make your product “go“, then you need to pay a little money in licensing fees, or buying the rights to use it. You do not just go and steal it. That is so very wrong on many terms that I can’t even think about how your parents would have treated this. Woodshed possibly if you are old enough? Leather strap across your backside perhaps? Yes, in many circles of society they say “child abuse”. It appears to be more part of parental neglect in the case of the people that authorized the stealing of the intellectual property of Visto.
This of course isn’t over yet, as Visto has also gone after companies such as RIM, Microsoft, and Good Technology Inc. The company Seven Networks also plans to go back to court in June. The original award of the jury trial, which the judge above upheld, was $3.6 million. That means – if you are wrong, pay the fine and do the time! The new judge tacked on interest and other fees. Do the math.
Technically Speaking, I don’t think too many companies out there today get it. Ethics, it’s a whole subject that should be gone over. No, I’m not teaching that class tonight.
