8 comments

How can he be using EXEL, Word, etc WIthout Permission? this is a total contradiction… he paid for them right? he can use them to show his evidence… you obviously have no right speaking about the law. Its just like Mac suing Microsoft, and as evidence show screenshots of Vista (which Jobs licensed/purchased) to show his ‘complaint’.

nothing wrong with that mate…. its simple law. …without permission…. whahahwwwaahhaaa. funny , but this guy is a douche, unless he has some proof pre-dating 25yrs of his gui use.

PC, on December 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Yet another example of frivolous lawsuits. I think if people like this sue someone and it if found to be frivolous they should pay the companies the some total of what they sued them for.

Joe, on December 27th, 2008 at 7:53 pm

PC–

1. “Paying” for a piece of software doesn’t mean that you “own” it. It grants you the right to use it in very specific circumstances. Read a EULA sometime.

2. the look and feel of a GUI (and even it’s behavior as in Amazon.com’s “Buy it Now” feature) are copyrightable. As Apple has demonstrated on a number of occasions against folks “Skinning” other OS’s to look like Aqua.

3. the image in question was from Mr. Swartz’s patent application. In his exhibit he used another company’s intellectual property without permission which may be outside the bounds of “Fair use” if a resonable person could interpret that Mr. Swartz was attempting to pass the work off as his own, or infringing on the brand of the IP holder.

I would argue that a reasonable person would expect that imagery used in a PATENT application would belong to the person submitting the application.

Hence the infringement.

Leigh McMullen, on December 28th, 2008 at 7:35 am

This is an example of evolution gone wrong, and, America being at the cutting edge, we get to see a lot of examples like it. Like IP claims over the human genome or parts of it. How can some cocky American come along, tens of thousands of years after the appearance of the first humans on the planet, and claim intellectual property over human genes which have been in existence for tens of thousands of years ? I should fly over to LA, drive down to Disneyland and erect a fence outside of theirs, charging an admission because I finally discovered it for myself - never mind the fact that it was there previously. These lawyers should be forced to cough up a sizeable security before they can file their action, and maybe you need ‘reverse punitive damages’ ie you sue me, if your action is found to be too far from any arguable case, I get 5 - 10 times my actual costs back. This might cause a recession in the US legal profession though…

George Christianson, on December 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

@ George

As a typical (I think) American I say:

BRAVO!!

adam, on December 29th, 2008 at 7:52 am

[...] Here is the original:  Suing Apple for Fun and Profit | Cult of Mac [...]

Suing Apple for Fun and Profit | Cult of Mac, on December 29th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

Sorry Leigh, but using images of someone else’s product to demonstrate the use of your own is fair use. This is a legal filing, not commerce. Using it to advertise their “invention” without copyright attribution would likely be a copyright infringement, though not necessarily. In fact, the inclusion of multiple OSes could be deemed necessary to establish multi-platform applicability AND a unique product.

I still think it’s a bogus greenmail suit.

imajoebob, on December 29th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

Having only some of Apple’s more recient patent applications to go by, one will note how they’re careful not to use even their own Aqua UI as it might be implied as prescriptive.

But you’re probably right Joebob, still made a great punch line for the piece, which is (for me at least) more important than being … uh… you know… accurate… **grins**

(Recent Apple Patent Application images follow):
http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/18/iphone_clamshell_potential.jpg

http://www.iphoneinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/patent_interface.gif

http://www.macblogz.com/Media/2008/5/newiphonepatent.jpg

Leigh McMullen, on December 30th, 2008 at 6:20 am