Following Microsoft’s patent claim against TomTom, the Dutch mobile navigation device maker has countersued Microsoft, claiming the company infringes upon four of its patents. “The GPS device maker, based in The Netherlands, filed the countersuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday. TomTom says Microsoft’s Streets and Trips products infringe on four patents it owns related to vehicle navigation software.”
have “kloten” (balls).
That is probably what you have to do. Play the patent warfare game. Stupid as it is. MAD.
That is probably what you have to do. Play the patent warfare game. Stupid as it is. MAD.
TomTom does indeed have some balls for going up against Microsoft. I do cheer for them, but…I’ve read somewhere that TomTom is already in financial trouble, I doubt they can afford to keep the fight going long enough.
As for Microsoft; I am still waiting for the day when they open the Pandora’s Box, perhaps by accident, and start a full-scale patent war with IBM and all other Linux affiliates. They’d be in trouble if they got DMCA takedown notice for Windows..
What TomTom needs is for some of the *many*, *many* companies with an interest in seeing this patent blunted to pitch in and help. Lots of companies need to use FAT with long file names in their products. And they need it as a direct result of Microsoft’s monopoly on the desktop. There might be some interesting angles of attack in that.
Edited 2009-03-20 15:30 UTC
I say.. the hell with all this patent rubbish.. who wants a beer?
say.. the hell with all this patent rubbish.. who wants a beer?
Sorry, momma doesn’t like bier. But if you’re buying then I’ll gladly take some pear cider or similar :3
Thought you’d never ask….
BTW, good luck TomTom (I’ll drink to that)
Glad to see TomTom are fighting Microsoft on this, but it’s absolutely ridiculous it’s even come to this.
How many more millions of $$$ do we have to see wasted on pathetic patent laws before some positive action is taken.
And no one made a ThomThom joke yet. You guys really are classier than my friends
.
<joke>
That’s ridiculous, Microsoft would never sue one of its own fans.
</joke>
LOL, man, I just laughed so hard at that. You are so right. Thom is like the biggest Microsoft fan, why would they want to sue him? Maybe, because he is such a fan boy that he evens annoys them as much as he do to us.
Now on topic, Microsoft is getting into deep waters with all this patents thing, we all know for sure Microsoft should be violating thousands of patents right now.
The fact that SCO is flat broke hasn’t kept them from keeping the legal wars going for years. Investors will be found who are tempted by the prospect of a payout from Microsoft. After all, TomTom has the option of stopping making products and shifting to being a full-time patent trolling company, prying millions out of Microsoft’s hide.
This is why patents aren’t good for Microsoft as a weapon against smaller companies. If the smaller company has even one patent that Microsoft infringes, the damages they might be able to collect could be worth more than the rest of their business put together.
This is like cats fighting for territory, only one possible outcome is for one company to be liquidated and for people to lose their jobs, all the while lawyers get richer and richer and laugh their way to the bank.
When can businesses be at a state where competition is friendly? I used to work at an appliance retailer, about 100 metres or so from another. We’d frequently go and chat with each other, refer customers to each other (if we were out of stock). I know it sounds cheesy, but can’t we all just get along?
When certain types of lawyers go find something more productive to do with their lives.
Good on Tom Tom. Asshole tactics call for asshole tactics.
I bet Microsoft was like “What he hell?… Oh crap guys”