Comments on: RED Taking Sony To Court Over Patent Infringement, Wants Cameras Destroyed

By: Mael Radec

Mael Radec — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:28:00 +0000

This is the same US patent system that granted Apple a patent on ’rounded corners’ for mobile phones.

The problem with software patents is that the implementation of technology doesn’t actually have to be demonstrated. Ideas can be patented. This is why the EU scrapped software patents.

I’m not sure about the specifics of this case, but that’s a general comment of the patent system in the US.

By: Charles Owen

Charles Owen — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:25:00 +0000

Apple sued Samsung in German courts last year demanding a ban on sales of all Samsung smartphones. This is part of a continuing saga of Apple vs. Samsung that has been taking place in the German courts over things as silly as being able to pick two smileys from a row or the slide to unlock feature on some phones. Germans has lawyers just like the US has them and wherever lawyers go, silliness tends to go as well.

By: Rupert Laycock

Rupert Laycock — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 03:02:00 +0000

http://qkme.me/3t29uf

By: Dan Lizama

Dan Lizama — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:14:00 +0000

Lol.. “understand what is happening here..” It’s an enterprise Vs a Huge Corporation, that is what’s going on. Nothing more. Regarding the “donate them” idea; it does make sense.. but not the kind of sense you’re probably accustomed to, Mr. “Big shot photographer”, so You stick to taking pictures, and leave the discussions to the otherwise enabled.

By: Stefan Parol

Stefan Parol — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:10:00 +0000

Sadly, law really IS working that way in the US, is it?
“Ask for the Sun and the Moon” as someone here put it- wouldn´t even been accepted with german courts.

By: Boris Shabovta

Boris Shabovta — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:54:00 +0000

as a customer who purchased sony camera – i am forced by law to give up my property?
can Red really force such motion? and if not, I would go and buy more cameras that are line of being discontinued and destroyed.

By: Charles Owen

Charles Owen — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:32:00 +0000

First, all of this worry about “destroying cameras” is silly. It’s an initial suit and is pretty much lawsuit boilerplate. When you sue, you ask for the sun and the moon and everything else you can think of. Then you negotiate what you actually get. If you start with what you expect or want to get (which is likely a license fee from Sony), you have no negotiating room.

As to the validity of the patents, they both mainly concern ways that RED has chosen to implement image compression. One is from the standpoint of quality, the other speed (and I would not be surprised if the second is tossed, since it heavily overlaps the first). They are not patenting the idea of a video camera with high resolution. This is a very specific and relatively simple idea on how to more efficiently compress Bayer filter image data. But, the fact that the idea is simple does not mean it is obvious or not patentable. If Sony has infringed, they were stupid to do so. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing.

RED has intellectual property that deserves to be protected. It’s really the only way they can avoid being stream-rollered by giants like Sony.

By: Sebastian Pelan

Sebastian Pelan — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:20:00 +0000

If I remember correctly, RED had issues with industrial espionage (supposedly by Sony) some years ago, so if they can prove that Sony did indeed copy their stuff, well… they deserve to win. It’s just the “destroying” part I really, really don’t like…

By: Scott Lewis

Scott Lewis — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:52:00 +0000

RED the new Apple…. filed a suit against every on and every thing

By: Krisztián Storm Kocsis

Krisztián Storm Kocsis — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000

So, you say it is just patent trolling?