Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts by Minerva Industries !

Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts. Minerva Industries served
papers to Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent
infringement entitled "Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device,"
where the company was recently awarded the United Sates patent No.
7,321,783 - beating out both firms.

http://www.phonemag.com/iphone-conce...1783-01366.php


In a six-page formal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Texas
on Tuesday, alleged that representatives from Minerva informed Apple
of their pending application with United States Patent and Trademark
Office covering iPhone concepts.

Bottom line - Minerva thought of it first and has the patented right
to the following in the USA...

Document Type and Number: United States Patent 7321783

A mobile entertainment and communication device in a palm-held size
housing has a cellular or satellite telephone capable of wireless
communication with the Internet and one or more replaceable memory
card sockets for receiving a blank memory card for recording data
directly from the Internet and, in particular, musical performances
that then can be selectively reproduced by the device for the
enjoyment of the user, including both audio and visual recordings and
reproductions. The device also includes a camera and microphone for
recording images and sound within the range of the device that can be
wirelessly transmitted, either selectively or automatically to a
remote telephone. Further, the device includes sensors for sensing
unusual conditions that may also be transmitted to a remote telephone,
together with the location of the device as determined by a GPS
section of the device.

4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote in news:d42b1242-f5c1-4682-8134-
d8c6c1e72079@q21g2000hsa.googlegroups.com:

> and one or more replaceable memory
> card sockets for receiving a blank memory card for recording data
> directly from the Internet and, in particular, musical performances
> that then can be selectively reproduced by the device for the
> enjoyment of the user, including both audio and visual recordings and
> reproductions.

Whew! For a minute there I thought they had a case! iPhoney I saw don't
have "one or more replaceable memory card sockets for receiving a blank
memory card”, do they? They ain’t gots nuthin’! You can’t even swap the
BATTERY!

At 24 Jan 2008 16:21:11 -0800 4phun wrote:
> Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts. Minerva Industries served
> papers to Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent
> infringement entitled "Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device,"
> where the company was recently awarded the United Sates patent No.
> 7,321,783 - beating out both firms.


Hmm. I think RadioShack should sue everyone then- when I was a child, I
had a toy channel-14 Walkie-Talkie with an AM transistor radio built in.
Truly the first "mobile entertainment and communication device!" ;-)

Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in news:fnbd2s$i35$1
@aioe.org:

> At 24 Jan 2008 16:21:11 -0800 4phun wrote:
>> Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts. Minerva Industries served
>> papers to Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent
>> infringement entitled "Mobile Entertainment and Communication
Device,"
>> where the company was recently awarded the United Sates patent No.
>> 7,321,783 - beating out both firms.
>
>
> Hmm. I think RadioShack should sue everyone then- when I was a child,
I
> had a toy channel-14 Walkie-Talkie with an AM transistor radio built
in.
> Truly the first "mobile entertainment and communication device!" ;-)
>
>
>

Mine was in 1956, I was 10. There was a real transistor radio kit sold
for $12.95 in Popular Science magazine, in the back in the little ads.
I begged and begged my father to buy it for me. The transistor was
Raytheon's CK-722:
http://www.ck722museum.com/
There's one in the Smithsonian. It's a piece of history.
My kit had 2 transistors:
http://www.ck722museum.com/page44.html
This kit was an earlier model. Mine had a red plastic box and crystal
earphone and ran off two aa or aaa cells. The CK718s, like it says,
were only sold to hearing aid manufacturers, but the CK722 was in my
kit, in a bright blue plastic mount with 3 tiny wires coming out the
bottom. A red dot showed you where the emitter was. Like the tubes, it
plugged into a little socket like it shows because soldering then
destroyed them.

When I was 11-12, I used to build Heathkit CB walkie talkie kits:
Heath GW-30. They were $20 when they first came out, a 4-transistor
superregen transceiver that ran off an expensive 9V big battery:
http://www.retrocom.com/ad's&fly...20&%20CB-1.jpg
No squelch. It sounded like Niagara Falls listening to its ONE dead
channel. We thought it was simply wonderful. Every kid brought me his
to build...(c;

The C-5 CB base under it I built, too. It only had one crystal socket,
so you laid out your channel crystals on a piece of paper with each
crystal labeled so you could swap the front-mounted crystals fast when
one of the rich smart asses with a Globe or Gonset with a channel switch
wanted to change channels....(c; It sounded like Niagara Falls because
it's tubes were a regen receiver, too. On its better antenna, you heard
about 3 channels simultaneously if it was busy.

Really rich people had Browning Golden Eagles.....
http://www.retrocom.com/ad's&fly...EN%20EAGLE.jpg

CB started in 1957. You had to be 18 to get a license. I got one,
anyway, as I already had a ham license when I was 11. My mother was
terrified I was going to be mistakenly DRAFTED for the Army...(c;

Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in news:fnbd2s$i35$1
@aioe.org:

> At 24 Jan 2008 16:21:11 -0800 4phun wrote:
>> Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts. Minerva Industries served
>> papers to Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent
>> infringement entitled "Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device,"
>> where the company was recently awarded the United Sates patent No.
>> 7,321,783 - beating out both firms.
>
>
> Hmm. I think RadioShack should sue everyone then- when I was a child, I
> had a toy channel-14 Walkie-Talkie with an AM transistor radio built in.
> Truly the first "mobile entertainment and communication device!" ;-)
>
>

I bet your original walkie magazine ad is on:
http://www.retrocom.com/

CB was great fun because the sun spot cycle was awful high in 1957 when the
FCC screwed up and put them on 27 Mhz ham band....instead of Class A on 465
Mhz UHF the manufacturers said couldn't be produced cheaply enough people
would buy them.

Fess up. How many kilowatts was your biggest CB station?.....(c;

Larry 20W1956
They ran out of W's before my buddy Howard got his 20Q1802. He's WA2STR
and I still have his original hand-made CB/Ham QSL card on the wall here...

We monitored Channel 11. Walkies were on 14.
What was your first CB callsign?

Firm awarded patent on smartphones - Apple, Nokia, RIM, HTC, Sony
Ericsson, Samsung, AT&T, Sprint, everyone gets sued
Today, January 26, 2008, 25 minutes ago | willpark
Did that title just spike your blood pressure? Well it damn sure
almost gave us a freakin' stroke.

It seems that the USPTO, in all their patent approving wisdom, has
awarded a patent holding firm a patent on a "mobile entertainment and
communication device." Okay, the patent title sounds inconspicuous
enough, but the patent covers a mobile phone with removable storage,
camera, internet connection, and the ability to download video and
audio files.

Raise your hand if that patent-description reminds you of the
smartphone that you use everyday.

The patent was issued last Tuesday, after which point, the firm
promptly filed suit (three different suits, actually) against just
about everyone in the mobile phone industry. Apple, Nokia, RIM,
Sprint, AT&T, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, and
Samsung are named among the defendants in this case.

To make matter worse, the patent was issued on the premise of a
"continuation filing," in which a patent holder apply for a patent to
cover technologies that have already emerged and hit the market.
Here's the kicker - the patent application was basically a combination
of well-known technologies and concepts that were already in use, a
patent-practice that the Supreme Court recently ruled does not deserve
a patent.

Has anyone over at the USPTO ever heard of "prior art?" Apparently
not. A patent on a smartphone?! We still can't believe it.

4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote:

> Bottom line - Minerva thought of it first and has the patented right
> to the following in the USA...

you can think of anything first, but unless you build a salable product
with your idea, the courts rarely rule in your favor.

Mark Thompson <markt@earthlink.net> amazed us all with the following in
news:markt-CB46EC.19535726012008@mpls-nnrp-06.inet.qwest.net:

> 4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Bottom line - Minerva thought of it first and has the patented right
>> to the following in the USA...
>
> you can think of anything first, but unless you build a salable product
> with your idea, the courts rarely rule in your favor.
>

Broadcom says hello.

January 25, 2008 11:37 AM PST
Sprint & Verizon to ride the patent gravy train
Posted by Marguerite Reardon
Sprint Nextel and Verizon Communications both see an opportunity to
make a buck on their IP telephony patents after successfully suing
Vonage Holdings last year.

On Thursday, Sprint Nextel said in a U.S. District Court in Wichita,
Kan., that it was suing four small phone companies. Sprint alleges
that Nuvox Communication, BroadVOX Holdings, Big River Telephone, and
Paetec Communications are infringing on six of its patents.

Those patents, part of a larger portfolio of patents that cover voice
over IP technology owned by Sprint, are the same ones used to
successfully sue Vonage. The two companies eventually settled the
dispute last year. And Vonage agreed to pay Sprint a total of $80
million, which includes $35 million for past use of the license, $40
million for a fully paid future license, and $5 million in prepayment
for services.

Verizon Communications, which won a $120 million settlement from
Vonage last year, is also asserting its patent claims. Earlier this
month the company filed a suit in the Eastern District Court of
Virginia against cable operator Cox Communications for infringing on
eight patents that had to do with voice over IP technology. Two of the
patents in the Cox case are the same ones Verizon successfully sued
Vonage for infringing.

Since Sprint and Verizon have already successfully asserted these
patents, it certainly strengthens their new cases. And it's very
likely the companies will either win in court or be able to pressure
these companies and any other VoIP providers into licensing deals.

This is very good news for Sprint, which would benefit greatly from
turning its existing patent portfolio into a cash cow. The beleaguered
cell phone carrier has been bleeding customers and is in desperate
need of new revenue growth to boost earnings.