Jobs may be threatening Ogg Theora

Fabio FZero fabio.fzero-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
Mon May 3 13:48:04 UTC 2010


It's a bluff, obviously.

But most of the press is not versed in patent laws, so the FUD is
already there. Microsoft made this sort of thing into an art, and now
Apple (or whoever wrote this) is simply following suit.

- FZ

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 00:21, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> <http://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2010/04/open-letter-to-steve-jobs/>
>
> It looks as if Jobs replied to this open letter (could be a hoax).  See
> the first reply.
>
>    "A patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other
>    “open source” codecs now."
>
> You don't need a patent pool to "go after" an open source codec.  Each
> patent holder can do that.  Why would you form a pool?
>
> Oh, and the first thing you need to do is issue a cease and desist letter.
> Letting a violation continue, without notice, hurts your case in law I
> think (not sure about that).  According to
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_infringement_under_United_States_law>,
> indirect infringement requires knowledge of the infringement and that
> would seem to require notice for certainty.
>
> From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_infringement>:
>
>    "A threat to bring a patent infringement action is highly likely
>    to influence the commercial conduct of the person threatened,
>    which is why the law of some countries, including the UK, provides
>    that the making of a groundless threat to sue is, within certain
>    carefully prescribed limits, an actionable wrong in itself." [10]
>
> Very odd.
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