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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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*APPLAUSE* n/t
Authored by: mcinsand on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 02:39 PM EDT
.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Combination Lock
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 03:10 PM EDT

To argue that:

    a computer+software = new machine
is to argue that:
    combination 1-2-1 as applied to a combination lock creates a new machine compared with applying combination 10-12-10 to the same lock
Tons of analogies like this and the dvd+dvdplayer are exactly analogous.

The concept is simple:

    Using a device for exactly what it was built for, not building something greater, and to patent it is to lock away from the public what the public already had available!

RAS

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Combination Lock - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 03:59 PM EDT
Does playing a DVD make a new machine
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 03:30 PM EDT
Yes. At least for those players that store the disc key in NVRAM,
so that next time that disc is loaded it runs and plays faster.
Those discs that break the key into pieces and scatter them about,
cause a lot of work for libdvdnav, so a player that stores the key
becomes a different player. Sorry, by posing the question
that way, you tripped over a boundary condition.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Yes
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 04:00 PM EDT
Well, DVD players are computers so go and install Linux on
them asap :-)

Under your definition, your and my computers must be the
same exact machine if we watched the same DVD (don't have
either or those movies). I doubt very much that your
computer (hardware, software and work load) is exactly the
same as mine so that must make our computers different
machines.

Also it is likely that many of these machine definitions are
those that need to be present to explain the patent but
otherwise have no legal weight. That is probably why you
tend not to see those claims that just describe a computer
or computer parts alone.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Does changing diapers make a new baby?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 06:46 PM EDT
Does changing dishes make a new dishwasher?

Does changing channels make a new television?

Does changing drivers make a new car?

Does changing furniture make a new apartment?

Does changing strings make a new guitar?


Keep em coming... it just shows how ridiculous this has become...


[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Does playing a DVD make a new machine
Authored by: DannyB on Friday, July 20 2012 @ 10:03 AM EDT
Does changing the music roll on a player piano make a new machine?

Does changing the pattern cards in a textile weaving machine make a new
machine?

Does changing the text or graphics on an outdoor electric sign make a new
machine?

---
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Ban all new non-Ford vehicles
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, July 20 2012 @ 03:18 PM EDT
Under your view, all new non-Ford vehicles would have to be
removed from the United States of America because there is a
single car somewhere in the U.S.A. that infringed one of
Ford's patents. Even Apple has not been that silly - yet.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Tractors and drills
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, July 21 2012 @ 01:35 AM EDT
Farmers use tractors for many tasks and usually by adding an implement specific
to the taks (ploughing, transporting, etc.).
Is the tractor with a trailer a different machine from a tractor with a plough?
Isn't it still a tractor?

Contractors (and members of the DIY tribe) have powered hand drills that comes
with interchangable bits fitting various kinds of screw formats and sizes
(philips, hex, etc.).
Does the tool represent a different machine if the bit is changed?
What if it is used with a drill to make a hole? Isn't it still the same basic
power tool platform?

Isn't the law(yer) confusing the configuration of a machine/tool with the
machine/tool itself..?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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