Yet another attempt to take a legal bite out of Apple

[TiggrToo]

Omnitek v. Apple | PDF | Patent | Complaint

Omnitek v. Apple

www.scribd.com

This time it’s a non-practicing entity/patent troll claiming they own the patents over using gestures etc. to navigate Apple Maps, etc.

One patent is from 2014, the other more generic one is from 2012.

Oddly I seem to remember using AutoRoute in the mid 1990s for driving directions...

Paging our resident legal experts, @Alan Wynn & @cmaier!

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,645,057.PN.&OS=PN/8,645,057&RS=PN/8,645,057

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,224,569.PN.&OS=PN/8,224,569&RS=PN/8,224,569

 

[cmaier]

Omnitek v. Apple | PDF | Patent | Complaint

Omnitek v. Apple

www.scribd.com

This time it’s a non-practicing entity/patent troll claiming they own the patents over using gestures etc. to navigate Apple Maps, etc.

One patent is from 2014, the other more generic one is from 2012.

Oddly I seem to remember using AutoRoute in the mid 1990s for driving directions...

Paging our resident legal experts, @Alan Wynn & @cmaier!

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,645,057.PN.&OS=PN/8,645,057&RS=PN/8,645,057

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,224,569.PN.&OS=PN/8,224,569&RS=PN/8,224,569

1. A method for electronically generating driving directions, the method comprising:
indicating a starting address;
indicating an ending address;
indicating one or more preferences for the directions; and
generating driving directions based on the indicated starting address, ending address, and one or more preferences;
wherein at least one of the one or more preferences comprises an indication to use no roads of a certain type in the generated driving directions.

Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank may be mentioned once or twice by Apple in defending this.

 

[chabig]

This will not go well for Omnitek.

 

[Alan Wynn]

This one is odd. Having read it, I am not sure how it differs from Garmin’s NeverLost system that was first used by Columbus I think. (It was a long time ago, so it may even pre-date him.)

 

[Mousse]

This time it’s a non-practicing entity/patent troll claiming they own the patents over using gestures etc. to navigate Apple Maps, etc.

Ugh. Why do the courts still allow this crap? A patent should only be valid if they can produce a working demonstration instead of vague ideas on paper. Remember how Wyle E Coyote's inventions always seems perfect as a blue print only to massively fail when put into use? Non-practicing entities holding patents. I've got a great idea for an invention, but can't work out the little details to get it to work in practice. I'll sue the pants off anyone who can.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Ugh. Why do the courts still allow this crap?

Because that is the whole point of the patent system. I develop an idea well enough to explain its implementation to one skilled in the art. I patent it to protect it while I am building it.

A patent should only be valid if they can produce a working demonstration instead of vague ideas on paper.

That would eliminate the primary benefit of getting a patent. It would require me to keep my development completely secret until I finished the implementation. That would make it impossible to work with outside suppliers, contract manufacturers, engineering consultants, etc. Without this protection, small companies and start ups would be at a huge disadvantage.

Non-practicing entities holding patents. I've got a great idea for an invention, but can't work out the little details to get it to work in practice. I'll sue the pants off anyone who can.

Sorry, while there are some incorrectly granted patents, and there are certainly some abusive entities, there are many NPEs that bought their patents from the people that actually developed the products and used the sale of the patent to help fund the company (current or future development). Sometimes they maintain a license in a particular space, sometimes they do not depending on what happened to the company.

 

[Tech198]

some day's it just doesn't pay to eat an Apple.

 

[dmccloud]

Omnitek is going to wind up owing a lot in legal fees, especially if they are simply targeting Apple and overlooking Google Maps.