It appears both Sony and Apple are being sued over the idea behind their Plastation Network and iTunes services.
"Inventor Benjamin Grobler is represented by intellectual property attorneys Christopher Banys and Richard C. Lin from the Palo Alto, Calif., office of The Lanier Law Firm. The lawsuits filed March on 27, 2012, allege that Apple and Sony are infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,799,084.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the ‘084 patent to Mr. Grobler in 2004. The patent covers data vending systems that allow users to store and manage digital music, video, software and other items on a variety of electronic devices."
- Source
Now, I'm no lawyer, but why do they believe they have a case against Apple when iTunes was initially released in Jan of '01 and the patent wasn't filed til '04? Also, isn't Playstation Network just the overall networking service for Sony's systems, which includes online play? I think it would have been a better choice to use the wording "Playstation Store," as I think a Sony lawyer could use that argument. And where are the lawsuits against the Android Market (as well as the countless unofficial Android Marketplaces) and the Live markeplace, as they follow the same general idea.
From what I can see, obvious patent troll is obvious. I think this is just another example of why we need to reform our patent system. It seems people can come in with the most general of ideas, without proof they may actually put this tech into any form of use, and we still give them a patent. Then they sit on it for about a decade waiting for other devices/services to make millions/billions of dollars, after which they sue for patent infringement, even though they did jack all with the patent.
So what are your thoughts? Is this a patent troll? Or is Mr. Grobler in the right?
