Apparently they're reforming patent law in the US to cut down on this... anyone know if it'll be retro-active?

If this is truly patent squatting, then I think Sony needs to fight this the same way IBM did with SCO over Linux.  IBM could have settled with SCO, but that would have set a damaging precedent.  Instead, IBM has basically crushed SCO into oblivion and made others think twice before bringing another garbage lawsuit against them.  And since IBM is also a party to this, I see a long fight ahead.

The SCO case was different. That had much less to do with patents and a lot more to do with trademarks and copyright. That being said, IBM is notorious for destroying companies that try to attack them. And frankly, IBM has more patents than God. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in their annals of patents they have one for cell-like technology that goes back to ~a year before this companies patent. Then they could just get the other patent invalidated.

In any case, here's looking forward to the days that all these lame patents enter the public domain. This one, for example, will happen within the next half decade or thereabouts. Once that happens, Sony has a free pass to the technology.

Patents should just expire after 5 years if you have not made and marketed an actual product.

There is no case here as the Patent office has already ruled that there is no infringment.

”Oddly enough, Sony’s own patent, filed in 2001 and issued in 2007, actually lists the 1991 patent as a citation. In other words, Sony’s own patent lawyers have already seen the old patent and deemed it not to be a threat, and the U.S. Patent Office apparently agreed when it issued Sony the patent in June."

http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/story/13725/ps3s_cell_processor_faces_patent_challenge

This should be thrown out pretty quickly.

 lol

the whole patent system needs to be revised IMO. anyone hear that story of a guy who invented and patented a light-bulb that never needed replacing, but was bought out by a company that produced light-bulbs that did need replacing, and they just sat on the patent. seriously, patents don't protect the little guy anymore (anything new nowadays is normally developed by bigger companies), they're just used by big corporations to stifle competitiion, and gain money, and therefore stifle development, and make it worse for the consumer.

I agree with dododo, that you don't actually make the product, the patent should be deemed invalid. Also, a max age of 5~10 years for electronics would be appropriate cos the market moves so fast.