Another Lawsuit for Dish?

[JohnH]

Sounds like only DiSH Pro Plus is similar to this patent's claim. 2 different polarity signals on the same coax at the same time. Or, let's go after everybody's band stacking, even Spaun's.

 

[Greg Bimson]

Remember, the Supreme Court just issued some kind of ruling where "obviousness" comes into play. It has something to do with building patents from combining other patents.

The problem with that theory, at least to me, is that both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray walked into the patent office only hours apart for the same patent, the telephone. I realize that the one important piece to the patent, the "speaker", was new, but I don't understand how to test for obviousness any more.

It is very possible that many of the patents within the Appeals Court system could be overturned simply on the "obviousness".

 

[Kru83]

hold on sec. dosent dish network have patent on this technology. ???
or something like that.

 

[Kru83]

Okay. i search on the patent site, and the here is list of all the Echostar Patent.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...tar&FIELD1=ASNM&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT

none of them are for bandstacking...

 

[bhelms]

...it's amazing to me that a company could even be ALLOWED to file a lawsuit on a patent that was issues YEARS after Echostar started business. Unless I'm reading it wrong the patent was filed in 2000 issued in 2001. I was under the impression at patent isn't enforceable until after it's issued.

I'm not an attorney but I have been through the patent process. In the US it's "first to invent" that can claim the protection. So if the plaintiff has documents that can substantiate their work on a similar system that predates anything E* or anyone else can produce then they (plaintiff) can still claim the inventor's rights even if E* or another party filed before the plaintiff. I believe there is a statue of limitations on the time in which they can do that, however. Was a patent covering essentially the same concept ever issued to E* or anyone else? (The link Scott provided took me only to a search engine and I couldn't enter the sources it provided.) The question would be how broad are the claims in any other patent.

 

[red hazard]

They Sure Took Long Enough

I note that they took about 5 - 6 years to file the law suit and now after hundreds of thousands of DP installs they want their cut!! What gets me, if you look at the old frequency division multiplexers that were fielded circa the early sixties, stacking 48 KHz groups of frequencies was common place and some of those carrier systems were put on cable - - not just microwave. New technology my A--!!

 

[Sammy033]

I dont understand it all yet but the next big lawsuit is for DRM and streaming audio. Its the usual thing really. Except, that the ones who brought the suit also demand that the companies (MS, iTunes, Real) must pay to use 'their' proprietary format. Not just DRM in general.

 

[dishcomm]

lovely, another lawsuit to distract them from adding features and new HD channels...

The Spreme Court's recent rulings have made it more difficult to prove patent violations..Some links of interest
http://www.forbes.com/home/business...ay-scotus-patent-ruling-cx_jh_0516scotus.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...g-makes-obvious-patents-harder-to-defend.html
BTW, these are sweeping rulings and as such apply to all similar cases.
I don't think E* has anything to worry about..this is a case of shallow pockets going after deeper pockets.