Comments on: Android developer fights evil patent troll

By: AGC

AGC — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 21:46:00 +0000

Here is one that I built from an old bottle, works like a charm.
http://web.ca/arthurgron/journal/2012-12-23-c.png

By: Carsten Agger

Carsten Agger — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Feel free to enlighten me if I’m wrong. :-)

By: scav

scav — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:12:00 +0000

You seem confused.

By: Carsten Agger

Carsten Agger — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:30:00 +0000

“When a computer runs a paid application, one way that developers can assure that a customer has actually purchased the application is by coding the application to match a license code with an encrypted database. This is a method that most paid applications on the Android market use. It’s a method that Meyer argues has been in use since at least the late ’80s. This is the idea that Uniloc claims to own.”

Isn’t that a form of DRM which will never fly if the app is free software? So in a way, Austin Meyer doesn’t want people to control their phones any more than Uniloc do. So in a way it’s not stand-up little guy vs. evil big guy, it’s bad little guy vs. bad big guy.

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:24:00 +0000

The first random post I picked was frightening:
http://www.x-plane.com/adventures/59_altimeter.html

Thanks for the link, I’m officially hooked!

By: Tynam

Tynam — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:53:00 +0000

Prior art invalidates a lot of patent trolls, but it doesn’t stop them being a flaming nuisance with them.

By: Sam Piip

Sam Piip — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Prior art invalidates it.

By: arikol

arikol — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:17:00 +0000

X-Plane is first class software. I haven’t tried that Android version, but I would be very surprised if it weren’t quite impressive. These patent trolls selected the wrong target, because Austin may be a small developer but he’s going to fight this.

As he points out, he’s not broke and he can fight this, but it is a serious hit. Supporting him is a cool thing to do. If you’re interested in a very good flight simulator and have a computer running an OS (seriously, almost any OS) then X-Plane is the best simulator there is, and not expensive. Very realistic flight characteristics. I had to renew my license last year and did so in an aircraft type I had never flown before. I practiced in X-Plane and knew the airplane and its characteristics before I ever climbed into it… pretty cool. (because X-Plane does airflow simulations it is much more realistic than any other sim).

By: Brother Phil

Brother Phil — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:35:00 +0000

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.laminarresearch.xplane_default

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:07:00 +0000

Hi Cory — maybe you could link to his app from the story. I think any benefit he can get from standing up to these trolls would be much appreciated.

By: ldobe

ldobe — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:16:00 +0000

Why not sue them instead? Why even give them even a slim opportunity to keep existing, if we could just bankrupt them in court?

By: Nadreck

Nadreck — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:03:00 +0000

I suggest we patent the Patent Troll business model and charge exorbitant licensing fees.

By: AGC

AGC — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:24:00 +0000

Crowd researched patent fight? We all add our 2bits in about the legal procedures and documents required?

By: Scott Elyard

Scott Elyard — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:11:00 +0000

I almost want to call patent trolls patent parasites.

By: JoelCave

JoelCave — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:23:00 +0000

Because the patent troll doesn’t have the resources to fight Google, so they go after easy targets.

By: joe blough

joe blough — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:16:00 +0000

oh right – but what i meant is that can’t google join this fight with an amicus motion or such? clearly it’s in their interest to keep the android ecosystem up and running. having some random troll running around saying that you can’t contact a server for authorization really messes up the android marketplace!

i thought i remember apple having intervened in a similar case with app store apps. but i could be wrong.

By: EH

EH — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:49:00 +0000

Patent trolls see the little guy as low-hanging fruit. It’s as simple as that: bullying.

By: Drew_Gehringer

Drew_Gehringer — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:39:00 +0000

Because he specifically is the one being sued.

Wouldn’t surprise me if part of his defense ends up being ‘I’m not even the right person to sue for this, google is’

By: joe blough

joe blough — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:33:00 +0000

i have been this guy’s customer since xplane-3 i think. he’s certainly a character (read some of his adventures here: http://www.x-plane.com/x-world/austins_adventures/ ). in fact he must be a dang good pilot because some of the stuff there is truly scary…

i don’t understand why he has to fight this fight instead of google.