Microsoft, Autodesk Found Guilty of Patent Infringement

[mummey]

Wonder if Adobe is next...

[Beamtracer]

It's ironic that these two companies were both found guilty by the jury, for pirating anti-pirating software.

I'm surprised the Department Of Justice doesn't indict Autodesk on anti-trust charges, for buying out competitors for the purpose of raising prices, and creating a less competitive market for 3D software.

[1000101]

wouldn't autodesk have to buy out a couple more people and; you know; actually raise prices?

[CupOWonton]

If autodesk bought out XSI or Lightwave, THEN the market would be absolutely screwed.

[enygma]

wouldn't autodesk have to buy out a couple more people and; you know; actually raise prices?
I think he's bitter that they got rid of Motionbuilder Standard... :D

[pearson]

If autodesk bought out XSI or Lightwave, THEN the market would be absolutely screwed.Oh, come on! We can always fall back on Poser + Bryce! :D

[CupOWonton]

Oh, come on! We can always fall back on Poser + Bryce! :D
Oh man, that would never be funny.

[Nichod]

He took my pencil!!! WAAAAAA!

[DeadlyFreeze]

If autodesk was going to grab something up it would have to be zbrush.

[mech7]

software patents suck.. they are stupid hopefully the big developers will do something about it. MS has also allot of bullsh*t patents.

[Beamtracer]

So the judge ordered Microsoft to pay $115 million and San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk $18 million.

I'm sure both companies can easily afford to pay the penalty

One patent "refers to a method and apparatus for securing software to reduce unauthorized use", while the other patent "involves a method for securing software to decrease software piracy."

Does Autodesk use a different method than other 3D companies to prevent piracy? Could it be something to do with locking the software to the hardware or MAChine number?

[angel]

software patents suck.. they are stupid hopefully the big developers will do something about it. MS has also allot of bullsh*t patents.

I wonder how you would feel if you were the patent holder...:eek:

[mech7]

The problem is with these patents that they are way to generic.. Im going to to claim a patent on the if / else statement and sue everybody ;)

Kinda funny that microsoft was for software patents but for now it has only damaged themselfs with multi million dollar law suits :) about silly software patents.

Like for example the previous one to embed things in a browser, that is way flash does not work in IE anymore or Java or... :p Because they did not want to pay millions and millions of dollars.

I wonder how you would feel if you were the patent holder...:eek:

[Zaldron]

The patents were created and owned by David Colvin, owner of privately held z4. U.S. patent 6,044,471 refers to a method and apparatus for securing software to reduce unauthorized use, while patent 6,785,825 involves a method for securing software to decrease software piracy.

Uhmm, let's see.

http://patft1.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=6,044,471.PN.&OS=PN/6,044,471&RS=PN/6,044,471

http://patft1.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=6,785,825.PN.&OS=PN/6,785,825&RS=PN/6,785,825

While the second patent does look lengthy and impressive, it claims very basic security features like software disabling, password inputs, the act of encrypting portions of data, etc. While I'm not exactly in the known here, this reeks of quick-cash vague patents. You know, stuff like "context menu upon right-clicking", "present information in kindly manner" or "acquire input from keyboard in real-time".

It doesn't help that z4's site is outdated and the fluffiest fluff I've read in some time.

So the judge ordered Microsoft to pay $115 million and San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk $18 million.

I'm sure both companies can easily afford to pay the penalty
Sure, but while stinking rich, that kind of money pays a lot of salaries, QA, research, supply and marketing.

[mech7]

Yup and guess who is going to pay for the millions? The customers of the products :(

Sure, but while stinking rich, that kind of money pays a lot of salaries, QA, research, supply and marketing.

[charleyc]

Yup and guess who is going to pay for the millions? The customers of the products :(

I sincerely doubt that either MS or Autodesk are going to raise prices to try and recover this drop in the bucket of there annual revenue. Also, note that according to MS, they are contending that this guy was perhaps a bit crooked in his filing by withholding information of current product usage. I have a feeling that we don't have all the facts to know for sure who is in the right in this.


I'm surprised the Department Of Justice doesn't indict Autodesk on anti-trust charges, for buying out competitors for the purpose of raising prices, and creating a less competitive market for 3D software.

There are WAY to many 3d application on the market for Autodesk to even come close to monopolizing the market, much less anti-trust charges. In most of our professional opinions of other products, there are only a small number of near equal in quality products (3-4?), the fact is there still are directly competing companies selling directly competing software. Also, as was mentioned, they have not raised prices on any of there products so far. Discontinuing a less expensive version of a product is not really raising prices.

[mech7]

Eventually all costs that a company makes has to be somehow re-earned through their products no matter how you see it..

I sincerely doubt that either MS or Autodesk are going to raise prices to try and recover this drop in the bucket of there annual revenue. Also, note that according to MS, they are contending that this guy was perhaps a bit crooked in his filing by withholding information of current product usage. I have a feeling that we don't have all the facts to know for sure who is in the right in this.

[Zaldron]

Well, one can remain optimistic, these large, multipurpose corporations seek specific financial targets, but rarely demand profit from all their divisions in the same period of time. The first years of Xbox and Xbox 360 hardware sales being a prime example.

[Neil]

That is so vague. Jeez. "user must contact company for password, then contact them again" blah. Who's the guy that patented contacting the company once?
Then all the online computer games would be screwed!

I understand that value of a patent, but this just seems too broad and sweeping. Kinda like buying domain names you don't intended on really doing anything with only so others can use them.

[Zaldron]

Whoever thought algorithms, and thus, logical steps, can be patented really dropped the ball. Now we have a new business model where companies only seek to acquire and inforce software patents. With more than half of the software patents issued in the US belonging to newly-founded, rather faceless companies that obviously did not invent solutions first presented decades ago, it's a quite grim picture.

[Doctor Nick]

Yup and guess who is going to pay for the millions? The customers of the products :(

yeah, it's called demand and supply.

nobody is stopping anybody from making a better product faster and cheaper. that's one of the beauties of a free market.

it's quite simple, if you don't like it don't buy it. there are alternatives.:rolleyes:

[mech7]

? This is not about alternatives its about stupid software patents.

yeah, it's called demand and supply.

nobody is stopping anybody from making a better product faster and cheaper. that's one of the beauties of a free market.

it's quite simple, if you don't like it don't buy it. there are alternatives.:rolleyes:

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