Nah...it wasn't half a million. It was a hell of a lot more, I suspect. Even a standard SC or APC connector cost $50 in those days, and from what I suspect this would be MUCH much more than that, and probably formed just one piece of a larger contract. The odd thing about this case was that the judge ruled in favor of Lucent...the government wasn't even directly involved. Lucent made a ton of profit which this poor bastard didn't get dime one from. That's a lot different then allowing the government to use your IP. -TD
From: Steve Schear <s.schear@comcast.net> To: cypherpunks@jfet.org Subject: Re: Wired on "Secrecy Power Sinks Patent Case" Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 23:55:48 -0700
At 09:14 AM 9/20/2005, Tyler Durden wrote:
Very interesting CPunks reading, for a variety of reasons.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68894,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
Of course, the fact that Lucent has been in shit shape financially must have nothing to do with what is effectively a state-sponsored protection of intellectual theft and profiting by Lucent (merely keeping the tech under wraps would have been possible in a closed-doors session. Remember that connectors can easily cost $50 per or more, so these guys were really ripped off and Lucent probably made out quite well.)
[Cross posted from another list....]
Ian G <iang@systemics.com> wrote: What I don't understand about that case is that the precedent already exists. If a defendent declines to defend by supplying documents then the judge does not force them to do so in a civil case, instead the award goes against them.
What is not clear is why the judge awarded in the favour of the government. By not supplying files, they clearly indicated they were using the patent. And even that wasn't ever in doubt. He should have just awarded summarily for the patent owners and that would have been that.
And, it was only for a measly half million. By saving a half million in patent fees, Lucent and the USG have reduced their reputation for fair dealing, had the whole case blow up in their faces and now we're all poking around looking for how the patent was used by the _Jimmy Carter_....