Apple is now facing a patent suit over Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's integrated backup feature time machine from a defunct company called Mirror Worlds.
One of the most-touted features in Apple‘s Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" operating system is an integrated backup feature called Time Machine, which offers users a sleek, graphical way to create incremental backups and restore documents—or their entire machine—back to a fixed point in time. Now, Apple is facing a patent infringement lawsuit over Time Machine from Mirror Worlds, a now-defunct company that tried to be a player in the enterprise and desktop search arena and which used time-based "stacks" as a metaphor for interacting with files and objects.
The suit has been filed in the Eastern District of Texas, which is well-known for ruling on the side of patent holders. Before folding up shop in 2005, Mirror World developed enterprise and desktop search software under the "Scopeware" name: it enabled users to organize documents and results in a time-ordered stream instead of a traditional file hierarchy. The company eventually reportedly shut down in the face of competition in both the desktop and enterprise arena from companies like Google, and Microsoft’s plans to integrate desktop search into what would become Windows Vista.
Some Industry watchers contend Apple may be able to argue something like HyperCard—the company’s groundbreaking authoring and multimedia tool from the mid 1980s‐might constitute prior art for something like Time Machine and other time-based organizational metaphors, although that seems weak: one could build a time-based view of objects and files using HyperCard (and, indeed, some multimedia presentations and products built with HyperCard did just that; the same can be said for Macromedia Director in the same era), HyperCard didn’t ship that way out of the box. Mirror Worlds’ suit reference patent 6,006,227, 6,638,313, 6,725,427, and 6,768,999. Although recent judicial decisions have reduced the ability of so-called "patent trolls" to purse infringement claims on "obvious" patents the contain no fundamental innovations, the concepts expressed in Mirror Worlds’ patents appear non-obvious to some industry experts.
Apple representatives declined to comment on the suit.
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RSSHas it occurred to anyone that Apple is getting sued because they have a big appetite for other's patent property and a big ego that gets in the way of acquiring the rights to the patent properties they need to succeed in the market?
Have you considered that Apple gets sued after they have refused a legitimate offer for a license?
Have you wondered why Apple produces lots of patents yet still misses the most important technology they need to satisfy their customers?
Or have you considered that Apple's membership in the Coalition for Patent fairness and PIRACY, aka. the Piracy Coalition is a good indication that birds of a feather do flock together?
Some companies start as inventors, and some start as parasites on those who have invented. Eventually they end up alike, one group never being inventive and the second losing the ability to produce significant inventions as they age. Both will try to substitute quantity in patent filings for the quality of inventions they are incapable of producing. It does not work.
All Piracy Coalition members fit one of these profiles. Tech companies who are past their prime, insurance and banking collectively have no shame!
What they are very good at producing is innovative media hype which obfuscates the reality of their existence. Their multi-million dollar “troll” campaign is a perfect example of this. They paint their victims as “trolls” while the courts are finding their conduct so egregious that they are handing down staggering judgments. This is what happens to those who are caught lying, cheating, and stealing and no amount of public relations painting their victims as evil “trolls” can change the facts of these cases.
Personally I think that it is a shame that Piracy Coalition members have failed to learn the lesson that inventors and the courts are teaching. It is all about conducting one’s business in an ethical manner!
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
Affiliations:
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.patentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.