Comments

bigrock wrote on 2/13/2013, 8:25 PM
Woo that's big news.
MUTTLEY wrote on 2/13/2013, 9:15 PM

Crazy, just did a lot more reading about this than I would have cared to! I read the patents and bounced around various forums trying to figure it out. I am far from being remotely fluent in legalese but agree with many who have posted elsewhere that the patent seems pretty week and broad. I think RED is just mad that they now have competition in the 4k space when really I think they should be happy that they were able to keep the corner on the market as long as they did. All this time they've been able to get away with a whole lot of, shall I say shenanigans? Buggy, crashing, overheating, fussy, crappy confusing menues, not to mention overpriced accessories, tons of missed deadlines, and straight up vaporware. Forget which NAB it was but I actually stood in line for about an hour just to get in their booth to see the ground breaking Scarlett the promised, the first one that they just completely bailed build as 2k for 2k.

Don't get me wrong, I've used it enough to know it's benefits but just not sure if they would have survived this long had they had more competition sooner.

- Ray
Underground Planet
farss wrote on 2/13/2013, 11:01 PM
The patent was filed on August 3, 2012.
Sony had announced and were showing prototype F65s before that date.

The patent only covers recordong RAW data at 4K or greater and more than 23fps.
It is so bread in it's terms that it effectively becomes a patent for....a video camera.

Maybe the injunction was meant to be filed on 1st April.

Bob.
SuperG wrote on 2/14/2013, 11:41 AM
Welcome to the state of US patent law....
riredale wrote on 2/14/2013, 1:28 PM
Agreed. Still, patents are just an entry door for access to courts. In most cases stupid patents are eventually killed. It takes money and time, but I suspect Sony has money.

It would be nice if the USA adopted the "loser pays" system used in other countries, but given how the country is rapidly changing I wouldn't hold my breath.

EDIT: Hah! VegasNanny wouldn't print the word s-t-u-p-i-d. That's a bit overboard.
john_dennis wrote on 2/14/2013, 5:49 PM
"VegasNanny wouldn't print the word s-t-u-p-i-d. That's a bit overboard."

Try some of these synonyms...

anserine, dopy, dopey, foolish, goosey, goosy, gooselike, jerky

...they made it past the filter.
farss wrote on 4/7/2013, 8:29 AM
Not surprisingly Sony sues Red.

Bob.

Laurence wrote on 4/7/2013, 3:59 PM
US patent law used to spur on innovation by protecting people with bold new original ideas. Now it has devolved to something where it is mostly people squatting on obvious ideas in order to sue people who actually try to do them.
Former user wrote on 4/8/2013, 1:50 AM
I was just talking with a lawyer for a corp that I'm on the board of. Now, while he's based in St.Louis, companies have so many patents that are so well entrenched that, even if they'd fall into the category of fair use, there's a strategy that's emerging from the likes of SONY and other megacorps: have patents, don't enforce them (much), and then bring them out when sued.

Essentially, the patent wars have now progressed form purely defensive tactics to offensive tactics as well. Oh joy.

It's all about as compelling as the "trade embargo" plot of Star Wars Episode I. Yawn.