I don't see this as an actual patent troll: the people in question actually use the technology that they patented for self-guided walking tours: the tourist calls the number related to the specific site, and hears information about it. I think they were just a bit overoptimistic about what was patentable, and/or how broad the coverage given by their their patent was.
On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
"...without the necessity of going through unnecessary legal fees in using the patented concept without the consent of..." - Is that a copyvio?
- See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll
2013/2/8, Fae faewik+commons@gmail.com:
On 8 February 2013 10:22, David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.com wrote:
It would be greatly appreciated if you would consider the Walk and Talk Tours patented system in 1999 with regards to information signage relating back to electronic media to obtain information in respect of a site.
A brief review of the patent seems to indicate that it doesn't cover anything except for phone calls, but the wording is sufficiently broad that one could construe it to refer to any data sent over a wireless network. Can someone on this list please give an opinion?
I suggest you consider it as they requested, file it, and do not reply. I see nothing in this patent that could be considered anything infringed by QRPedia technology that is not long established as open source or irrelevant.
My past experience, having worked in mobile technology for some years and been part of managing the international IP for new technology, is that the mobile technology sector lawyers (or more often proto-lawyers) will scour the internet hunting for anything that might get them a decent commission. Speculative letters are cheap to send and as QRPedia gets more press coverage, this sort of contact is likely to become very frequent.
This is not professional advice, I am not writing in my capacity in any organization I am affiliated with or was affiliated with, blah, blah, imagine a lengthy disclaimer here...
Thanks, Fae -- faewik@gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm Guide to email tags: http://j.mp/mfae
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