“In 1977 Andreas Pavel applied for a patent for a ‘portable small component for the hi-fidelity reproduction of recorded sound.’ The player, named ‘stereobelt,’ never saw the light of day,’ Jan Libbenga reports for The Register.
Now, The Register reports, “Sony [has] settled a decades-long dispute with a German who claimed to have invented the technology which led to the Walkman… the German inventor [had] tried to sue Sony before, but Britain’s Appeals Court confirmed in 1996 an earlier ruling that the portable player was a normal further technological development and could not be patented. According to German magazine Der Spiegel, Sony now has ‘silently parted with a few million euro’ in an out-of-court settlement with the 59-year-old inventor. Pavel says he intends to take other portable music player producers to court as well, including computer maker Apple, which developed the iPod.”
Full article here.
LOL – Ummmm, I don’t think you havea case there guy….
Oh brother!
last time i checked, US utility patents only last 20 years….the ipod came out in what, 2001? good luck buddy, but that’ll be thrown out so fast you won’t even know what hit ya. now, internationally that might be another story, but i’m still pretty sure that patents don’t last longer than 20 yrs overseas…anyone know more?
Yeah right. Old news. No affects what so ever.
As if in 1977, heck even 1987, he could patent mp3 and AAC.
How long do patents last? 20-50 years???
Women from Finland =Drunk, Stupid, and Horny!
Patents = Bullshit
The U.S. Patent Office has become a freakin’ joke. There are no longer any standards applied to patent applications. If you can fill one out properly, you can get a patent on breathing.
Changes in law have rendered the Patent Office a rubber stamp for anyone willing to pay for having it.
The iPod cannot be directly linked to his ‘patent’, when in actuality, it is the next, natural progression of technology from the CD portable. His patent would only affect technologies built directly off his patent, and the Walkman and assorted knockoffs would be the only technology that would or should apply.
Of course, common sense has never been much of a part of lawsuits anyhow, so what do I know?
Can the court tell someone that they’ll be thrown in jail for being a pain in the ass for continuously suing people and wanting retrials? This guy just needs to quit now.
Sounds like something apple would do!
hey…do unto others!
stereobelt?
???
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha 11th post fuckers….
Wow, took him over twenty years to win. Hope he is not too old to enjoy it.
Greed
is this clearly shows how apple is modeling itself after packard bell. they are set for the same doom!… why can’t anyone but me see this. stop thinking i’m a loon. stop it fool.
I gots me a cool Stereobelt.
The speakers are built into the belt (sides) and the battery is in the back of the belt and the player is in the front disguised as a buckle (Like a Western style buckle) Man! Me look like Batman! I wish it was yellow. And yellow earplug wires……so that no body don’t steal them like the white ones.
Ancient.
In those days U.S. patents of this type were good for 17 years from the date of issue. It does not matter when he filed for it. In those days a person could file for a patent, keep tweaking it and working with the USPTO and not have it issued for several years. Since patent protection started from the date the USPTO accepted the patent for processing some patents got protection for several years longer than the 17 years. I’m sure we have all read the “patent pending” notices on some items. (Getting a patent application accepted is the first major step in the process. There are several more steps before the patent is finally issued and published [two distinctly different steps].)
Today the USPTO does 20 years from the date it is filed. This eliminates the concerns over how long the patent is “in process” or “pending”.
These are just U.S. rules. I have no idea what the duration of these types of patents were in Germany back in 1977. If it was a similare “date of issue” concept as the USPTO had back then, The patent might still have been recognized in Germany in 2001 since it might not have been issued until 1981 or 1982 or even later.
Personal opinion: I believe people who file patents with absolutely no intention of ever creating that product, but just staking out some intellectual property area hoping someone will eventually build such an item and then they can sue them for violating the patent should have their patents invalidated. Period. The first thing any patent judge should demand is proof the inventor made some effort to actually create the item and to utilize it.
The underlying concept of patents is to protect the inventor from others — the protection is so the inventor can earn money on his creation. The purpose of patents is NOT to protect ideas and allow so called inventors to sit back and attack others who actually build things. This patent should be thrown out on this premise alone.
Nah. People submit patents to protect their idea with the possibility of “licensing” it to a big company and reap the benefits from it. But I don’t think they were thinking…”I got the patent and I am ready to sue anyone who steals my idea!”, please.
Kareen, you said ‘Women from Finland =Drunk, Stupid, and Horny!’
This is an unfounded and slanderous statement. In fact, women from Finland are neither drunk nor stupid … just horny AS HELL!
I have so many notches in my belt, its beginning fall off!
Patent granting must have changed drastically. It used to be you couldn’t patent a concept, only an actual device. These lawsuits have gotten way out of hand, probably stoked by lawyers, and are crippling innovation.
I think this guy just tries to make a living suing companys.
I think the iPod is a little newer than a tape player or CD player and it doesn’t record either. The iPod is a digital player not an analog player like the walkman. If he gets any money out of Apple it will just be money for him to go away or will slam you kind of thing. I believe Apple has there own patent on the iPod as well.
No wonder they’re horny, no real man left in Finland…
If I remember right the patent application got kicked out because you can’t get a patent for making something smaller which was the main idea compared what Philips already had shown.In addition there were mini reel to reel tape recorders. Good luck suing Apple on this one.
yo!, that’s a good idea…I’ll just come up with a bunch of future sounding gadgets and ideas, set a patent on it and I’m rich!
I have an idea for a warp engine capable of sending a spacecraft to another galaxy!!!
Or maybe a weather controlling device… or maybe a photon torpedo… or….