“A Detroit woman says Apple owes her $2bn because the iGiant allegedly ripped off her smartwatch idea,” Chris Williams reports for The Register.
“Daisy Washington-Gross has sued the Silicon Valley giant in US district court of eastern Michigan, alleging Apple’s Watch infringes her patent,” Williams reports. “She claims she paid $325 to apply for a patent describing a ‘detachable bleeper disc digital gym shoe computer wrist watch’ in July 1996, although her submission doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere except the bin.”
Williams reports, “El Reg could find no record of the application.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Washington-Gross told this newspaper she filed suit against Apple because she never had a chance to produce her watch before the tech firm came out with one, and no one from the company had contacted her about her patent,” Ethan Baron reports for SiliconBeat. “‘They gave me no respect or anything, to call me,’ said Washington-Gross, 67. ‘They just took action to create the watch.'”
Baron reports, “Lest one imagine the technology behemoth quaking in its boots over Washington-Gross’s enormous demand, it must be noted that she sued Reebok in 2000, claiming that ‘I invented the gym shoe.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Uh oh, Apple’s in big trouble now!
Which she stole from me. That byatch!!
MDN ought to patent the recurring full screen takeover of their MDN article pages by advertising that takes two or three clicks to stop the ad.
Apple should only give her a billion dollars and tell her to go to hell!
That’s funny; what kind of idiot down voted that?
This woman was a constant drinker of Detroit’s water!
I actually thought about making a cool watch too. Dam it, Steve never called me back either. I talked to someone at Apple called John Scully about it
I invented solid state storage. I even thought about it for quite a while and I came up will all sorts of stuff, from standard storage to EPROM cartridges for synths and samplers. I also told at least a half dozen people about it (rock-solid proof of my claim). The only things I didn’t quite get to were developing an understanding of how the technology works, hiring an engineer, sourcing components, production and distribution, partnering with key firms, and filing a patent. Even so, I think I deserve a couple of million.
I want what she’s smoking!
=:~)
Rebok settled. They gave her the boot.
Once a lawyer or patent / trademark outfit has completed the patent search (which will cost a couple hundred at least, the USPTO takes months to process an application, which comes with a filing fee and requires the applicant to log on and stay current with the process, including responding to any requests for clarification from the USPTO lawyer assigned to the case (which can be extremely detailed and may take multiple rounds). If someone doesn’t keep up with this, it will be dropped and the process has to start over from the absolute beginning. If the woman does not have the approved patent certificate in hand, she’s out of luck.
And then comes the lawsuit. If she doesn’t have the certificate, she’s just wasting her money and the court’s time.
I can’t get a look at her suit against Apple from the link. However, there is a copy of her suit against Reebok. It’s difficult to decipher them, but it looks to me like she was representing herself.
Oh, that had to be a great day for the judge. Invents a smart watch and is also a lawyer. Ha.
Just another Obamanation voter… Nothing to see here.
I’m so glad that there’s always some fucking idiot to come along and needlessly politicize an article. It’s strangely comforting, really.
Is this April 1 again. Clearly some dodgy lawyers are taking ‘fool’ advantage of a delusional old age pensioner. They should be prosecuted for their abuse of the elderly or better still just put them and their client in a dark room and throw away the key. But not before I can talk to them about my patent for an electric golf cart and help me sue Tesla for ripping off my idea in their cars.
Microsoft stole my idea of getting filthy rich by screwing over customers and digging into their wallets.
That originates with doctors, a long time ago – surgical removal of the contents of your wallet.
Ford stole my idea of an “automobile”!
Actually, Ford stole it from someone else. haha
Sounds like someone Obama will put on an government innovation task force.
I’m so glad that there’s always some fucking idiot to come along and needlessly politicize an article. It’s strangely comforting, really!
I thought about suing NASA because I had the idea of sending people to Space and the Moon in a rocket kinda thing.
She’s even more deluded than Kanye.
I smell a rat. The USPTO database returns no results when I search it for “detachable bleeper”.
That’s because “bleeper” was actually a curse word that had to be bleeped out because the dang thing wouldn’t work!
Clearly the Apple Watch is a
‘detachable bleeper disc digital gym shoe computer wrist watch’
Apple, your lawyers are busy. Let me take this case. No really. I gotcha covered.
I invented dehydrated water for light weight camping. It is half the weight and half the volume of regular water. To reconstitute it, you only have to add half a container of regular water and stir.
I took a cab to a drive in. The movie cost me $95.00!
Sounds like my patent for freeze dried water. Saves space, weight, and has an extended shelf life. 🖖😀⌚️
Lol, poor kid. She just wants some money… Sent from my Mac.
Devin Prater d.prater@me.com
>
I’m going to file a patent for a cell phone that fits into an earring. You tap it to make a call . . . now I have no clue how to engineer or manufacturer such a product, but when some tech company makes this in 10 years, I’m sure that I can find a lawyer who will sue them for “stealing my idea.” /s
Should double check as those earrings may already exist. They already have tampon earrings!
Sounds like she paid for the patent with quarters. No record of it eh? Must be infringing!
Only in Muhrica.
“detachable bleeper disc digital gym shoe computer wrist watch”
Yeah, that sounds EXACTLY like an Apple Watch doesn’t it? 😀
So THAT’S where Apple got their idea for a detachable bleeper disc digital gym shoe computer wrist watch!
a ‘detachable bleeper disc digital gym shoe computer wrist watch’
OMF. Vague and poorly described much?
Hey USTPO: IASSOTS! How about YOU pay for these lawsuits?!
What do you expect coming from that hole that is Detroit.
Well that’s one easy way out of the welfare system
Wall Street will still use this as an excuse to downgrade AAPL.