OLPC Lawsuit-Bringer Has Past Fraud Conviction

d0ida writes "The Boston Globe has up an article about LANCOR's lawsuit over the design of the OLPC's keyboard. 'Negroponte said the lawsuit is without merit, because OLPC uses a keyboard programming technique developed in 1996, long before the Nigerian patent was filed. The founder of Lagos Analysis Corp., Ade Oyegbola, was convicted of bank fraud in Boston in 1990 and served a year in prison. Oyegbola insists his Nigerian patent is legitimate and said he plans to file a copyright-infringement lawsuit against OLPC in an American court.'"

Link has no info on the technique

[KillerCow]

The link to "uses a keyboard programming technique developed in 1996" links to the TFA, which says no more about it than the link text. If you're going to title a link as that, then it should lead to the technique in question...

Of course!

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone is violating your PATENT, the first thing you should do is file a COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT lawsuit! Makes perfect sense!

It was a DESIGN patent!

[wvmarle]

What most people seem to forget about, we're here talking about a design patent. Now IANAL, however I have learned a little (really a little) about patents.

There are a few issues here, that do not make sense. This is about a Nigerian patent, and patents are regional. A Nigerian patent is not valid in the US and the other way around. Within each country one has to apply for a separate patent. I wonder how they think they can sue over a Nigerian patent in a US court. They should sue in a Nigerian court instead.

Furthermore as it is a Nigerian patent, it will not influence the alleged patented product sold outside of Nigeria. Again, US courts do not come into the picture.

And then it is a design patent. This is not an invention as such, and quite close to copyright. I have to say I forgot how a design patent works exactly, but if it looks different, even though it works following the same technical principle, then it is no problem. Machines are typical objects that are patented for design.

This whole story sounds like a big mess of FUD to me, from someone who has done presumably great work to develop some input method for the Nigerian language, and now tries to cash in on that via dubious methods. I really hope the OLPC team is not held up too much by this, and that if there is a court case filed, that the courts simply do not accept it.

Re:Of course!

[Rocketship Underpant]

It still makes absolutely no sense. The OLPC is not a song or book or creative work of any type, so I fail to see how copyright can possibly be applicable.

Besides, the wording of the article links the patent claim to the supposed copyright-infringement suit. As the grandparent poster points out, this makes no sense.

Re:FUD just in time for the First Production Launc

[Pecisk]

But of course, it was intended. More I read about this issue, it is well orchestrated PR shit to steal spotlight of OLPC actual release and success.