German Police Raid 51 CeBIT Stands Over Patent Claims 191
LeCaddie writes "Last week German investigators raided 51 exhibitor stands at CeBIT, the German information technology fair in Hanover, looking for goods suspected of infringing patents. Some 183 police, customs officers, and prosecutors raided the fair on Wednesday and carried off 68 boxes of electronic goods and documents including cellphones, navigation devices, digital picture frames, and flat-screen monitors. Of the 51 companies raided, 24 were Chinese. Most of the patents concerned were related to devices with MP3, MP4, and DVB standard functions for digital audio and video, blank CDs, and DVD copiers, police said." In the US there are no criminal penalties associated with patents, and such a raid could not be conducted, especially in the absence of a court ruling of infringement.
Re:HA-HA (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Software patents? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Software patents? (Score:5, Informative)
It is not about software patents. It is about embedded devices (hence not "computers") with a specific functionality profile. At least German law enforcement has not yet grasped that a phone can actually have software downloaded into it and so not all functionality is "hardcoded". Also a device can be in violation of "Musterschutz" (something like the "look" part from "look and feel"), by closly following the design of an other device.
Side note: MP3 as a method or as an encoder/decoder is not protected, but the parameter set used is (as far as I understand this). As to the CDs, these were likely counterfit, i.e. claiming a different manufacturer. That is trademark infringement. DVD copier could be classified as "circumvention device" for copy protection shemes, which are illegal in Germany. (I know, I know, lawmakers with no grasp of technology...)
My guess is that this raid will actually result in no or very little prosecution. But the displays have been removed, so the patent holders are satisfied. Unfortunately it will be very difficult to get any compensation for the damage done, even if equipment was seized in error.
Re:Software patents? (Score:0, Informative)
Re:HA-HA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Software patents? (Score:-1, Informative)
Sometimes I get the impression that everyone on slashdot thinks that just because a patent is technology related that it is automatically a software patent. Im not saying software patents aren't a horrible idea, but at least know what they are before disagreeing with them instead of just following slashdot groupthink.
Re:Somehow I get the impression they want it to di (Score:2, Informative)
Re:HA-HA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Software patents? (Score:-1, Informative)
Free travel: not to all countries in the EU (UK and Ireland are excluded), citizens from some members still need working permits in others (the newer members) and some countries outside the EU are also included (Norway and Switzerland).
Free trade: many regional blocks have free trade even though being far from a country.
Re:HA-HA (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/05/meizus-cebit-booth-shut-down-over-mp3-licensing-issues-not-the/ [engadget.com]
Re:There are German companies with IP behind this (Score:3, Informative)
They have nothing to do with this. Sisvel manages another stack
of patents that they claim to be relevant to the mp3 format.
Apparently, the most important of those patents is for a padding
bit. The idea is to add zeros to a VBR file so that a CBR only
decoder can handle the file.
Re:MiniOne (Score:4, Informative)
The summary got it wrong (Score:2, Informative)
Re:MiniOne (Score:5, Informative)
The summary got it RIGHT (Score:5, Informative)
Auslöser für die Aktion waren den Angaben der Staatsanwaltschaft zufolge Strafanzeigen der Rechteinhaber. Bei der Razzia sei es vorwiegend um Patente für Datenkompressionsverfahren, DVB-Standards und DVDs gegangen, sagte Kriminaloberrat Oliver Stock, der die Aktion koordiniert hatte und sich über einen "erfolgreichen Abschluss" freute.
Bad translation (by me):
According to the public prosecutors office complaints by holders of rights were reason for the action. Law enforcement senior councillor Oliver Stock who coordinated the action and was glad about the "successfull completion" said target of the raid where mainly patents for data compression, DVB standards and DVDs.
There were some initial (wrong) reports that reason for the raid was counterfeiting (iPhone look-a-likes) but these reports were later corrected, see for example http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/104591 [heise.de] (in english).
Re:HA-HA (Score:3, Informative)
It runs Windows Mobile, it's a look-alike, not a counterfeit.
It's about MP3 patents, not Apple.
http://www.meizume.com/ [meizume.com] : "According to forum posts by Meizu CEO Jack Wong, the raid was initiated by Sisvel due to the lack of a Sisvel (patent holder of MP3 format) license."