OLPC Lawsuit-Bringer Has Past Fraud Conviction 87
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.'"
Re:he plans to file a copyright-infringement lawsu (Score:1, Funny)
If you can't tell the difference between patents and copyright even though you actually have a patent, well, it's reasonable to suspect he is a few bits short of a byte.
Not firing on all cylinders. Loco in the cabeza. Dull, dim or dysfunctional. A walking echo chamber. A death star short of an evil empire, and no boba fett either.
Re:he plans to file a copyright-infringement lawsu (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Fixed it for you.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
this smelt like a variation on the 419 theme from the get go, it's asswipes like these that make the world laugh at Africa and all the nonsense these monkeys get up to, like it was said previously just dont send them and make these monkeys explain why Africa is so fucked, talk about ingratitude!
Groklaw (Score:1)
Re:Groklaw - she's ahead of you. (Score:1)
I would include some sort of reference to enjoying Shakespeare in the original Klingon here, but gotta go.
Link has no info on the technique (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Of course! (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this the lawsuit application? (Score:2, Funny)
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.
PROF.CHARLES SOLUDO
ATTN: LEV,
YOUR IMMEDIATE CONTRACT PAYMENT #:MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/009
From the records of outstanding contractors due for payment with the Federal government of Nigeria your name and company was discovered as next on The list of the outstanding contractors who have not received their payments.
I wish to inform you that your payment is being processed an
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I keep a stock of those for AntiSPAM testing and this one ended up being on the top of the folder. It is a fairly unusual sample which I have kept for testing since 2001.
Want me to sell it to you? Bargain basement price with the headers and mail system logs? Unique example of early 21st century Nigerian literature. Good bargain all around
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
I receive quite a few Nigerian email messages every month, I must be on their mailing list. There is actually an online Museum of Nigerian Scam Letters with almost 5,000 examples. Perhaps I should submit a few more examples to their museum. The website classifies those as an "advance fee fraud."
Nigeriam 4-1-9 Scam Lettery Exhibit [quatloos.com]
Re: (Score:2)
It seems you are establishing an undue connection between two separate statements.
From the linked articles, this is the sequence of events as I understand them:
1) LANCOR files a patent infringement suit against OLPC in NIGERIA.
2) Negroponte claims the lawsuit is without merit.
3) LANCOR (obviously) responds it is valid and all your base are belong to us, AND
4) They plan to file a SEPARATE copyright infrimengement lawsuit in a U.S. court.
Presumably, tha
Re:Of course! (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
You know what he'll do, of course... (Score:3, Funny)
O
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If they're planning to file a copyright infringement lawsuit then, by definition, they (LANCOR) are literally arguing that software was copied.
Re: (Score:2)
If they're planning to file a copyright infringement lawsuit then, by definition, they (LANCOR) are literally arguing that software was copied.
Naaah. They don't realize it, but what LANCOR is actually literally arguing is that they don't know the difference between copyright and patent.
Next up, LANCOR cites unspecified "intellectual property" which isn't necessarily patent, copyright, or trademark but WHATEVER IT IS OLPC INFRINGED IT OMG!!!!!111one
See also SCO v. IBM [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Makes perfect sense to me. This is nothing more than another greedy Nigerian scammer out to make a quick buck. Just as I thought it would be. He targeted the OLPC because its a charity without deep pockets. I thinking that he was hopeing that OLPC would cave and be willing to pay the "small" licensing fee without checking up on his patent.
What he wasn't counting on was a 100 billion geeks that where much smarter than him checking his shit for free. Nigerians are not known for their deep thoughs and s
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's guys like these who critically obfuscate intellectual property law, and end up giving it a bad name.
Re: (Score:2)
Patent or copyright infringment... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
He said / He said (Score:2)
"Negroponte said.."
"Oyegbola said.."
Where's the hard news, here? This just has a tattle-tale, tabloid feel to it. Who greenlit the story?
Re: (Score:2)
Is the US the right venue to litigate this patent? (Score:5, Funny)
I get that a US patent can be litigated in any district the alleged infringer trades in (thus the reason for the eastern district of Texas). But a patent from Nigeria? Shouldn't this be tried, um, in Nigeria or the WTC?
Design patents are dumb. If you're gonna run a scam, why not go whole hog and assert a utility patent?
Also, Nigeria has a Patent Office? (I can see it now: "A method and device to facilitate the international transfer of funds from internet enabled persons")
riaRe:Is the US the right venue to litigate this pate (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, with that patent, they could sue RIAA while they're at it...
(although I could still be dreaming, did I wake up this morning?)
Yes (Score:3, Funny)
Heck no. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Is that you, Kevin Spacey?
Seriously, have you considered being evil for a living?
Boston? What the hell?..... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1, Redundant)
I get one of those Nigerian email messages every few days, I must be on their mailing lists. Typically, some dead person has abandoned millions of dollars in some bank in Nigeria and they want me to open an account, in my name in this country, for them to transfer the millions of dollars into. I would get to keep a certain percentage of the money for helping them with their abandoned money problem.
About half of those messages that I receive say they are from Nigeria. A few years ago, I read a Readers D
Unfortunately... (Score:4, Funny)
Unfortunately, the bank has temporarily frozen his bank accounts, but if someone could send him $5000 to cover the fees and fines...
[I couldn't resist.]
It was a DESIGN patent! (Score:4, Insightful)
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: (Score:2)
I personally would say "sod you all" and not sell it in Nigeria. I'm sure the political pressure on the company suing would soon lead them to cave in.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
A Groklaw article also says that it is just a design patent, which registers how it looks, not how it works. She says that "it turns out it's not a patent in the usual sense. It's a design registration." Her article, also says that the copyright on the design appears to have expired. Here is the link:
The Nigerian OLPC Dispute - How Does It Look [groklaw.net]
Oyegbola insists his Nigerian patent is legitimate (Score:1)
Good for Him (Score:2)
I hope he does too. If he can't tell the difference between a patent and copyright he needs to have his time and money wasted by coming over here and getting his case thrown out for being too stupid.
FUD just in time for the First Production Launch! (Score:5, Interesting)
Ivan Krstic just posed from Uruguay, where the the first production deployment of the XO just happened. This is what the Globe should be reporting on, not a frivolous lawsuit!
I find it interesting that this lawsuit is happening just before the first production launch and as Peru signs a deal for 260K machines! To bad that is not being picked up by major media.
Re:FUD just in time for the First Production Launc (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I Invite Him to Sue (Score:4, Funny)
What is it about scams? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
I am not sure that James D Watson would agree with that [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Why the hell are bringing some racist into the story? Maybe he was smart enough to discover the helix once upon a time but I don't listen to that kind of crap anymore, sorry.
I think actually the Nigerians probably are more advanced because the scam mentality is very familiar from say growing up in New Jersey I mean the saying "That's such a scam" etc. is totally American. Maybe human even. Possibly people in other countries are less exposed to the net, or have the luxury of less visible scams, or
Nigerian version of SCO scam (Score:2)
RIAA should know this (Score:2, Interesting)
Dear RIAA, if you go to this link, Mr. Oyegbola is offering an MP3 of Lamont Dozier's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamont_Dozier [wikipedia.org]music out of his family's website without any royalties involved: http://www.oyegbola.com/Music/LamontDozier.mp3 [oyegbola.com]
Note, also that you can serve your summons to: Ade G. Oyegbola, 1 Timber Lane, Natick, MA 01760
Need to watch those logical fallacies, folks (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Need to watch those logical fallacies, folks (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
You beat me to it. It's not an ad hominem attack, it's presentation of a relevant track record.
Re: (Score:2)
o wait, this is t3h int3rtub35 wh4t wuz i thinkin.... logic is t3h 5ux0r5.
Mr. Leet, the submitter did not say that we ought to be skeptical of the distinguished Nigerian gentleman because he smells bad and his mother eats beef jerky. No. In fact, the submitter included a directly relevant assertion: this gentleman, who asks us to take him at his word, was convicted of fraud in a trial by his peers. He spent a year in jail. For lying to people so that he could take their money. His new outlandish claims to own the world and all the money in it, therefore, ever so legitimate
Intel/MS FUD ? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
SCO vs GNU/Linux is more accurate, even though it isn't.
SCO claimed ownership of UNIX "intellectual property" which, they claimed, was infringed by the GNU/Linux system.
Conviction goes to weight not merits (Score:2)
So what? His convictions for bank fraud are not (likely) some smoking gun in the patent case.
The conviction goes to the weight of his own testimony, not the merits of his case. Generally, convictions of criminal activity are only admissible if the convictions serve some probative value in the current case. If he obtained his patent lawfully, his conviction for bank fraud is not relevant to the case and can't be admitted to show that, since he committed bank fraud, he must be committing patent fraud.
419 (Score:1, Funny)
I receive your mail of today,I understand that you are still alive that is why the reason why I wrote you a mail to know wether you still alive,this transaction is real and not fake,if other people are telling you that is fake don't mind them,they don't want your progress in this transaction.
What is annoying you did i collected any money from you what i need from you is only your phone number and your address,this money is a big money if you don't know I don't need your account to transf
Suing a charity for software patents? (Score:1)
I suggest an iron pipe, brought to the offenders' kneecaps, rapidly, repeatedly.
No good deed... (Score:2)
If everyone has computers and knowledge, how will anyone in the existing power structure be able to feel good about themselves ever again?
Reminds me of the guy (Score:2)
Dear Sir or Mam, (Score:3, Funny)
Please send me your bank account information.
Globe Article (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/11/28/laptops_for_kids_group_sued_over_keyboard_design/ [boston.com]
Anyway, it's an interesting art
classic opening for a nigerian fee scam... (Score:1)
DEAR MRS. OLPC
I AM A FORMER PATENT OFFICIAL FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA, AFRICA. A NIGERIAN COMPANY LAGOS ANALYTICS CORP MY OWN A PATENT ON TECHNOLOGY YOU HAVE RECENTLY INCORPORATE ON YOUR PC DEVIICE. BUT I CAN HELP YOU AVOID ANY DIFFICULTY WITH LAGOS ANALYTICS CORP IF WE BECOME FRIENDS.
PLEASE, I PRAY YOU WILL REPLY.
MR AYO OYEGBOLA
someone!!! Update my spam filter puh-leeze!
now i have an interesting story to tell. that was originally the end of the post. howev
Yeah, I know the uppercase bot (Score:2)