Fitbit and Garmin Are Under Federal Investigation For Alleged Patent Violations (reuters.com) 33
U.S. trade regulators said on Friday they will investigate wearable monitoring devices, including those made by Fitbit and Garmin, following allegations of patent violations by rival Koninklijke Philips and its North America unit. Reuters reports: The U.S. International Trade Commission, in a statement, said the probe would also look at devices by made by California-based Ingram Micro as well as China-based Maintek Computer and Inventec Appliances. Netherlands-based Philips and Philips North America LLC, in their complaint, are calling for tariffs or an import ban and allege the other companies have infringed on Philips' patents or otherwise misappropriated its intellectual property. Although the USITC agreed to launch an investigation, it said it "has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case" and would make its determination "at the earliest practicable time." "We believe these claims are without merit and a result of Philips' failure to succeed in the wearables market," Fitbit said in a statement.
In a statement to The Verge, Philips said that the company had attempted to negotiate licensing agreements with Fitbit and Garmin for three years, but talks ultimately broke down. "Philips expects third parties to respect Philips' intellectual property in the same way as Philips respects the intellectual property rights of third parties," a spokesperson said.
In a statement to The Verge, Philips said that the company had attempted to negotiate licensing agreements with Fitbit and Garmin for three years, but talks ultimately broke down. "Philips expects third parties to respect Philips' intellectual property in the same way as Philips respects the intellectual property rights of third parties," a spokesperson said.
Who? (Score:2)
following allegations of patent violations by rival Koninklijke Philips
Are they really a competitor if no one has heard of them in the fitness tracker market? Do they sell products in other countries?
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Most of the stuff they put out isn't under the Philips name but you probably know who they are Norelco, Sonicare, Smart Sleep, Lifeline, etc...
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Most of the stuff they put out isn't under the Philips name but you probably know who they are Norelco, Sonicare, Smart Sleep, Lifeline, etc...
Yes, I'm aware of some of Phillips sub-brands, but not any that sell fitness trackers.
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Ah. The absolute utter crap that no-one in their right mind would waste money on.
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It says rival not competitor for what it's worth. They attempted to license their technology, it was not purchased and then suddenly fitbit releases their own version of similar technology. Regardless of success, it's a seemingly valid complaint of patent violation and this nonsense happens all the time and big companies with big lawyers get away with it.
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I read all the mentioned patents. They are all invalid (or should be). They were all created 10 or more years after everything they talk about was already in common use. One of them, in fact, goes so far as to say that they did not "invent" anything but merely copied ideas from a paper some academic dude wrote 50 years prior.
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Philips? They've been around since the 1800s. If you own an electric shaver, 50/50 odds that they made it. They're also largely responsible for compact discs.
That said, I wasn't aware that they made any consumer-targeted health products. Their medical products are, AFAIK, basically all designed for use in hospitals. (Well, I guess CPAP machines are slightly broader in scope, but they're still not really consumer products.) Apparently, they also make a health watch. Who knew?
I have a hard time imagin
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That can't possibly still be under patent, unless it is for some very specific form of the hardware. My parents have an optical heart rate monitor built into a treadmill, and that was built back in the early 1990s; the concept itself dates back to the 1930s.
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Everything mentioned in those patents was already in common use decades before the patent was issued.
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Some of that was being done in Skylab and it fell out of the sky in 1974.
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Philips acquired the medical devices division from HP when Carly was busy selling off every part of the company that did anything interesting. They do sell things that could be considered consumer health devices. Body temperature thermometers, electric toothbrushes, tooth whitening systems, consumer grade pulse oximeters.
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Are they really a competitor if no one has heard of them in the fitness tracker market? Do they sell products in other countries?
Philips is a major manufacturer of medical equipment. Just because you don't wear something on your wrist doesn't mean something with functionality similar to fitbit isn't used elsewhere on the market.
"Competitor" and "patents" don't care if you make it big selling toys.
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Are they really a competitor if no one has heard of them in the fitness tracker market? Do they sell products in other countries?
Philips is a major manufacturer of medical equipment. Just because you don't wear something on your wrist doesn't mean something with functionality similar to fitbit isn't used elsewhere on the market.
"Competitor" and "patents" don't care if you make it big selling toys.
Is Phillips technology used in any fitness tracker?
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Is Phillips technology used in any fitness tracker?
Well, this is exactly what Philips is claiming in their accusations: Fitbit and Garmin are using patented Philips technology in their products.
Whether Philips or anyone else has implemented this technology is totally irrelevant to the patents rights. Philips or anyone else can patent things, even if they never actually use them in a product. If other companies wants to sell products using that technology they are required to license or outright buy it from Philips.
However, in this case, from The Verge
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Well, actually, no they are not. They are not proceeding for patent infringement, they are seeking other relief that does not require them to go to all the bother of having to prove that their invalid patents are actually valid or that those patents have been infringed.
They are asking the Grubbermint Puppets to do things ON THE ASSUMPTION that there is a violation of a valid patent.
War chest of patents (Score:1)
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I doubt it's abuse considering they own a shitton of patents for medical related devices, a market in which they are a major player.
You don't get protection from patents simply because you target a difference audience, and visa-versa it doesn't make exercising patents against a "competitor" in a different industry abuse.
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Misleading summary (Score:1)
In-between (Score:2)
After reviewing a complaint, the USITC DOES investigate prior to the hearing.
After the investigation, three parties appear in front of the judge at the hearing - the complainants, respondents, AND an attorney from USITC. The complainant tries to get the judge to bar sale of the products, the respondent argues that no enforcement action should be taken, and the ITC argues whatever their investigation suggests is right.
The judge issues an advisory ruling which the commission can then choose to overrule or to
Pretty dumb. (Score:2)
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My guess is Garmin isn't someone you want to pick a frivolous patent fight with. Philips already lost once, and Garmin probably has a pretty good portfolio of GPS related patents then can try to vaguely apply to some Philips products and at the very least cause Philips a lot of pain.
You mean the small company Garmin, manufacturer of glorified wristwatches and sports trackers? Small by comparison to the multinational conglomerate Philips, manufacturer and designer of medical devices and holder of many patents in the field?
For your threat to make any sense at all a core part of Philips needs to rely on GPS, Garmin needs to have the patents in question (you sure they wouldn't be owned by fellow Dutch company Tomtom?) and you need to be sure that Philips isn't already paying for any releva
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GPS is not patented -- it cannot be. Pseudorange location is simply advanced mathematics and the physical part was developed by Navstar under contract to the United States Department of Defense. It was an ARPA (later DARPA) project that derived from the TRANSIT system developed in the 1960's. If pseudo-range location was ever patented, those patents have long since expired. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Koninklijke (Score:2)
Koninklijke ? Wtf how can that be a real word in any language? What kind of idiots would make a word that requires such mouth contortions .. and fools just go along with it?
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"Koninklijke ? Wtf how can that be a real word in any language? What kind of idiots would make a word that requires such mouth contortions .. and fools just go along with it?"
You have a koninklijke president, so don't complain.
Yes (Score:2)
It is the Dutch word for Royal when applied to corporations broadly means by Royal appointment and similar British Royal Warrant.
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It's not a hard word to pronounce. There's only 10 letters as well. Yes 10 letters. Count them. You counted wrong. "ij" is a digraph and a single letter in Dutch and pronounced "eye". The rest of the word can similarly be broken down into easily pronounceable syllables.
Except for the French. They can't pronounce it to save themselves. Especially Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, the younger brother of the more famous Napoléon, who declared himself "Ik bin jouw konijn (rabbit)" instead of "Ik bin jouw koni
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What kind of idiots would make a word that requires such mouth contortions .. and fools just go along with it?
Well, if that's too difficult for you, you could just use their old name:
N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken
But, hey, you seem to be a little stressed out from Dutch words.
I know a great bakery and cafe in Delft, right across the street from the Koninklijke Akademie van Delft, Polytechnische School van Delft, Technische Hoogeschool van Delft.
The cookies there will help you chill out and appreciate the joys of the Dutch language.
Re: Koninklijke (Score:2)
There are a lot of people whose first language isnâ(TM)t English and wonder what kind of idiot would put âthâ(TM) together.
There are plenty of languages just in Europe that are far more challenging looking than Dutch to native English speakers who are also uneducated idiots... just look at Welsh or Croatian if you want to see an aversion to consonants!
oh (Score:1)
oh