Lawsuit accusing entire computer industry of patent infringement fails on missed deadline
A $350 billion lawsuit that accused effectively the entire computer industry of patent infringement has been dismissed because an opening brief wasn't filed by a July 2 deadline.
Credit: Apple
In September 2019, plaintiff Mers Kutt filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It alleged $350 billion in damages against more than 40 technology companies, telecom providers, and financial firms, among others. Apple was included at the top of the list.
After a majority of those companies filed opposing orders, a judge in March 2020 dismissed the case with prejudice. Kutt appealed that decision, but apparently failed to file an opening brief by a July 2 deadline. The lawsuit was tossed on September 1.
Kutt is a Canadian inventor who developed the world's first keyboard-based microcomputer through his company, Micro Computer Machines.
The original lawsuit concerned alleged infringement of two patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,506,981 and U.S. Patent No. 5,450,574. Both are titled "apparatus and method for enhancing the performance of personal computers, and concern microprocessors and clock speeds.
Kutt claimed that computers manufactured by some of the defendants -- about 8 billion total products -- included his patented technology to run faster. He contended that the damages committed in the case "far exceed typical patent infringement damages partly because it also addresses violation of antitrust laws, breach of agreements, obstruction, and theft."
Along with tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, Amazon and Intel, the lawsuit also accused smaller computer makers such as ARM Holdings, Acer and Nokia of patent infringement. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, JP Morgan & Chase, and Best Buy are also named as defendants, alongside "United States of America governments."
Credit: Apple
In September 2019, plaintiff Mers Kutt filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It alleged $350 billion in damages against more than 40 technology companies, telecom providers, and financial firms, among others. Apple was included at the top of the list.
After a majority of those companies filed opposing orders, a judge in March 2020 dismissed the case with prejudice. Kutt appealed that decision, but apparently failed to file an opening brief by a July 2 deadline. The lawsuit was tossed on September 1.
Kutt is a Canadian inventor who developed the world's first keyboard-based microcomputer through his company, Micro Computer Machines.
The original lawsuit concerned alleged infringement of two patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,506,981 and U.S. Patent No. 5,450,574. Both are titled "apparatus and method for enhancing the performance of personal computers, and concern microprocessors and clock speeds.
Kutt claimed that computers manufactured by some of the defendants -- about 8 billion total products -- included his patented technology to run faster. He contended that the damages committed in the case "far exceed typical patent infringement damages partly because it also addresses violation of antitrust laws, breach of agreements, obstruction, and theft."
Along with tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, Amazon and Intel, the lawsuit also accused smaller computer makers such as ARM Holdings, Acer and Nokia of patent infringement. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, JP Morgan & Chase, and Best Buy are also named as defendants, alongside "United States of America governments."
Comments
- Patent troll sues the universe for a quarter of a trillion dollars
- The universe tells the troll to get bent. The judge agrees
- Troll tries to save face by threatening an appeal, but quietly slinks off to his cave taking no further action
This is the only way to deal with a troll. Don't settle out of court. Make him prove his nonsense to a judge (assuming the suit really is just trolling, of course).I'm not sure what he's alleging was infringed. His patents are for accelerator boards (like we used to see in the PPC days?). Maybe something to do with his clock signal management?
Rayz2016 said: You mean, like a lawyer?
Gotta have the big bucks first - he clearly is not able to continue the case without the funds.
Anyway, surprised no one picked up on "failed to file an opening brief by a July 2 deadline. The lawsuit was tossed on Sept. 1" so it took the courts / lawyers two months to 'process' this? I guess they have a big backlog.
That lawsuit was more focused on what his patent was on, but obviously didn't warrant any merit. This latest lawsuit he is going after everybody in the hope that if you splash enough mud around, it might stick.
Must be desperate.
Here's the Wikipedia entry for his first product, a PC that predated the Apple II by a few years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCM/70
Having said that, the thing couldn't power a monitor and only had a single-line LCD screen. It was more like a programmable calculator (with a full keyboard and external storage) than a PC in modern terms.
I think he exaggerates the capabilities of his path breaking invention: ""We had a complete working system - the operating system and the language were all in the hardware in a computer," he said in an interview yesterday. "We not only had spreadsheet capability, we had the mother-of-all-spreadsheets right in the computer."