I hate this...the consumer will pay. When have we not paid? No company in their right mind will give up profits to the consumer, unless it leads to future sales. We always pay, so if she has a beef with Sony and she will in court, so be it. We DO NOT have to buy Blu-ray or any other technology for that matter. There are plenty of ways to get video content in your home...so yes, we will pay like we always do, if we choose to consume.

TFF!!!
More money from the BloRay coffers goto this old lady. Wonder what new profile they will make that will help reimburse those coffers because of overlooking this.

All i can say is HAHA looks like 1up for ON Demand.

So all this time record companies and film studios have been trying to push us pirated material? They stole from an old lady?

I hope she wins!

Or:

Movie piratism is ok.
Music piratism is ok.
Patent piratism is ok.

Nice.. So BR was invented back in 1988. It would be nice to have a 10T disc to backup my home videos and photo's..Or maybe data we are currently using 400G LTO's for. But that was invented in 1995 and will show up in 2015. Maybe.. But Sony will fight it because of all you pirates!! (hahaha)

If she just wants her royalties then good for her!

If her idea was stolen and she just wants closure by proving this fact is true, good for her!

If she pulls out a "stop using my process or give me money" then she should be told to f*&&* off cause it's things like this that prevents the progression of technology, shows she cares more about her ideas than society and is just selfish.

Sony is making money licensing their blue ray tech to other companies...should she be kept out of the loop because she invented it? Sony infringed on her patent in order to make a product they sell. I believe she deserves something, it may not be more like a grant to the university of which she works, or money that she will keep, but contribute to her most current employer in order to keep her job. Jeez, think outside of the buns er boobs, ahh box...you know what I mean...

Like all small-guy patent holders, I hope they win. Eventually, this will lead to patent reform.

Make no mistake, the consumer will pay! Remember that every device using this technology will be subject to future payments of royalties, not just those listed. These royalty costs will be passed on to the consumer. The main problem with these types of lawsuits is they target the manufacturer of the item, not the manufacturer of the part! Many manufacturers don't make their own individual parts, they may be blissfully unaware that parts they have requested to be built infringe on patents. The lawsuits are always pointed at the end product manufacturer as they can afford in general, to hand over large amounts of money. Also if the same company makes parts for a dozen other companies, she can get money from a dozen companies instead of the actual company infringing on the patent in the first place.

Like many other technology patent lawsuits in recent years, if its such a concern to the person WHY WAIT for it to be in common use before filing a patent. The answer is simply greed, as they know damn well they can make more money by sitting back and waiting for more companies to supposedly infringe.

Patent holders have the right to protect their inventions, but there should be tightened regulations on the time they can wait to make a claim. Claims should be made straight away, especially when they know their patent is being infringed.

"Her claim is that all these companies produce blue-laser diodes using a particular semiconductor manufacturing process, whose patent she applied for in 1988 and received in 1993."

Nothing bad is going to happen to consumers. All the companies will settle out of court, she'll take a big wad of money and buy a Pacific island with a hollowed-out volcano, she'll adopt a hairless cat, and spend her retirement laughing at her victory like Dr. Evil.

What a greedy person. Haven't she already got enough money? patents should expire in 10 or 20 years, if not these blood suckers will always be sucking the money out of its users.

2 out of 10

The only one's that I think are greedy are those that put little to no effort into something and simply patent an idea.

It seem like she did a lot of work and patented an actual working viable process. She should get royalties for it.

If you invented something, do you think you'd just give it away freely?

This woman could put HD-DVD out of business.

Sad this didn't come out before HD-DVD lost. As this would have drasically tipped the scales towards going to HD-DVD. I wish anyone that invented something to get their fair share. Of course we all know, Sony will not loose money. So they will fight if for years or simply just jack up the price of the players.

HD DVD uses blue laser diodes also. They may have been using this process as well.

According to the article, Toshiba is listed amongst those who are being sued.

I hope she cleans up.

Yeah ! This old lady wins the HD war !

Ha ha ha. If this is true then this is just too funny. To win the HD war only to pay out millions upon millions because you hadn't done your research. lmao

The ones ending up paying for this is no doubt the consumer. Yea its hilarious.

Its very fitting ... Stitching up sony like that put more then a smile on my face.

Except the consumers don't have to buy them.

Ha, cept Toshiba is not only stuck with a dead format, they are facing a lawsuit. Could drive Toshiba out of biz.

" Could drive Toshiba out of biz. "

Yea...Toshiba is on the verge of dying...I'm not rolling my eyes at you...no really, I'm not...my eyes just do that.

Toshiba is not stuck with anything...you do know, that Toshiba has ALOT more then just HD-DVD right?

Sony, on the other hand...needs to keep producing Blu-Ray players (and PS3's)...and if they lose, they will need to pay ALOT of royalties on every single one of those units sold.

Toshiba sold what, according to BD fanboys...a few hundred thousand players? And...they're not even making them anymore. Even if they lose the lawsuit, it will be PEANUTS compared to what sony will be going through.

This is new way to get rich quick, all you have to do is file a law suite against a big corporation.

www.talkprice.net

Its an old way to get slapped with a law suite, use someone else's idea.

Usually, I agree that patent lawsuits are a bunch of horsepucky. A lot of the lawsuits seem like someone just out to get money. However, in this case, I believe this is why we have the process. I believe she is in her rights to sue. Hopefully she will get what she is looking for.

Oh dear ... Anyone thinking sony's creation is on the home run and can only get cheaper took another stumble.

If she cant take a percentage on movie sales for this format, that would be a quite a headache for sony. Oh well :P, at least you can rent and rip.

she's a bloody Rothschild what do you guys expect.

they own the entire world.

this are the guys that bin laden should shoot.

and the morgan, bush's etc etc

after all they were the guys that did this:

"In November of 1910, some of these vultures came together at the Jekyl Island Hunt Club on Jekyl Island, Georgia. What were they hunting?
The biggest prize of all, the absolute and complete control of all the money in America which means control of all America and with it the power to make slaves of all the people.

Those who attended were: Senator Nelson Aldrich (Nelson Rockefeller's maternal grandfather); A. Piatt Andrew, Economist and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Frank Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank of New York; Henry P. Norton, President of Morgan's First National Bank of New York; Paul Moritz Warburg, a German who was partner in the New York banking house of Kuhn, Loeb Co.; Benjamin Strong, an aid to J. P. Morgan.

Paul Warburg was credited as the architect of the bill which was passed by Congress and signed by traitorous Woodrow Wilson. It was entitled the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. America once again had a central bank but this time they had placed America under an absolute dictatorship. President James Garfield had insight into this situation:

• "It must be realized that whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolutely master of all industry
commerce."

The Federal Reserve was incorporated in 1914 and has been creating a completely unnecessary national debt ever since. In simple terms, the Fed creates money as debt. They create money out of thin air by nothing more than a book entry. Whenever the members of the Fed make any loans, that debt money is our money supply.

The United States went bankrupt in 1938 because of this system. It took the Fed only 25 years to bankrupt the USA. Can you imagine how little time it would take these vultures to bankrupt a developing nation? The American people are paying about $300 billion dollars a year in interest to this phony organization. When you look in the Washington, D.C. phone book, you will not find the Federal Reserve in the Government section as they are a private concern.

The national debt is increased about $1.71 billion dollars every day (as of October 12, 2004) . Have you taken a look at your money? It says "Federal Reserve Note" which means it is an instrument of debt. There is no real money in circulation."

Glad to see you hate the US, but this has nothing to do with the article. Please post when you have something of relevance

Back under your bridge, boy.

Hold on to your HD DVD players.

What is with all these people suing video game and electronics companies for "loosly copied" patent infringements lately? I mean, we had the Wii remote deal, the Gibson/Guitar Hero guitar deal, and now this?

So this woman came up the semiconductor process that is used to make blue laser diodes? That's kind of reaching. I mean, by the same token, Ford could sue any factory that uses the assembly line method for manufacturing, as Henry Ford came up with it.

I can understand suing for an actual product idea, but for the process to make a product?!

You clown are comparing the sophisticated research of a silid state physicist to whoever thought of selling fake plastic guitars first? Get a clue..!

Yes, processes are patentable.

I can't understand patenting a product idea.
A product, probably. The process for making it,
sure, especially when the process takes years
of education to understand, and years of research
to get working.

Have I got this killer idea. It's an affordable
3-D display that uses like, light or something
to be seen.

Ironic. Loving it all around..

Hope she gets her millions or even better, forces them out of existence forever.

I am so used to patent trolls and squaters filing these lawsuits, I am surprised to see "the dreaded Section 337" used for a real purpose. If she invented the process and they copped it, she deserves to be paid.

I don't care about the format wars or the companies involved. They should have known the process they used was not public domain. It is not like you can go to the library to research that process. It may be on wikipidia now but that does not make it right.

When I finished reading about this development the first time, I could only think of what the late Chris Farley said in "Tommy Boy": "That.... was.... AWESOME!"

This would be such a kick in the pants for Blu-Ray Disc Association after everything that's happened.

Perhaps she should be employed by one of these companies rather than paying her royalties.

I don't think one invention should make you rich for the rest of your living days. It's not like she invented something that's going to save millions of lives, or is actually of any use other than entertainment of the masses.

Open source the idea, do a Tim Berners-Lee and let people have it as long as your name is associated with it and no one else's.

There's too many people taking up too many court spaces with patent disputes and wasting money that could be better spent on locking away murderers and villains.

/late night rant

Since when did patent lawsuits care about morals and ethics? They shouldn't be factors ever. Law is a binary objective process or at least one would hope.

I disagree Paul. Lasers are a major discovery. Any advancement should be patented and licensed for commercial use. People make things, things get sold. This is the way the world turns.
By the way, there are different courts used for differnt types of cases. No criminals are missing their court date because of a patent lawsuit.

You're probably right. I was tired last night.

I meant they are paying judges and lawyers silly amounts of money that could be spent on more cops for example.

I wasn't concerned that people were having their court date delayed.

Anyway, thanks for not flaming me, and I concede the point.

They don't.

I was saying she should have (basically) open-sourced the idea, and then the government can have lots of money back and spend it on police or wars, whatever takes their fancy.

Anyway, what's done is done, so we'll just have to sit back and watch this woman win or lose and either end up penniless, or with a car made of solid gold and no Blue Laser technology for several months.

Paul,
"I don't think one invention should make you rich for the rest of your living days. It's not like she invented something that's going to save millions of lives, or is actually of any use other than entertainment of the masses."
Simple response buddy, I penned a simple tune, both lyrics and music some 30+ years ago, covered and sampled by many & played constantly all over the world on easy listening stations, generates AUD300K per annum in royalties income for me.
I have an issue with the above premise, by your reckoning, unless I'm misconstruing "late night rant", I should not be entitled to derive income from this creation.
As an aside, yes I do own the publishing rights, one of my better decisions considering the many follies of a misspent youth.

They are already paying the judges their salaries whether this lawsuit proceeds or not. It's called 'sunk cost' in economics.

What's the relevance of the police? The lawsuit is being fought with private money.

Blue lasers are not going to save millions of lives, so we can make do without it for several decades if need be. This will only serve to further research in alternative storage, like holography.

Again, I really don't see how the government comes into all this.

If there is demand for that invention, then why can't people make money off it? It's not like it's a vital medical discovery or drug that the masses desperately need at low cost.

Go and tell people to curb their demand and their consumption rate, that's the more logical thing to do.

"Anyway, thanks for not flaming me, and I concede the point."

Careful there Paul-

Having an open mind and being willing to change it publicly like that could possibly spin betanews into another dimension...

Well played sir.
/esr sits back & waits for BN to start spinning...

I should not be entitled to derive income from this creation.

Not for a lifetime, buddy. Not for a lifetime. :)

Blue lasers are not going to save millions of lives

How do you know that?

There could be, this very moment, a horde of vicious, Human flesh-starved, blue-laser averse aliens bearing down on our little road-stop of a planet.

Really.

It could happen.

As long as people like the song, why shouldn't he keep making cash off it? Want him to not make cash there? Stop telling people to requesting *whatever it is* on the radio and otherwise... :)

Sorry.

Letting him make *any* money off of it (except through performances) is a compromise. We call it Copyright, and it's been abused long enough.

Prior to copyright, Music had no value.

Well you obviously haven’t been reading articles here for very long at all :)

Long enough-
Plenty of trolls here no doubt. As a general rule I don't reply to trolls, here or newsgroups & forums.

This particular post was not however. It was polite, open minded and all the more impressive if it's not the normal state of affairs for the poster.

Lets just forget HD and go back to VHS. :D

I say Betamax since it was a better format.

True.

What about... laserdiscs? ;-)

Not really. Marginally better video quality at the expense of recording time.

"If the investigation launched by USITC Judge Luckern finds that any or all 30 companies used Prof. Rothschild's methods without proper attribution or royalty, and that they're in violation of the dreaded Section 337 of the Tariff Act, the victors in the last format war may find themselves answering to a very distraught customer base."

I hope she wins, it would server Sony right :)

I hope she wins, it would serve Toshiba right :)

???

Columbia University.

'nuff said.

We (Columbia) invented the atom bomb. =P

Go the Little old Lady.
Sounds like she might get rich very quickly, wish she was my Grandma.