Surf Kitchen granted UK patent for it’s MMS-like delivery concept
Link:
Surf Kitchen patents customised phone downloads | The Register
Mobile phone interface provider Surf Kitchen has been granted a UK patent for what at first glance appears to be the delivery mechanism used for the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). What the patent actually covers, however, is the method by which content is selected.
Got this in from Steve who reckons there will be a deluge in ‘prior art’ for this case. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least 4 different ‘prior art’ examples of this years ago when MMS was still very much a work in progress.
How did they get the patent for that !
I thought you couldn’t patent software in europe?
Its a joke because loads of people do that and have done for years. When exactly did they ‘Invent’ this because I wrote something over 3 years ago to do that and I’m sure I wasn’t the first to do it.
Things like this really piss me off because its just a way of making you look more buyable from a US persepective and then the bully boy tatics start.
Bollocks…..
Posted by mark on November 22nd, 2006 at 12:32 pm.I totally agree Mark. total tosh! I think we can pre-date your prior art by a year, but who cares! Frankly I would rather we all co-exist to push software and compete fairly. To try and strangulate (made up word but it sums up what I feel) an industry by coming out with this nonsense makes me angry too. I really hope it costs them hundreds of thousands of pounds to get the patent and then protect it. And that they are tied up in legals for years to come, rather than just go out and sell a good days work for a good days pay.
steve procter
Posted by steve procter on November 22nd, 2006 at 2:02 pm.Just found a patent for forwarding SMS and MMS to email. Quite new too. Why do people bother?
Posted by Alex on November 22nd, 2006 at 2:54 pm.Lots of investors like it. It’s a tick in the box when you’re sat in front of them and they’re running through the questions.
‘Got any IP?’
Posted by ewan on November 22nd, 2006 at 2:57 pm.- ‘Yup’
‘Ooooh, a patent?’
- ‘Yup’
‘Ooooh’………..
As Steve just pointed out to me, we can all demonstrate prior usage of quite a few years on a lot of this stuff.
Good luck enforcing the patent..
Posted by Alex on November 22nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm.If an investor found out you had just filed something for patent that had already been running for several years by dozens of companies then he would think you were a useless so-and-so who was incapable of even typing “sms to email” into google to see if anyone else was doing it.
please try it btw and see what I mean!!
steve
Posted by steve procter on November 22nd, 2006 at 3:18 pm.On the contrary Steve, there are plenty that would see that as a solid “market opportunity”.
Posted by carlo on November 22nd, 2006 at 3:42 pm.::scratches head very confused???
how is it an opportunity to try and patent something that you did not invent, and indeed was proven to be invented by any one of many others several years ago?
steve
Posted by steve procter on November 22nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm.Carlo is unfortunatley correct.
Apple had to allegedly pay millions to Amazon before they could open I-Tunes because they have the patient for ‘One Click’ shopping…
If you’re a small software house or a single developer the cost of going to court to fight this sort of rubbish could easily finish you off.
All you have to do when you hold a patent is to sit back and pick your targets when it suits you. You can come along 5 years later and claim against back earnings.
I really think we should contest this because it will impact on all of us.
What about the likes of O2, Vodafone and 3 etc.
This gives surf kitchen the ability to claim against anything that involves content thats created on the fly and downloaded via a text message.
Posted by mark on November 22nd, 2006 at 4:31 pm.This patent was filed back in November 2003.
Reminds me of one that Allisblue launched a press release about a year or more about.. I remember a lot of people mentioning prior art, but don’t nb what happened or if any further action occurred. Anyone know?
http://www.allisblue.com/legal/20051109101231029.pdf
I can certainly think of a few cases of existing services that would enable a challenge to Surf Kitchen, but I wonder if any of them are close enough matches.
Presumably people like Mobizines will have a bigger issue than pure content providers.
Posted by njar on November 22nd, 2006 at 5:24 pm.sorry but I can’t take this one seriously.
I’m off to patent “blogging where the subject is specifically about the sms business”. And then Ewan, my lawyers are comin’ after you matie!!!
steve procter
Posted by steve procter on November 22nd, 2006 at 8:58 pm.Don’t forget to patent the concept of teleportation or something while you’re there Steve.. might make you a few quid when science catches up
Posted by Alex on November 23rd, 2006 at 12:35 pm.indeed!! at least I could then get away to another time & dimension if Ewan sends the boys round to beat me up for being so silly as to think I could patent something that has already been invented.
steve
Posted by steve procter on November 23rd, 2006 at 3:35 pm.