VR Patent Fight -- A Dramatic Development
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Scott Witte
Aug 18, 2011, 11:12:15 PM8/18/11
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Guys and Galls,
Things are about to get heavy!
TTS, which currently holds the '400 patent, is filing a patent infringement suit against Ice Portal, the VR tour production and hosting company owned by Henry Woodman. This is real (see below).
For anyone who thought this patent was nothing to worry about, had disappeared, could be ignored.... Please Think Again. For those who thought TTS would only send threatening letters that could safely be ignored while they moved on to more gullible marks... Think Again. For those who got warning letters and thought their response letters proved to TTS that they weren't infringing... REALLY think again. We are at a crossroad. What we do now -- right now -- will affect our industry's future.
As I see it there are two possibilities.
1) Ignore this. Let Ice Portal deal with it themselves. Faced with the cost (ballpark $30,000) and risk of a court battle Henry has strong incentive to settle for a painful amount, though less than a fight in court. He would be protected from further claims but nobody else would. In fact TTS would have more money to press claims against others, stronger precedence in pressing their claim and stronger confidence that they can get away with it. Which one of us will be next? How long until they get to you? Remember, TTS' lawyer told us they are just getting started.
2) We can band together and finish what we already started. Together we can afford to overturn this patent. We can stop it now -- for ALL of us.
Please help. Go to http://ivrpa.org/patent and contribute what you can. Suggested donation is $100. If you make a living shooting 360VR consider protecting that income by digging deeper. That said, any amount will help. If you are unfamiliar with the '400 patent and its threat to our industry check the patent fight website.
NOTE: This isn't a contribution toward an Ice Portal defense fund. It is toward the effort IVRPA is coordinating. That would protect all of us, including Ice Portal.
Your choice. Together we stop this. Ignore it and it will cost us a LOT more.
You can see notice of the patent infringement complaint against Ice Portal here: http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/patent-lawsuits/new-york-eastern-district-court/79553/tour-technology-systems-llc-v-ice-portal-inc/summary/
I will post the actual full complaint (74 pages and 5MB) in the VR Patents newsgroup in the next day or two.
The time is now, friends.
Scott Witte
IVRPA Board Member
Coordinator, patent committee.
On Behalf of the IVRPA Board of Directors
Things are about to get heavy!
TTS, which currently holds the '400 patent, is filing a patent infringement suit against Ice Portal, the VR tour production and hosting company owned by Henry Woodman. This is real (see below).
For anyone who thought this patent was nothing to worry about, had disappeared, could be ignored.... Please Think Again. For those who thought TTS would only send threatening letters that could safely be ignored while they moved on to more gullible marks... Think Again. For those who got warning letters and thought their response letters proved to TTS that they weren't infringing... REALLY think again. We are at a crossroad. What we do now -- right now -- will affect our industry's future.
As I see it there are two possibilities.
1) Ignore this. Let Ice Portal deal with it themselves. Faced with the cost (ballpark $30,000) and risk of a court battle Henry has strong incentive to settle for a painful amount, though less than a fight in court. He would be protected from further claims but nobody else would. In fact TTS would have more money to press claims against others, stronger precedence in pressing their claim and stronger confidence that they can get away with it. Which one of us will be next? How long until they get to you? Remember, TTS' lawyer told us they are just getting started.
2) We can band together and finish what we already started. Together we can afford to overturn this patent. We can stop it now -- for ALL of us.
Please help. Go to http://ivrpa.org/patent and contribute what you can. Suggested donation is $100. If you make a living shooting 360VR consider protecting that income by digging deeper. That said, any amount will help. If you are unfamiliar with the '400 patent and its threat to our industry check the patent fight website.
NOTE: This isn't a contribution toward an Ice Portal defense fund. It is toward the effort IVRPA is coordinating. That would protect all of us, including Ice Portal.
Your choice. Together we stop this. Ignore it and it will cost us a LOT more.
You can see notice of the patent infringement complaint against Ice Portal here: http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/patent-lawsuits/new-york-eastern-district-court/79553/tour-technology-systems-llc-v-ice-portal-inc/summary/
I will post the actual full complaint (74 pages and 5MB) in the VR Patents newsgroup in the next day or two.
The time is now, friends.
Scott Witte
IVRPA Board Member
Coordinator, patent committee.
On Behalf of the IVRPA Board of Directors
Scott Witte
Aug 20, 2011, 11:02:09 AM8/20/11
to iv...@googlegroups.com
For anyone wanting to see the entire complaint you can do so here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/62477867/Tour-Technology-Systems-v-Ice-Portal.
The site is loaded with ads but they thoughtfully include a link to
download the entire PDF by itself just to the right at the top of
the first page of the complaint.
This is scary when you consider they can do this to anyone. For several hundred dollars filing fee they put you in the position of meeting their challenge in court at the cost of $30,000 minimum or paying their ransom of, say, $15,000. This is blackmail, IMHO. It certainly isn't morally right. I have no idea how we stop them without invalidating the patent.
TTS has told us directly, in person, that they are just getting started. Unless we stop them by invalidating the patent look forward to a lot more of these suits, maybe against us, certainly against our clients. The time for us to ignore this is long past over.
This is scary when you consider they can do this to anyone. For several hundred dollars filing fee they put you in the position of meeting their challenge in court at the cost of $30,000 minimum or paying their ransom of, say, $15,000. This is blackmail, IMHO. It certainly isn't morally right. I have no idea how we stop them without invalidating the patent.
TTS has told us directly, in person, that they are just getting started. Unless we stop them by invalidating the patent look forward to a lot more of these suits, maybe against us, certainly against our clients. The time for us to ignore this is long past over.
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