Re: TomTom to contest Microsoft patent lawsuit ..

[amicus_curious]

"Doug Mentohl" <doug_mentohl@linuxmail.org> wrote in message 
news:gpj4s7$scb$1@news.datemas.de...
> amicus_curious wrote:
>
> > > That's assuming Tom-Tom are found guilty. The code would be available on 
> > > the server. All MS has to do is point it out. As such and in a court of 
> > > law, it is up to the plaintiff to prove the case not the other way 
> > > round.
>
> > Yes.  I said "if Tom-Tom were found to be infringing...".  Could they 
> > avoid paying by getting all their customers to download new, 
> > non-infringing firmware?  NO is the answer.
>
> No one can be sued for distributing 'non-infringing firmware', your 
> statement is legalistic nonsense ..
> --
I think you have the bull by the wrong horn here.  The issue is not whether 
the suit would continue if the software were noninfringing, but rather that 
it is not reasonably possible to create the non-infringing firmware.  The 
patent is on what the firmware does, not on how it is written.  And there is 
the ancillary issue of how TomTom could ensure that all their customers had 
done so.