neil wilkes
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
From an original post at
http://www.mmbforums.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=19611&pid=118673&st=40&#entry118673
One cannot help but laugh at this.
http://www.mmbforums.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=19611&pid=118673&st=40&#entry118673
More on-topic is the revelation that a prominent American scientist has filed patent infringement complaints against thirty companies including Sony, Toshiba, LG, Sharp, Samsung and Panasonic. The complainant, Gertrude Neumark Rothschild of Hartsdale, New York, is Howe Professor Emerita of Materials Science at New York's Columbia University, and has a long and distinguished history of research into semiconductors. She holds a patent detailing LEDs and laser diodes that emit short-wavelength light and in particular the blue-laser diodes that are key components in Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD players and storage devices. Rothschild wants the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import into the US of any products the organisation finds that contain components that infringe her patent. If the ITC finds in her favour, it will be rather bad news for those manufacturers - and for Hollywood - who are desperately trying to promote BD.
It's not such good news for mobile phones companies either. The ITC is also investigating, among others, Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericson based on the same patent-infringing complaint.
Hers is not, I am reliably informed, a classic "patent squatting" ambush.
Interestingly, THX's Chief Scientist, Laurie Fincham, predicted this week that Blu-Ray will never really take off. "By the time Blu-ray really finds a mass market, we will have 128GB cards," he says. "I would guess that getting studios to supply movies on media cards, or offer downloads, will be a lot easier than getting them to sign up to support a disc format." "In the future I want to be able to carry four to five movies around with me in a wallet, or walk into a store and have someone copy me a movie to a USB device," Fincham forecasts. "Stores will like that idea, because it's all about having zero inventory. I don't want to take up shelf space with dozens of HD movies."
Fincham's remarks echo those of Steve Jobs but Jobs is in the business of selling downloads. Fincham is not, he's a content producer so possibly has greater credibility.
One cannot help but laugh at this.