SPCR

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... dns_id=471

Anyone know why?

edit: Oh nvm, patent crap.

• Ultra Sues Everyone Over Modular Power Supplies (DailyTech)

• Ultra Products, Inc. v. Antec, Inc. et al - Federal District Court Filings & Dockets - Florida (Justia)

This funny the first Modular Power Supplies were made by Performance-PCs. Hank used Antec Truepower power supplies I can remember wanting one in 2002 but they cost to much for me. Ultra has always made crappy products that includes there power supplies.

First Modular Power Supplies http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/ ... ndex.shtml

exactly;

some in-depth googling should bring all the answers the courts need to know. after that, ultra and the other psu companies should start paying royalties to the modders who came up with the idea :p

This is going to be entertaining to follow. This will probably drag on until April Fools and Christmas fall on the same day. Seems unlikely Ultra will get much if any compensation at all though. It was Ultra who patented the idea so regardless of who came up with the idea before, they'll have ownership... I wonder if anyone ever patented the the idea of a basic straw.

Still it is stupid, dumper then when Antec claimed they invented the LED Fan and caused people to boycott there products. People should do the same with Ultra. Anyone with half brain would not buy there products they are nothing but low quality with tons of bling added and streamly loud fans. Performance-PCs should sue just to give them taste of there own medicine.

widowmaker wrote:This is going to be entertaining to follow. This will probably drag on until April Fools and Christmas fall on the same day. Seems unlikely Ultra will get much if any compensation at all though. It was Ultra who patented the idea so regardless of who came up with the idea before, they'll have ownership... I wonder if anyone ever patented the the idea of a basic straw.

im suing your ass for using blue background. My greatgrandfather invented blue backgrounds in movies.

too bad for you I waited till you used it 49000x and made 3 billion off of it before I mentioned that. its all mine now. its all mine because I waited for 80 years before mentioning it, even though I could not market it or was a completely putz in general.

all your base are belong to us

Haha, well you see the problem is Ultra applied for the patent in 2004 and were not granted it until 2006. They had their hands tied until then. When 2006 did roll around, they issued notifications to other manufacturerers. That seems like a perfectly logical step. There was nothing left they could have done. Waiting 2 years before sueing also seems reasonable to me. When you give someone notice of a patent violation, you're basically asking them to pull an entire product line or lines. Not that easily done. If they do, chances are more customers would leave them than the ones they gained since their introduction of modular psu's. In the end I'm sure someone figured it'd be easier and/or more profitable to violate the patent and pay out owed royalties to the patent owner. I'm sure a lot of us would be Ultra bashing right now if nobody else created modular psu's since 2004.

The full text.....

"While I can't say for sure the exact date that "Modders" started making modular power supplies. I do know I was inspired to make my own modular power supply as part of an On-Air segment that aired on TechTV's The Screen Savers in early 2004 long before Ultra received their Patent. The version I did looked very similar to one that Ultra ended up filing a Patent for. Is this a coincidence? Who knows? I think it is very likely that someone at Ultra saw the segment or someone else's project and used that idea as a basis for "their" patent design. I don't claim to be the first person to do this mod, and I doubt I was.

It is a trend I have seen over and over. Companies see someone else's non-patented idea and then file a patent for it. If someone chooses to freely publish ideas to the public and not patent them, I feel it is wrong to then later grant a patent to someone else for the same idea.

In the "Modding" community people do projects for fun and generally freely share their work with the world. We usually do not care if someone else repeats the projects we do. After all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. What does get under our skin is when someone follows our ideas; then claim credit for coming up with the idea, and try to sue others for using the same idea. I feel that this is about the lowest and least honorable thing someone can do.

It is a shameful statement about our society that people without an original idea or a basic sense of right or wrong can freely manipulate our legal system to take money from others that don't claim to have originated ideas/designs that were openly/freely provided to the public. Those that do this know what they did, but guilt doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

If we do not want this behavior to continue, boycott all products made by companies that conduct their business in this manner. Fight them were it hurts, in their bank account. After all this seems to be the only thing they care about.

Yoshi DeHerrera
A simple modder who proudly FREELY shared his ideas with the world."


I feel exactly the same, since I've been sharing simple ideas about computer mods for at least as long as DeHerrera. The computer industry is filled with companies that steal ideas from everywhere, and try to make money at everyone else's expense. Sad commentary....

mcoleg wrote:exactly;

some in-depth googling should bring all the answers the courts need to know. after that, ultra and the other psu companies should start paying royalties to the modders who came up with the idea :p

That is a very valid point and implies that the patent office was very sloppy! It would usually render the patent invalid, if the modular construction "blueprints" have already been in the state of the art at the time of patenting.

Companies see someone else's non-patented idea and then file a patent for it.

That is strictly against IP law. It requires an inventive step which isn't easily reproducible by people skilled in the art and the patented item/idea/process/whatever must not be found in the state of the art up to the time of patenting.

If there is clear evidence of earlier modular power supplies than Ultra's, then the patent will get thrown out when it is challenged. The patent office can try to make sure they are not issuing a duplicate patent, but they are too busy to do much more than that.

It's too bad that if they lose, they do not have to reimburse each one sued for legal costs plus some for being hassled for no reason.

I'd boycott, but I've only bought an Ultra laptop power cable, which stopped working. No warranty since I didn't register with them within 30 days of purchase (cable died in 3 months).

I think that instead of a boycott, SCPR should review one of their PSUs. That's ideal, since SCPR doesn't have a shininess rating method, nor a lightmeter, so all that can be reviewed is the noise and quality. That would reduce their sales.