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BU wins patent lawsuit against pretty much the entire world
By adamg on Wed, 01/15/2014 - 9:54am
BU Today reports the 25 tech companies sued by Boston University - including Apple and Amazon - have agreed to pay licensing fees for the way their blue LEDs are manufactured.
BU had filed a series of lawsuits against the companies, alleging they were making or using LEDs that used a particular manufacturing method patented by one of its professors.
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Fantastic!
I'm sure B.U. will be announcing lower tuition and fees any day now!
Maybe they can buy...
...the rest of Comm Ave.
Need help understanding this lawsuit...
Why would Apple or Amazon be sued in in this case? They used a LED in their product that was developed and manufactured by some third party. I doubt Amazon would manufacture these LED's in house.
Think
"deep pockets". Of course, by your argument, the lawsuit should have immediately been tossed. After all, BU is not in the business of manufacturing LEDS. And, unless I'm mistaken, one of the principal purposes of educational and research facilities to foster the development of new and improved technology for the betterment of society.
Wouldn't that be called
Wouldn't that be called "profit" Great! now they can pay taxes like the rest of us.
If I recall correctly, 1/3 of
If I recall correctly, 1/3 of the patent royalties from university research sponsored by government grants actually go to the government, effectively a 33.3% tax rate. The university also gets 1/3, and then the co-inventors split the remainder.
You are buying into BU's spin
You are buying into BU's spin. They settled with RPX without any terms disclosed, which does not say much at all about who "won". Also, to my knowledge, neither Amazon nor Apple are clients of RPX Corporation. Even if suits against there were dropped, it could be that Apple and Amazon's suppliers are members and the license covers them through their suppliers.
BU got money it didn't have
BU got money it didn't have before. It won.