Ringtone patent lawsuit!

Haaretz.com reports that a gentleman named Marco Luzzatto has claimed in a lawsuit with Siemens, that he was the owner of a registered patent on ringtones! in Israel, the United States, and Europe.

"Siemens, which uses the technology on its cellular devices, agreed to pay Luzzatto an undisclosed amount in return for his dropping the lawsuit. Both sides signed a confidentiality agreement regarding the settlement's size.

... Sources believe Luzzatto earned millions of shekels from the recent lawsuit. However, they believe Israel is just a training ground for larger lawsuits in Europe, with the most likely next target is Italy".

I don't really understand this lawsuit, as it was my understanding that James Winsoar first realised in July 1999, that a feature built by Nokia into their cell phones -- allowing mobile phone companies to add their logo and ringing sounds -- could be exploited by others, allowing anyone the freedom to customise their mobile phone with graphics and music.

Anyway this lawsuit seems as far a shot to me as BT's hypertext lawsuit, several years ago - which they lost - claiming they owned the patent to hyperlinks - in hope of charging US Internet Service Providers.

[via Techdirt]

emily | 8:10 AM | Copyright Protection |
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