Microsoft anti-piracy patent infringed

Wonder why they bother using a jury in these sorts of cases.

I wouldn't think that picking random people of the street would add any value to a case like this.
 
Pegasus said:
Wonder why they bother using a jury in these sorts of cases.

I wouldn't think that picking random people of the street would add any value to a case like this.
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Because it's a constitutionally-protected right. The original idea was that juries would be more fair than a judge appointed by the King of England. Also, in the case of bad laws, the jury could offer protection against it. Also, juries existed under common law in England as well, before the US got independence.

Quote from Article III Section 2 of the US constitution:

"Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed."

This was later amended, but the right was never taken away, merely broadened.
 
Valerion said:
Because it's a constitutionally-protected right. The original idea was that juries would be more fair than a judge appointed by the King of England. Also, in the case of bad laws, the jury could offer protection against it. Also, juries existed under common law in England as well, before the US got independence.

Quote from Article III Section 2 of the US constitution:

"Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed."

This was later amended, but the right was never taken away, merely broadened.
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Then hey should pick a jury from a pool of people working in IT.
What's a housewife or a plumber going to know about software?
 
Pegasus said:
Then hey should pick a jury from a pool of people working in IT.
What's a housewife or a plumber going to know about software?
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The idea is to have a non-biased jury. Someone that works in IT may have pre-conceived notions about things (e.g. pro- or anti-MS, for example). A jury may not have any of those things, other than what society in general have. They may only rely on the facts and law as presented by the Court, nothing outside of that is allowed to influence them. No jury member may do independent research of a topic, for example. No discussions between jury members are allowed during the trial (only during their deliberations afterwards), or with anyone outside the trial. The facts are presented by the lawyers, and it's up to them to make the jury understand it.

I am not arguing the above is fair. But that's how the Courts and law see it. Therefore they pick people at random and hope they get a fair panel together.
 
Valerion said:
The idea is to have a non-biased jury. Someone that works in IT may have pre-conceived notions about things (e.g. pro- or anti-MS, for example). A jury may not have any of those things, other than what society in general have. They may only rely on the facts and law as presented by the Court, nothing outside of that is allowed to influence them. No jury member may do independent research of a topic, for example. No discussions between jury members are allowed during the trial (only during their deliberations afterwards), or with anyone outside the trial. The facts are presented by the lawyers, and it's up to them to make the jury understand it.

I am not arguing the above is fair. But that's how the Courts and law see it. Therefore they pick people at random and hope they get a fair panel together.
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I notice that a lot of their verdicts are overturned, the ones that make the news anyway.
They also seem to award ridiculous sums of money to the "winners", which usually gets reduced.

It would be more efficient to have more than one judge then, like the supreme court.
 
Valerion said:
The idea is to have a non-biased jury. Someone that works in IT may have pre-conceived notions about things (e.g. pro- or anti-MS, for example). A jury may not have any of those things, other than what society in general have.

The facts are presented by the lawyers, and it's up to them to make the jury understand it.
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Problem is many of the people on a jury simply don't understand things or follow their own religious bias in making decisions. There have been cases where a jury have ignored 100% clear scientific/forensic evidence in court cases before and voting in the opposite direction.

Have you ever tried explaining IT or other technical concepts to a layman? Makes you wanna crawl up walls :D
 
Pegasus said:
I notice that a lot of their verdicts are overturned, the ones that make the news anyway.
They also seem to award ridiculous sums of money to the "winners", which usually gets reduced.

It would be more efficient to have more than one judge then, like the supreme court.
Click to expand...

yep you never hear what happens to the big money cases once they get appealed. and as you say, the final outcome is nearly always never as exciting as the initial case.
 
ponder said:
Problem is many of the people on a jury simply don't understand things or follow their own religious bias in making decisions. There have been cases where a jury have ignored 100% clear scientific/forensic evidence in court cases before and voting in the opposite direction.

Have you ever tried explaining IT or other technical concepts to a layman? Makes you wanna crawl up walls :D
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Oh agreed, completely. But you could say the same about a judge as well. That's why an appeals structure exist in the first place.

And now you know why I am in IT and not law.
 
Shouldn't the title of the article be

"Uniloc anti-piracy patent infringed."

or

"Microsoft infringes on anti-piracy patent."

Just saying...
 
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