Vodacom Please Call Me case: "real inventor" comments

“Intellectual ownership and rights to compensation are governed by the sovereignty afforded to the inventor under Patent Protection Law. Clearly nobody other than the true inventor has any claim to compensation,” the patent expert said.
Click to expand...

Incorrect. Nobody other than the guy who filed the patent first has any claim to compensation. Just because you filed first, doesn't mean you invented the thing. It just means you filed first.
 
Can't the article specify when MTN filed for the patent and when it was accepted. This would then pretty much clear up any confusion. And then also, if MTN has the patent, why has MTN not gone after Vodacom for patent infringement or am I missing something here?
 
I don't understand how this can even be patented. There is nothing unique about the "Please Call Me Service". It is just simply SMS and USSD. If anyone should be compensated it should be the people who invented SMS and USSD.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't understand how this can even be patented. There is nothing unique about the "Please Call Me Service". It is just simply SMS and USSD. If anyone should be compensated it should be the people who invented SMS and USSD.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how a Ducati can even be patented. There is nothing unique about a motorbike. It is just simply a bicycle and an engine. If anyone should be compensated it should be the people who invented bicycles and engines.
 
eehellfire said:
I don't understand how a Ducati can even be patented. There is nothing unique about a motorbike. It is just simply a bicycle and an engine. If anyone should be compensated it should be the people who invented bicycles and engines.
Click to expand...

Motorbikes aren't patented, anybody can build a motorbike without being sued. You've just illustrated my point.
 
Oh dear..between a rock and a hard place?

Makate may like to avoid highlighting the relevance of MTN’s patent in the case because it can leave him without the legal foundation to claim that he invented the service.
Click to expand...

Vodacom may also like to avoid the patent issue because it can feel exposed to additional legal action if it now acknowledges after all these years that its product is based on the intellectual property of its competitor
Click to expand...

MagicDude4Eva said:
why has MTN not gone after Vodacom for patent infringement or am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

^^ Let's not forget the Duopoly collusion "agreements" between the red & yellow(my conspiracy theory:)).
 
Makate said that his boss at the time, Philip Geissler, promised in an oral agreement to facilitate remuneration negotiations with the company.
Click to expand...

Kind of off topic but I've been in a similar situation before with my previous company. I directly hooked them up with a fairly large contract where they made some good money. Initially was verbally promised something in return, two years later when everything was done and everyone was happy and paid, the senior bastard who made the promise said there was nothing in writing so well... sorry for me. He made a huge commission off the project though.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't understand how this can even be patented. There is nothing unique about the "Please Call Me Service". It is just simply SMS and USSD. If anyone should be compensated it should be the people who invented SMS and USSD.
Click to expand...

Dude, Apple can patent rounded corners...
 
ponder said:
Dude, Apple can patent rounded corners...
Click to expand...

Yes, and the US patent system is seriously messed up. Sounds like South Africa's is too. You should not be able to patent an idea that merely makes use of existing technologies.
 
Sodan said:
Incorrect. Nobody other than the guy who filed the patent first has any claim to compensation. Just because you filed first, doesn't mean you invented the thing. It just means you filed first.
Click to expand...

True. Just remember that the person listed as the inventor on the first-filed patent must still in fact be the inventor (or, an inventor of the same thing. Two people can obviously invent the same thing at the same time). But, if you can prove that they stole your idea, you may have some form of recourse.
 
ponder said:
Dude, Apple can patent rounded corners...
Click to expand...

If the patent that the rounded corners refers to was filed in South Africa, it would have been called a registered design. The US calls what most of the world calls registered designs, "design patents". So, even though in the Stated they refer to something as patented, it may actually be what we in SA call a "registered design".
 
deweyzeph said:
Yes, and the US patent system is seriously messed up. Sounds like South Africa's is too. You should not be able to patent an idea that merely makes use of existing technologies.
Click to expand...

Pretty much every mechanical invention is just a new combination of existing mechanical technologies.
 
Someone wants pocketmoney. :whistle:

EDIT: If I 'invent' something here at work that has a positive effect, I sure as hell won't be compensated for it :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X