這件訴訟案是繼去年（2007年）五月，宏達電在美推出Touch機後第12件訴訟案。本案原告為Traffic Information，被告除宏達電外尚包括Motorola、Palm、Pantech Wireless、Samsung與Cellular 4 U等。地點是專利流氓聚集所，美國東德州聯邦地方法院，系爭專利有二：US6,466,862與US6,785,606，且為同一專利家族，所爭議技術有關於手持行動載具，顯示交通路況與資訊，如表一。
既然Traffic Information是專利授權公司（Patent Holding Company），控告宏達電等就不會是第一件，當然也不會是最後一件。2007年9月7日與2008年1月8日分別在美國東德州聯邦地方法院控告Honda等12家及Alpine等3家公司侵權。
專利流氓所啟動的訴訟成本有多高，我們估算一下。以一件專利訴訟案一年150萬美金計，12件訴訟案合計1千8百萬美金，合計約5億6千萬新台幣。若每一訴訟以2.5年計，不願意和解代價可能就高達14億新台幣。在和解付權利金與不和解繼續纏訟，需進一步評估與衡量。想打品牌，就得出名，出名代價可不低。所以，台灣科技廠商走品牌策略，一定也需規劃如何對抗與出擊專利侵權訴訟，過得了訴訟關卡，才可以說真正取得產業鏈的入場券！
(本文453字；圖表1040字)
表一、2008年10月20日Traffic Information控告宏達電之2件專利
|
專利號 |
專利名稱 |
申請專利範圍-第一獨立項 |
|
US6,466,862 |
System for providing traffic information |
A system for providing traffic information to a plurality of mobile users connected to a network, comprising:
(a) a plurality of traffic monitors, each said traffic monitor comprising at least a detector and a transmitter, said detector providing a signal including data representative of vehicular movement and said transmitter transmitting said signals;
(b) a receiver, remotely located from said transmitter, that receives said signals transmitted by said traffic monitors; and
(c) a computer system interconnected with said receiver and said network;
(d) a mobile user station connected to a global positioning system receiver, a display, and a communicating device; and
(e) said computer system, in response to a request for traffic information from one of said mobile user stations, providing in response thereto to said one of said mobile user stations traffic information representative of said signals transmitted by said traffic monitors;
(f) wherein said traffic information transmitted by said computer system is displayed graphically on said display; and
(g) wherein said computer system has a map database, and said computer system, in response to said request for information, transmits map information representative of a portion of said map database, and said map information representative of said map database is displayed graphically together with said traffic information. |
|
US6,785,606 |
System for providing traffic information |
A system for providing traffic information to a plurality of mobile users connected to a network, comprising:
(a) a plurality of mobile user stations, each mobile user station being associated with a display, and a communicating device to allow each of said mobile user stations to send and receive signals;
(b) a computer system interconnected with another communicating device and a network, said computer system being capable of sending and receiving signals to and from said mobile user stations;
(c) said computer system including a traffic information database, said traffic information database containing data representative of traffic at a plurality of locations;
(d) at least one of said mobile user stations providing a request to said computer system for traffic information together with a signal associated with a respective geographic location of said one of said mobile user stations, and in response thereto, said computer system updating said traffic information database based on said geographic location of said one of said mobile user stations and providing to said one of said mobile user stations information representative of selected portions of said traffic information database based on said respective geographic location of said one of said mobile user stations; and
(e) said one of said mobile user stations displaying graphically on said display information representative of selected portions of said traffic information database. |
|
Source：科技政策研究與資訊中心—科技產業資訊室整理，2008/10。 |
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