Ultra suing PSU manufacturers

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar

Post Reply
rei
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:36 am

Ultra suing PSU manufacturers

Post by rei » Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:48 pm

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... dns_id=471

Anyone know why?

edit: Oh nvm, patent crap.

HueyCobra
Posts: 217
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:16 am
Location: Australia

Post by HueyCobra » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:43 pm

• Ultra Sues Everyone Over Modular Power Supplies (DailyTech)

• Ultra Products, Inc. v. Antec, Inc. et al - Federal District Court Filings & Dockets - Florida (Justia)

johnniecache7
Posts: 332
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:10 pm
Location: Toronto - Ontario - Canada

Post by johnniecache7 » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:49 pm

This funny the first Modular Power Supplies were made by Performance-PCs. Hank used Antec Truepower power supplies I can remember wanting one in 2002 but they cost to much for me. Ultra has always made crappy products that includes there power supplies.

First Modular Power Supplies http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/ ... ndex.shtml

mcoleg
Posts: 410
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:55 pm

Post by mcoleg » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:13 pm

exactly;

some in-depth googling should bring all the answers the courts need to know. after that, ultra and the other psu companies should start paying royalties to the modders who came up with the idea :p

widowmaker
Posts: 239
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:05 pm
Location: Toronto Ontario

Post by widowmaker » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:22 pm

This is going to be entertaining to follow. This will probably drag on until April Fools and Christmas fall on the same day. Seems unlikely Ultra will get much if any compensation at all though. It was Ultra who patented the idea so regardless of who came up with the idea before, they'll have ownership... I wonder if anyone ever patented the the idea of a basic straw.
Image

johnniecache7
Posts: 332
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:10 pm
Location: Toronto - Ontario - Canada

Post by johnniecache7 » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:31 am

Still it is stupid, dumper then when Antec claimed they invented the LED Fan and caused people to boycott there products. People should do the same with Ultra. Anyone with half brain would not buy there products they are nothing but low quality with tons of bling added and streamly loud fans. Performance-PCs should sue just to give them taste of there own medicine.

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:02 pm

widowmaker wrote:This is going to be entertaining to follow. This will probably drag on until April Fools and Christmas fall on the same day. Seems unlikely Ultra will get much if any compensation at all though. It was Ultra who patented the idea so regardless of who came up with the idea before, they'll have ownership... I wonder if anyone ever patented the the idea of a basic straw.
Image
im suing your ass for using blue background. My greatgrandfather invented blue backgrounds in movies.

too bad for you I waited till you used it 49000x and made 3 billion off of it before I mentioned that. its all mine now. its all mine because I waited for 80 years before mentioning it, even though I could not market it or was a completely putz in general.

all your base are belong to us

widowmaker
Posts: 239
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:05 pm
Location: Toronto Ontario

Post by widowmaker » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:25 pm

Haha, well you see the problem is Ultra applied for the patent in 2004 and were not granted it until 2006. They had their hands tied until then. When 2006 did roll around, they issued notifications to other manufacturerers. That seems like a perfectly logical step. There was nothing left they could have done. Waiting 2 years before sueing also seems reasonable to me. When you give someone notice of a patent violation, you're basically asking them to pull an entire product line or lines. Not that easily done. If they do, chances are more customers would leave them than the ones they gained since their introduction of modular psu's. In the end I'm sure someone figured it'd be easier and/or more profitable to violate the patent and pay out owed royalties to the patent owner. I'm sure a lot of us would be Ultra bashing right now if nobody else created modular psu's since 2004.

HueyCobra
Posts: 217
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:16 am
Location: Australia

Post by HueyCobra » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:51 am


Bluefront
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 5316
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 2:19 pm
Location: St Louis (county) Missouri USA

Post by Bluefront » Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:01 am

The full text.....

"While I can't say for sure the exact date that "Modders" started making modular power supplies. I do know I was inspired to make my own modular power supply as part of an On-Air segment that aired on TechTV's The Screen Savers in early 2004 long before Ultra received their Patent. The version I did looked very similar to one that Ultra ended up filing a Patent for. Is this a coincidence? Who knows? I think it is very likely that someone at Ultra saw the segment or someone else's project and used that idea as a basis for "their" patent design. I don't claim to be the first person to do this mod, and I doubt I was.

It is a trend I have seen over and over. Companies see someone else's non-patented idea and then file a patent for it. If someone chooses to freely publish ideas to the public and not patent them, I feel it is wrong to then later grant a patent to someone else for the same idea.

In the "Modding" community people do projects for fun and generally freely share their work with the world. We usually do not care if someone else repeats the projects we do. After all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. What does get under our skin is when someone follows our ideas; then claim credit for coming up with the idea, and try to sue others for using the same idea. I feel that this is about the lowest and least honorable thing someone can do.

It is a shameful statement about our society that people without an original idea or a basic sense of right or wrong can freely manipulate our legal system to take money from others that don't claim to have originated ideas/designs that were openly/freely provided to the public. Those that do this know what they did, but guilt doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

If we do not want this behavior to continue, boycott all products made by companies that conduct their business in this manner. Fight them were it hurts, in their bank account. After all this seems to be the only thing they care about.

Yoshi DeHerrera
A simple modder who proudly FREELY shared his ideas with the world."


I feel exactly the same, since I've been sharing simple ideas about computer mods for at least as long as DeHerrera. The computer industry is filled with companies that steal ideas from everywhere, and try to make money at everyone else's expense. Sad commentary....

Cistron
Posts: 618
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:18 am
Location: London, UK

Post by Cistron » Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:44 am

mcoleg wrote:exactly;

some in-depth googling should bring all the answers the courts need to know. after that, ultra and the other psu companies should start paying royalties to the modders who came up with the idea :p
That is a very valid point and implies that the patent office was very sloppy! It would usually render the patent invalid, if the modular construction "blueprints" have already been in the state of the art at the time of patenting.
Companies see someone else's non-patented idea and then file a patent for it.
That is strictly against IP law. It requires an inventive step which isn't easily reproducible by people skilled in the art and the patented item/idea/process/whatever must not be found in the state of the art up to the time of patenting.

VanWaGuy
Posts: 299
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:01 am
Location: Vancouver Wa USA

Post by VanWaGuy » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:00 am

If there is clear evidence of earlier modular power supplies than Ultra's, then the patent will get thrown out when it is challenged. The patent office can try to make sure they are not issuing a duplicate patent, but they are too busy to do much more than that.

It's too bad that if they lose, they do not have to reimburse each one sued for legal costs plus some for being hassled for no reason.

yukon
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:25 pm
Location: Canada

Post by yukon » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:25 pm

I'd boycott, but I've only bought an Ultra laptop power cable, which stopped working. No warranty since I didn't register with them within 30 days of purchase (cable died in 3 months).

I think that instead of a boycott, SCPR should review one of their PSUs. That's ideal, since SCPR doesn't have a shininess rating method, nor a lightmeter, so all that can be reviewed is the noise and quality. That would reduce their sales.

warriorpoet
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:56 am
Location: USA

Post by warriorpoet » Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:13 pm

yukon wrote:I'd boycott, but I've only bought an Ultra laptop power cable, which stopped working. No warranty since I didn't register with them within 30 days of purchase (cable died in 3 months).

I think that instead of a boycott, SCPR should review one of their PSUs. That's ideal, since SCPR doesn't have a shininess rating method, nor a lightmeter, so all that can be reviewed is the noise and quality. That would reduce their sales.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article708-page1.html

Post Reply