酷兔英语


The major Internet companies sued by Paul Allen for patent infringement will be able to mount aggressive defenses, including arguing that the Microsoft Corp. co-founder sued too late, legal experts said Monday.


法律专家周一说,微软(Microsoft Corp.)创始人之一保罗•艾伦(Paul Allen)就涉嫌侵犯专利权起诉的主要互联网公司将会为自己进行激烈的辩护,其中包括指出艾伦起诉时间太晚。



News of Mr. Allen's suit, filed Friday in federal court in Seattle against Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other prominent technology companies is still rippling through Silicon Valley.


上周五艾伦在西雅图(Seattle)地方联邦法庭对谷歌(Google Inc.)、Facebook Inc.等主要科技公司提出诉讼的消息在硅谷掀起不小的风波。



The companies have disputed Mr. Allen's claims. They won't comment on their legal strategies.


被起诉的公司已经对艾伦的指控提出质疑,不愿对自己的法律战略予以置评。



But in their defense arsenal is the matter of timeliness: Mr. Allen's lab applied for the patents in the late 1990s and they were granted earlier this decade, between 2000 to 2004.


但是他们的辩护重点是时间问题:艾伦的实验室是在20世纪90年代后期申请的专利,但拿到专利许可的时间是本世纪前十年初期,即2000年至2004年间。



The technologies Mr. Allen cites in the suit are key functions the companies use on their websites. They cover things like pop-up stock quotes and tools that recommend other articles based on what a user is reading.


艾伦在诉讼中所提到的技术是这些公司应用在其网站的关键功能,如弹出式股票报价窗口、根据读者正在浏览的内容推荐其他文章的工具等。



Some legal experts said the firms could try to convince a court that Mr. Allen waited too long to sue, a tactic that could severely limit any damage award.


一些法律专家说,这些公司可以尝试向法庭证明艾伦起诉的时间太晚,这样可以从相当大程度上减少损害赔偿。



The technology has been widely used, and so if it was proprietary, the thinking goes, why would Mr. Allen not have sued years ago?


这些技术已被广泛使用,如果有专利保护,那么问题是,为什么艾伦当年不起诉呢?



'If the patentholder just sat on their rights for a long time. . . the patent might become unenforceable,' said Dennis Crouch, a law professor at the University of Missouri. Timeliness is often raised as a defense in patent suits, but is untested in the courts, legal experts said.


美国密苏里大学(University of Missouri)法学教授克罗齐(Dennis Crouch)说,如果专利所有者长时间抓住专利权不放,那么就可能造成专利无法执行。法律专家说,时效性在专利案中经常被拿来作为辩护的理由,但未经过法庭审理的考验。



David Postman, a spokesman for Mr. Allen, declined to comment and said Mr. Allen and his attorneys weren't available.


艾伦的发言人波茨曼(David Postman)拒绝予以置评并说艾伦及他的律师都不在。



The suit seeks unspecified damages and also asks for an injunction to stop the companies from infringing on the patents. Named in the suit are Google, Facebook, eBay Inc,., Apple Inc., Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc., Netflix Inc., Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Staples Inc. and Google's YouTube subsidiary.


起诉书提出索赔要求但未明确赔偿金额,并要求发布禁令禁止这些公司侵犯专利权。被起诉的公司包括谷歌(Google)、Facebook、eBay Inc.、苹果公司(Apple Inc.)、雅虎公司(Yahoo Inc.)、美国在线(AOL Inc.)、 Netflix Inc.、Office Depot Inc.、 OfficeMax Inc.、史泰博(Staples Inc.)及谷歌的子公司YouTube。



'It's just unlikely he wants to shut down the Internet,' Mr. Crouch said. 'More likely he wants money out of this and some acknowledgment that his work 20 years ago was on the right path.'


克罗齐说,他似乎不是想要关掉整个互联网行业,而极有可能是想得到金钱赔偿以及对他20年前的工作成果的肯定。



The suit, filed by Mr. Allen's Interval Licensing LLC, lists violations of four patents for technology that appear to be key components of e-commerce and Internet-search companies in general.


这项由艾伦名下的Interval Licensing LLC提起的诉讼列出了对四项技术专利的侵权行为,这些专利似乎是所有电子商务和互联网搜索公司的关键组成部分。



The technologies in the suit are so core to the companies that a trial victory for Mr. Allen would be significant. Mr. Allen's lab created the technology and his Interval Licensing owns the patents.


起诉书中提到的技术是这些公司的核心,如果艾伦胜诉,毫无疑问将产生巨大的影响。艾伦的实验室开发了这些技术,他的公司Interval Licensing拥有这些技术的专利。



His lawyers could seek an award based on a percentage of the revenue the companies derived from the four patents named in the suit. That figure could easily reach more than $100 million, some lawyers estimate.


他的律师将可以根据这些公司从诉讼中的四项技术专利获取的收入百分比提出赔偿。一些律师估计赔偿数额超过1亿美元不成问题。



'He had incredibleforesight into the future of this technology,' said Alex Poltorak, chief executive of General Patent Corp., which assists plaintiffs in patent suits. 'He certainly deserves a return on his investment.'


General Patent Corp.首席执行长波尔托拉克(Alex Poltorak)说,他对这些技术的未来发展有卓识的远见,他确实应该为自己的投入得到回报。General Patent Corp.是帮助起诉人在专利案中打官司的公司。



Patent cases can take more than a year to wind through the courts; many end up in licensing deals.


专利案件通常要经历较长的审理过程,有时一年时间都不能结案。很多案件都以专利许可协议收场。



Some legal experts said Mr. Allen's lawsuit could be a foray toward obtaining licensing deals, albeit an aggressive one.


一些法律专家说,艾伦的诉讼可能是为取得专利许可协议采取的行动,虽然此举比较强硬。



Dionne Searcey / Justin Scheck
  • patent [´peitənt, ´pæ-] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.专利的 n.专利品 (初中英语单词)
  • federal [´fedərəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.联邦的,联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
  • prominent [´prɔminənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.突起的;凸出的 (初中英语单词)
  • comment [´kɔment] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.&v.评论;评注;注意 (初中英语单词)
  • recommend [,rekə´mend] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.推荐;使受欢迎 (初中英语单词)
  • convince [kən´vins] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.使确信;使认识错误 (初中英语单词)
  • interval [´intəvəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.间隙;(工间)休息 (初中英语单词)
  • victory [´viktəri] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.胜利,战胜 (初中英语单词)
  • percentage [pə´sentidʒ] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.百分数;比例;部分 (初中英语单词)
  • executive [ig´zekjutiv] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中英语单词)
  • decade [´dekeid] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
  • severely [si´viəli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.剧烈地;严格地 (高中英语单词)
  • holder [´həuldə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.所有物;土地;股份 (高中英语单词)
  • crouch [krautʃ] 移动到这儿单词发声 vi.卷缩;蹲伏 (高中英语单词)
  • significant [sig´nifikənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.重要的;意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
  • revenue [´revinju:] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.税收;收入 (高中英语单词)
  • incredible [in´kredəbəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不能相信的;惊人的 (高中英语单词)
  • aggressive [ə´gresiv] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.进攻的;侵略的 (英语四级单词)
  • injunction [in´dʒʌŋkʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.指令;法院禁令 (英语四级单词)
  • foresight [´fɔ:sait] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.先见,深谋远虑 (英语四级单词)
  • arsenal [´ɑ:sənəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.兵工厂;军械库 (英语六级单词)
  • applied [ə´plaid] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.实用的,应用的 (英语六级单词)
  • spokesman [´spəuksmən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.发言人 (英语六级单词)
  • unlikely [ʌn´laikli] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不像的;未必可能的 (英语六级单词)
  • acknowledgment [ək´nɔlidʒmənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.承认;鸣谢 (英语六级单词)
  • albeit [ɔ:l´bi:it] 移动到这儿单词发声 conj.即使;纵使;虽然 (英语六级单词)