More problems for Ford... this time with the Mustang!

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N8Magic

N8Magic

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
11,624
1
81
http://www.thechromepony.com/News-12-08-04a.html

New Mustang Sued for Patent Infringement

Beverly Hills, CA ? Frank Weyer, a patent attorney and inventor of U.S. Patent No. 5,975,728 issued on Nov. 2, 1999 announced today that he has sued Ford Motor Company for patent infringement.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as Civil Action No. 04-08630 CBM (SHx), the "MyColor" TM option that is part of the interior upgrade package on the 2005 Ford Mustang infringes Mr. Weyer's patent for "Method and Apparatus for Providing User Selectable Multi-Color Instrument Panel Illumination."

Reportedly, Mr. Weyer conceived of his invention while a graduate student at M.I.T. After the U.S. Patent Office granted the patent in 1999, Mr. Weyer sent a letter to Ford and other automobile manufacturers offering to license his invention. Ford did not respond.

Now, five years later, the new Ford Mustang features a user color-changeable instrument panel lighting system Ford calls "MyColor" that Mr. Weyer claims infringes his patent. Mr. Weyer is seeking damages and an injunction that would prevent Ford from selling or delivering any new Mustangs with the "MyColor" option.

Mr. Weyer, filed the complaint on October 19, 2004. Prior to formally serving the complaint, Mr. Weyer contacted Ford, and offered to reach a cooperative resolution. Ford initially requested additional time to respond, which Mr. Weyer granted. After two months without a substantive response from Ford, according to court rules, Mr. Weyer was required to formally serve Ford with the complaint.

Mr. Weyer has informed Ford's in-house counsel that he is preparing a preliminary injunction motion that he intends to file in the near future. The preliminary injunction, if granted, would immediately bar Ford from offering for sale, selling, manufacturing or delivering any 2005 Mustangs with the infringing MyColor feature. That could prove to be a disappointment for Ford, which has launched a massive media push behing the 2005 Mustang, hoping that sales of the Mustang will drive its passenger car sales as a whole.
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Yowza, this could be VERY bad news for Ford. :shocked:
 
JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,544
924
126
Originally posted by: N8Magic
http://www.thechromepony.com/News-12-08-04a.html

New Mustang Sued for Patent Infringement

Beverly Hills, CA ? Frank Weyer, a patent attorney and inventor of U.S. Patent No. 5,975,728 issued on Nov. 2, 1999 announced today that he has sued Ford Motor Company for patent infringement.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as Civil Action No. 04-08630 CBM (SHx), the "MyColor" TM option that is part of the interior upgrade package on the 2005 Ford Mustang infringes Mr. Weyer's patent for "Method and Apparatus for Providing User Selectable Multi-Color Instrument Panel Illumination."

Reportedly, Mr. Weyer conceived of his invention while a graduate student at M.I.T. After the U.S. Patent Office granted the patent in 1999, Mr. Weyer sent a letter to Ford and other automobile manufacturers offering to license his invention. Ford did not respond.

Now, five years later, the new Ford Mustang features a user color-changeable instrument panel lighting system Ford calls "MyColor" that Mr. Weyer claims infringes his patent. Mr. Weyer is seeking damages and an injunction that would prevent Ford from selling or delivering any new Mustangs with the "MyColor" option.

Mr. Weyer, filed the complaint on October 19, 2004. Prior to formally serving the complaint, Mr. Weyer contacted Ford, and offered to reach a cooperative resolution. Ford initially requested additional time to respond, which Mr. Weyer granted. After two months without a substantive response from Ford, according to court rules, Mr. Weyer was required to formally serve Ford with the complaint.

Mr. Weyer has informed Ford's in-house counsel that he is preparing a preliminary injunction motion that he intends to file in the near future. The preliminary injunction, if granted, would immediately bar Ford from offering for sale, selling, manufacturing or delivering any 2005 Mustangs with the infringing MyColor feature. That could prove to be a disappointment for Ford, which has launched a massive media push behing the 2005 Mustang, hoping that sales of the Mustang will drive its passenger car sales as a whole.
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Yowza, this could be VERY bad news for Ford. :shocked:
Click to expand...

So much for that gimmick. :roll:
 
Q

Quixfire

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2001
6,892
0
0
So this guy patented different color lights in instrument cluster? He should be suing every ricer on the road.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
Hopefully this will mean "good riddance" to that stupid option.

This reminds me of the guy with the intermittent wipers patent, and the other guy with the cruise control patent. :D
 
S

slick230

Banned
Jan 31, 2003
2,776
0
0
Ford should have someone make this dweeb "disappear". I can't find GT anywhere near me with th features I want because of this bullsh!t.
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Originally posted by: SampSon
Patents are getting out of hand.
Click to expand...

oh, they are, they are...

The guy obviously just wants Ford to hand him a hush-up check.
 
nakedfrog

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
60,968
16,345
136
Originally posted by: SampSon
Patents are getting out of hand.
Click to expand...

Seriously. I need to think up some fairly obvious ideas that are already in use and patent them.
 
R

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
More than likely this is not going anywhere. Does anyone honestly think that a company as large as Ford would be so stupid? This clown cannot patent a "concept" and I am sure that whatever means Ford uses to change the lights on the instrument panel it varies enough to make the guy's patent invalid in this case anyway. He took a shot and lost, it is that simple.
 
D

dman

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
9,110
0
76

Honestly, I know little about the patent process, but the fact that there are companies in existing who's sole purpose is to sue others for patent infringement of thier ideas leads me to believe that patenting is fundamentally flawed. However, I have yet to see a good idea on how to fix it.

Is that because someone is patenting their patent process?

/ugh

 
EagleKeeper

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
The preliminary injunction, if granted, would immediately bar Ford from offering for sale, selling, manufacturing or delivering any 2005 Mustangs with the infringing MyColor feature
Click to expand...

All Ford has to do initially is remove that feature.
 
E

EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
15,670
1
0
Originally posted by: dman

Honestly, I know little about the patent process, but the fact that there are companies in existing who's sole purpose is to sue others for patent infringement of thier ideas leads me to believe that patenting is fundamentally flawed. However, I have yet to see a good idea on how to fix it.

Is that because someone is patenting their patent process?

/ugh
Click to expand...

The problem with the patent process is simply that there is no review of them to see how fundamental the concepts are and no checks to make sure that an idea isn't already in wide deployed use by someone else before someone patents it.
 
E

EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
15,670
1
0
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
The preliminary injunction, if granted, would immediately bar Ford from offering for sale, selling, manufacturing or delivering any 2005 Mustangs with the infringing MyColor feature
Click to expand...

All Ford has to do initially is remove that feature.
Click to expand...

Which sounds like it's a 5 minute job involving the removal of a rotary switch.
 
A

Atomicus

Banned
May 20, 2004
5,192
0
0
Ford's fault for not responding to the guy's notion for licensing the product for Ford's use. Makes it an even stronger case for Weyer since he tells them what product he'll lend them, doesn't respond, then coming out with a car with that implementation. STUPID written all over it.
 
D

Dameon2004

Junior Member
Jan 2, 2005
14
0
0
Originally posted by: Ronstang
More than likely this is not going anywhere. Does anyone honestly think that a company as large as Ford would be so stupid? This clown cannot patent a "concept" and I am sure that whatever means Ford uses to change the lights on the instrument panel it varies enough to make the guy's patent invalid in this case anyway. He took a shot and lost, it is that simple.
Click to expand...

First, did you even read the quoted article? This statement.....'This clown cannot patent a "concept"...' is wrong as the quoted article STATES the Patent Office GRANTED a patent for his INVENTION, not concept, in 1999, 5 whole years ago.

Second, how do you know Ford is using something substantially different from what he peddled to Ford and the other automakers? Have you seen what Ford is doing and researched this inventor's patent? Wouldn't be the first time a small inventor approached a large corporation only to be turned down and then see something mysteriously akin to his peddled invention majically appearing from that corporation. When an invnetor peddles something, he/she takes the item, schematics, patent, etc. The patent shows how the item works, etc....so quite easy to reverse-engineer and make minor alterations to it and call it their own.
 
Kelemvor

Kelemvor

Lifer
May 23, 2002
16,928
8
81
So did this guy actually invent the technology to make this thing actually happen, or did he just come up with the idea that it'd be neat to change the colors. Just because he thought of the end result of an idea shouldn't mean squat unless he actually made it....
 
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