U.S. Based Companies Sued For Heat Pipe CPU Coolers

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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U.S. Based Companies Sued For Heat Pipe CPU Coolers - Do you have a heat pipe CPU cooler inside your system? American Technology, Inc. is suing some of the companies that have sold enthusiast heatsinks and cooling equipment to our community for years. Interestingly enough, American Technology, Inc. looks to only be targeting the "little guys" in its lawsuit.

Would really like to hear you guys' feedback after you have digested all of this.
 
I'm gonna have to read more closely later on, but this is not cool. Damn patent trolls.
 
I guess some people really don't have anything better to do with their time. Sad really, and it sucks to hard about FrozenCPU. I hope they stay around.
 
Kyle, it appears they'll base their claim on some basic elements which the patent in question has in common with every closed loop heat pipe design I know of.

Patent number: 7353861 said:
a transpiration cooled heat sink evaporating coolant via heat produced by an electronic device to produce vaporized coolant;
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I think you're right that this is a shakedown: they're looking for targets that can't afford to fight back at length. What's really galling is the patent I quoted above was issued in April 2008--I think I needn't point out how ludicrous it seems to patent a basic function common to so many previously existing products, and then sue them for retroactive patent infringement.

Moreover, they are suing distributors and vendors. Shouldn't they be suing the companies who designed and built the infringing products?
 
I am not clear on this......why is this company not suing the companies that actually MAKE the aftermarket cooler? (maybe because they aren't in the USA?)

Like ThermalTake,ArcticCooling,etc..?

Since when does a retailer infringe on a patent?

The guy who makes the product infringes on the patent, the guy who sells it doesn't have the liability in these cases, or do they?

Seems like this company is going after small business because the big guys would tell them to fuck off and see me in court.:eek:
 
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Yes, this is a lot of BS because they are purposely going after people who can't afford to fight back even if all of them combined sell less than Newegg.com all of whom don't even make the parts themselves.
 
Also, I have dealt with FrozenCPU on a number of occasions and they are a great company to deal with. Fast shipping and reasonable prices.
 
We need Death penalty for patent trolls.

Not sure why but here in EU we have much much less of these patent lawsuits. Maybe its because our courts dont give people millions for their stupidity (hot cofee etc.).

 
magoo said:
I am not clear on this......why is this company not suing the companies that actually MAKE the aftermarket cooler?

Like ThermalTake,ArcticCooling,etc..?

Since when does a retailer infringe on a patent?

The guy who makes the product infringes on the patent, the guy who sells it doesn't have the liability in these cases, or do they?

Seems like this company is going after small business because the big guys would tell them to fuck off and see me in court.:eek:
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Yes, because those companies can afford good lawyers.

I am not a patent lawyer either, but I spend a good amount of my time in front of patents almost every day...these guys have no chance. The heatpipe based designs on our normal air coolers are more akin to the heatpipes on the Alaska pipeline which would have come from technology developed int he '60s by RCA and NASA. Capillary, or wick based heatpipes have been around for half a century.
 
I imagine this is just a mis use of the term "heat pipe" which is a tube with working fluid inside to reference a "solid heat conductor" which is just the copper bar we're all familiar with.

Just change the product descriptions and your fine. If they want damages, tell them to take it up with the manufacturer.
 
Seems like this company is going after small business because the big guys would tell them to fuck off and see me in court
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Yes. The bigger etailers, manufacturers, and Intel/AMD aren't named because it is harder to extort people with the means to defend themselves.
 
I'm calling the law office and adding myself to the list since I'm an end user willingly infringing.
 
kirbyrj said:
Fast shipping and reasonable prices.
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Waiting a week for parts to arrive and paying top dollar for components you can't find anywhere else doesn't exactly strike me as fast shipping or reasonable prices.

That said, FrozenCPU is not infringing on any patent, and this is a bullshit money grab lawsuit.
 
Those bastards will lose, I study law and from what I see here, they don't have much of a chance. [H] is ok from what I can see, and at most they(e/r-etaliers) will have to make some kind of change in product descrition or just remove the offending product.....for a time haha.
I don't foresee any fines or major crap like that, but a solid win for all the re/e-tailers.
 
Does anyone have info on this company, American Technologies and what they do?? URL? "American Technologies" is such a generic term...
 
Patent trolls as usual. Heaven forbid anyone make money the old fashioned way, THROUGH HARD WORK. The patent system needs a major overhaul, as fast as yesterday if you know what I mean.
 
Thanks for the extra eyes. Fixed. - Kyle
 
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jstnomega said:
Just another of those things that make us look forward to our new Chinese or Muslim Overlords. :(
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Please tell me this isn't a political statement.

Anyways, this patent and heat pipes do seem to share some common attributes. I suppose it all depends on 'how much' of the technology is being 'infringed' upon. Using heat pipes to take away heat, add more heat pipes to take away more heat. It does sound like a heat pipe based cpu cooler. This patent though mentions a fluid which obviously is not in the heat pipe itself but could be construed to include a heat pipe water block (if such thing even exist).
 
I think you're right Kyle, to me it looks like the patent is for a 'liquid cooled' heatpipe assembly with one input and one output. Air last time I checked is a gas not a liquid. Now if these guys sell a water cooling product that has heatpipes that might be a different matter.

Patent troll that missed the mark. They should have to pay for all the lawers fees and make a public apology!!!

Did they think these 'sales' people don't know anything about what they sell??? They are [h]ardware geeks like the rest of us.
 
Even a $25/hour lawyer should be able to completely refute the plaintiffs claims with the references cited in the wiki in about 3 hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe

The little guys need to get on the phone to one another and hire one lawyer to represent them all and counter sue the shit out of the law company that presented the case and complain to the CA bar. I bet American Technology, Inc does not have a pot to piss in.


http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpSearch.aspx
 
After reading the article, it's classic patent trolling. It's sad that it's happened to someone you know.
 
Win or lose, this guy will have huge legal fees, which is the root of all this. This witch hunt isn’t based on patent principle. It’s for blatant and deceitful tort profits. My sympathy and my money will go out to your friend, Kyle. This will most likely not be cheap, unless he gets a wise judge that sees thought the BS. I will burn some Mexican $ to help stimulate his economy for his legal bills, whether I need it or not. ;)
 
WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT
512 Patent by making, using, selling, and/or importing in the United States, cooling devices and assemblies that embody or otherwise practice one or more of the claims of the '512 Patent.
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by that Newegg and every one that owns or uses a heatsink with heatpipes could be on the hook
i didnt think you could patent selling or using some thing WTF
 
I really hope they get counter-sued out of business. This kinda shit just reeks.
 
I doubt this case will make it make it past the summary judgment stage. Hopefully the judge grants the defendants compensation for their legal fees.
 
I don't think that this will hold up in court, but I'm uncertain if the plaintiffs have the necessary resources to go to court.
Considering that heat pipe CPU coolers hit the market in 2004, or earlier, and that the the patent was issued in 2002, and to my knowledge there were no heatpipe based cpu coolers when the patent was issues, and I'm fairly certain that when it was submitted there were no heatpipe coolers available at retail.
Yet if they win, they might began to use the money from their winnings to go after much larger companies, after establishing legal precedent.
 
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avddreamr said:
I don't think that this will hold up in court, but I'm uncertain if the plaintiffs have the necessary resources to go to court.
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if American Technology doesn't have the funds, they're probably set up on a contingent fee. If that's the case, the attorney there is an idiot
 
Wow this is messed up.
Anyways I'd donate to a FrozenCPU legal fund if necessary. They are a great etailer.
 
Deviationer said:
Wow this is messed up.
Anyways I'd donate to a FrozenCPU legal fund if necessary. They are a great etailer.
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might as well just buy something from them then :)

on second thought, it might still be wise cautionary move not to buy anything with heatpipes
 
I sort of want to put myself on the list and take them to court. When I win, they'll have to pay all my fees anyway.
 
jebo_4jc said:
on second thought, it might still be wise cautionary move not to buy anything with heatpipes
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Why? If these retards think they can go after users of these coolers then I'd like to know where I can get some of the stuff they're smoking.
 
eddieck said:
Why? If these retards think they can go after users of these coolers then I'd like to know where I can get some of the stuff they're smoking.
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not for your protection, but for the retailers protection, just in case there's some wild chance the plaintiffs are successful here
 
They're not naming any of the big companies because they will get their asses handed to them in no time flat. We had heat pipe based CPU coolers on high end server designs at HP back in 1996 or 1998 (can't remember if the first model had them or only the second) so they would be able to pull prior art docs out with no problem. You can find other heat pipe semiconductor cooling patents that pre-date their's with a few easy searches as well. They're just hoping the little guys cave and decide it's cheaper to pay than fight. Maybe they can band together and share legal fees.
 
I went ahead and bought a CNPS10X from FrozenCPU out of spite.

Now I just need to buy the rest of my new system...
 
Rebel44 said:
We need Death penalty for patent trolls.

Not sure why but here in EU we have much much less of these patent lawsuits. Maybe its because our courts dont give people millions for their stupidity (hot cofee etc.).

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Here comes the coffee thing again. McDonald's was serving the coffee hot enough to give people 3rd degree burns, it was not consumable and flat out dangerous. The lady had 3rd degree burns over 6% of her body and had to stay in hospital for days to undergo skin grafting. She deserved every penny. If you're going to pick a stupid court case pick one you actually know something about.
 
Companies that sue for patent infringement and lose should be require to pay 500% of the defendant's court costs.
 
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