Seagate CEO: “If SSD Gets Popular, We Will Sue”

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Yes, you read that right, the CEO of Seagate says that if solid state drives end up getting popular, his company will be forced to sue.

He’s convinced, he confides, that SSD makers like Samsung and Intel are violating Seagate’s patents. (An Intel spokeswoman says the company doesn’t comment on speculation.) Seagate and Western Digital, two of the major hard drive makers, have patents that deal with many of the ways a storage device communicates with a computer, Watkins says. It stands to reason that sooner or later, Seagate will sue – particularly if it looks like SSDs could become a real threat.
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Where was this guy when they did away with switchboard operators in the 70's. Future technology requires fields of employ change. Suing isn't gonna stop it.
 
suing gets them $. and seagate has considerable investment in current storage tech with HDD. which are still very useful
 
Why wait until they're popular? Oh, I know...MONEY.

If they think they have a valid lawsuit they should nip it in the bud NOW, not wait until they transgressor makes boatloads of money.
 
Fucking pathetic. Yet another reason for patent reform. A company shouldn't be allowed to sue for patent violations when it suits them (i.e. when they start loosing market share). They either do it from the getgo or relinquish their patent.
 
That buttload of money will go into the pockets of Seagate anyways, the more money they make, the more Seagate will get.

Pretty wise move of Seagate to make.
 
This bodes well for cheaper storage!
Can't wait for the $100 terabyte drives when the competition heats up!
Years from now my daughter will ask me: Daddy, what's a hard drive?
And I'll tell her: It's what we used to use before the Data Storage wars of 2009!
I love litigation!



BTW, I'm thinking of a lawsuit against Seagate for the drive platters. I came up with the spinning idea! Spin 'till you're dizzy! Intellectual property 'till you puke! (I like Frisbees)
 
I'm sure there is some logic behind it. It doesn't matter how much money it makes in between, that is pretty irrelevant. What is relevant is the cost of the lawsuit vs. how much money they would stand to make. Anything in between can get sorted out in the suit.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
Why doesn't he just have the company start...oh I don't know...pushing SSD's?
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because they are in the business of making platters not chips...

i got a 40 gig sata seagate on my desk and on the back i see chips with logos on them

TI and agere... probably the cache and controller, in that order ;)


anotherwords, seagate could start pushing SSDs, but they'd have to buy the chips from Samsung and Intel (the people the want to sue)
 
djBon2112 said:
Fucking pathetic. Yet another reason for patent reform. A company shouldn't be allowed to sue for patent violations when it suits them (i.e. when they start loosing market share). They either do it from the getgo or relinquish their patent.
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Agreed. They should be forced to sue at the time the infringement is acknowledged. Not acknowledge the patent infringement, wait until it's a threat, then attack with a lawsuit. That's just wrong.
 
RangerSVT said:
Agreed. They should be forced to sue at the time the infringement is acknowledged. Not acknowledge the patent infringement, wait until it's a threat, then attack with a lawsuit. That's just wrong.
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If it's their patent or intellectual property, shouldn't it be up to them when they decide when to take action? It's certainly better than having the government poke their nose into business when they're not needed.
 
djBon2112 said:
Fucking pathetic. Yet another reason for patent reform.
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Succinctly put.

I'll make the analogy that current patent laws, in respect to technology, are as antiquated as the mentality and business philosophy of the RIAA.

Here's to a rapid extinction of both.
 
RangerSVT said:
Agreed. They should be forced to sue at the time the infringement is acknowledged. Not acknowledge the patent infringement, wait until it's a threat, then attack with a lawsuit. That's just wrong.
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to be devil's advocate:

Maybe the ssd makers shouldn't infringe on patents to begin with? A novel thought. :p
 
by this logic i guess there should be a lawsuit against blue-ray because i puts dvd out of business. or maybe people who raise horses should sue car makers? the list could go on. how fucking pathetic.
 
Why not file a lawsuit now if they are so sure they are infringing on their patents then as an agreement license them the technology and drop the lawsuit.
 
all i can think of after reading this is the song they play on the Apprintice. MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!
 
all i can think of after reading this is the song they play on the Apprentice . MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!
 
Seagate could possibly jump on the SSD train and outproduce all the compeditors with thier stolen patents.

Mtron and all the other SSD guys are still small, Seagate has he chance to outpace them 100 fold.
 
This guy is a fool. He of all people should know that Seagate is actually in a ripe position to start producing their own SSD designs and yet will sit on his rump and proclaim that lawsuits will solve their problems if SSD's from other vendors get to popular. Hey, CEO, do they pay you the big bucks to spew this nonsense? How about you earn your pay for a change and mandate that Seagate go into the SSD business alongside your rust on a platter business.
 
prtzlboy said:
to be devil's advocate:

Maybe the ssd makers shouldn't infringe on patents to begin with? A novel thought. :p
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Perhaps, But Seagate is just sitting on the patent and not doing anything with it. Like others said, patent laws need to be reformed. People are patenting ideas and waiting for other people to make it, then profit off their profits.

If patents weren't being infringed upon left and right, we would still be rubbing sticks together to start fires.

I like to propose a toast to all gutsy infringers for being the forefathers of technological advancement.
 
I for one would really like to know WHICH Seagate patents that SSD's supposedly infringe upon.

Unless it is a patent that is so broad as to be basically unenforcable, then pretty much every Compact Flash device on the market today would already be in violation of it (as CF is basically nothing more than a flash module with an ATA interface slapped in front of it).

If CF is NOT in violation of the patent, then all the SSD makers would have to do would be adopt a CF physical interface connector for their SSD's and go from there. As the entire ATA specification can be implemented for CF and it can be treated just like any other device (hard drive, etc) there would be no difference in the final result.
 
It costs a fucking lot of money to sue a large corporation.

They're not going to do it unless they have to.
 
Azhar said:
Perhaps, But Seagate is just sitting on the patent and not doing anything with it.
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How do you know that? Are you some sort of psychic? Maybe Seagate is going about SSD in a different way that is currently on the market? Maybe they just don't want to use THEIR patents that way. There way might take a couple more years to be released...but at least it will be based on work that THEY DID. Right now most of the current SSD technology is nothing more than a flash drive hooked up to a controllers developed by HDD makers. This is the point of the “threat”. At least Seagate is being nice right now and not putting them in the ground right off the bat. They at least are willing to let somebody else fill a niche market they currently are not in. Right now most SSD's are willful violation of a patent.
 
elektronisch said:
Think about how far along technology/innovation would be without patents...
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Not very far at all. Why would anybody go through that level of effort only to have somebody else take that effort (i.e. the R&D) and then produce it somewhere else. Without patents, nearly all innovation would STOP.
 
Trepidati0n said:
How do you know that? Are you some sort of psychic? Maybe Seagate is going about SSD in a different way that is currently on the market? Maybe they just don't want to use THEIR patents that way. There way might take a couple more years to be released...but at least it will be based on work that THEY DID. Right now most of the current SSD technology is nothing more than a flash drive hooked up to a controllers developed by HDD makers. This is the point of the “threat”. At least Seagate is being nice right now and not putting them in the ground right off the bat. They at least are willing to let somebody else fill a niche market they currently are not in. Right now most SSD's are willful violation of a patent.
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Do you even read the news these days? Companies being nice by not putting other companies into the ground right off the bat? Are you really that naive?

Regardless, I should have said "IF Seagate is just sitting on their patent and not doing anything about it" which has been the case for hundreds of company of late.

That's all companies have been doing lately, leeching off other's sucesses.
 
Azhar said:
That's all companies have been doing lately, leeching off other's sucesses.
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This is the sort of incredibly ridiculous, absurd conclusion one comes to when all of their information on a topic comes from the popular news media.
 
Deliximus said:
suing gets them $. and seagate has considerable investment in current storage tech with HDD. which are still very useful
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Actually, it is probably more likely that suing will get them a settlement with reciprocal technology licenses that will allow them to enter the SSD market without having to start from scratch or come up with technology unencumbered by competitor's patents.

Why wait until they become popular? Becuase there would be no market and it would jsut be a waste of money to sue for something that is useless.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Not very far at all. Why would anybody go through that level of effort only to have somebody else take that effort (i.e. the R&D) and then produce it somewhere else. Without patents, nearly all innovation would STOP.
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Yes, but that doesn't mean that company X, who makes nothing, should just be able to sit on a patent for something commonplace or necessary and sue everyone who comes along. That's the fundamental problem with our patent system today: patent squatters. An easy fix is to add a time limit to production: your patent expires in 2 years if you don't make a product that uses it. Something like that.
 
Going from the newsline, Seagate is basically saying they have patents on SSD, and they don't want customers to benefit from it. Screw Seagate for sitting on a patent. I may have to re-think buying my first Seagate hard drive... The F1's are tempting.

Either sh1t or get off the think-tank! Quit hoarding patents gawd damnit. Seriously, we need a patent reform. It's ridiculous.

Is the Seagate CEO really that stupid to think SSD's will not get popular? The only thing holding them back right now is price. SSD for speed, HDD for storage.
 
The other companies should just seek a declaratory ruling.

Seagate will have to sue anyway, it is incumbent on you to protect your portfolio as soon as you realize it is is being impinged upon; the portfolio is damaged as soon as someone starts selling, you can't just wait till you get damaged 'a lot', especially when you have an army of in house lawyers anyway

F'ing patents though, who'd want to spend 4 years at college to do that lol
 
Azhar said:
Wut? And leave us without more drama to debate and fight over on the forum? Don't be silly! :D
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Before I jump on the usual anti sue bandwagon,a prof at my Uni's comp sci dept,and a few others seem to think its quite possible that Sammy and Intel are violating all kinds of patents that Segate holds.

In other words,this isnt another frivilous lawsuit in the making.
 
kumquat said:
This is the sort of incredibly ridiculous, absurd conclusion one comes to when all of their information on a topic comes from the popular news media.
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Only in the sense that he said ALL companies. There may be some logic to the business practice. Why go to the expense of introducing a new technological product when you can wait until somebody stumbles onto your idea...that you've done nothing about. Then sue them for the money. Yeah Capitalism!
 
This is disgusting. I'm tempted to throw out and take a shit on my Seagate Barracuda without even backing up my data. :p

Well, I use WD more than Seagate anyway. Guess I wont be buying anymore Seagate products..
 
If anyone were in Seagates position they'd do the same thing. Though I do fully agree the patent system needs serious reform, and people seem to be able to take out a patent on anything (hell, a lot of plain google searches I do give me a patent result or two). I guess they do not see the direct need for SSD of their own right now, which, by many standards may turn out to be a very wise economic move. This shouldn't hurt the consumer any time soon, in fact, the point in time it may come close to harming us are when they are becoming as mainstream as SCSI disks did, and we're a long way off that.
 
ICOM said:
Only in the sense that he said ALL companies. There may be some logic to the business practice. Why go to the expense of introducing a new technological product when you can wait until somebody stumbles onto your idea...that you've done nothing about. Then sue them for the money. Yeah Capitalism!
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It was just a deliberate exaggeration. You guys are smart enough to know what I meant :p
 
Don't forget that Seagate isn't just sitting on these patents. These are patents Seagate currently uses in their HDD's. They're not patent squatting. I don't agree with waiting until SSD gets popular, but litigation is very expensive.
 
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