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Court Grants OLPC's Motions Dismissing Lancor's Claims - Update: Correction - US Case

By Pamela Jones et al.

Do you remember the horrible case against OLPC in Nigeria, where a company called Lancor claimed infringement of its design patent on a keyboard? They were asking for $20 million in damages.

I have some happy news from OLPC News' recent newsletter:

In the domestic Nigerian keyboard case, the court granted OLPC's motions to dismiss Lancor's claims. This means all of Lancor's claims against OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and Quanta were dismissed. Nicholas and Quanta are out of the case. OLPC will proceed with its request for a declaratory judgment in the matter. Many thanks again to the outstanding support from the legal team at Foley Hoag.

I am not surprised, in that OLPC told the court it never used the Lancor keyboard and the design registration Lancor relied on had expired. However, early news from the local court had been discouraging, but now comes this, and so another bogus claim bites the dust. But it's a crying shame a charity had to go through something like this at all. I'll try to get us more details, but I wanted to share this with you right away.

Update: I have been in contact with the OLPC folks. This news is not about Nigeria. It's about a US case that Lancor also filed. Can you imagine? I'll get you more details as I'm able.

Full post as published by Groklaw on November 22, 2008 (boomark / email).