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Finally We Get to Read the Mobility Assets Sale Agreement with Darl McBride

By Pamela Jones et al.

Darl's purchase of the mobility assets was all done pretty much in the dark. We, the public were told one thing in advance, but something else after the fact. But now we get to see the final agreement.

Darl and Me Inc Holdings LLC, Darl's LLC, got not only the copyrights but a patent application as well, including rights to sue for any past infringement. The patent is entitled "Systems and Methods for Providing Distributed Applications and Services for Intelligent Mobile Devices," and the application was filed in 2006, #11/533347. We were told in advance of the sale that this patent application was excluded, but then he got it anyway.

What was SCO thinking, I was asking myself as I read the agreement? I could just see it: "Darl sues Google's Android". Why not? Everyone else and his dog is. Of course there's some prior art on that method of making fast, easy money. Seriously, though, if you check the transaction history for this patent application with the USPTO's PAIR system, what you learn is fascinatingly funny.

At the time of the sale in April, the patent application was still working its way through the system. There was a non-final rejection notice that issued in January of 2010, which presumably Darl knew about if he did any due diligence. In July, post-sale, there was a request for more time to answer that notice and then they filed a reply. But on August 17, there was a final notice of rejection anyway of claims 1-17 and 19-20. Prior art and obviousness. Claim 18 had been "withdrawn from consideration" so the rejection was not only final but total. Darl has 3 months to reply, and, in some conceivable convoluted drag-it-out process the rejection outlines, it could last six months, tops. But it looks like Darl bought a pig in a poke.

And some of you say there is no God.

Full post as published by Groklaw on September 02, 2010 (boomark / email).