Political Discussion

Interesting patent lawsuit against Apple going on right now.

It has to do with the Apple Watch and heart rate monitoring.

A guy registered a vague patent that would pretty much cover any heart rate monitoring fitness device / wearable. The interesting part about this was the guy's employer says they own the patent. That because of his employment and contracts he signed any patent he files belongs to his employer.

They guy is now the owner of a company that holds over 250 patents. They don't make products, just money off the patents. So classic patent troll.

The guy of course is accusing Apple of stealing his parents and is seeking huge monetary compensation and an injunction to stop the sale of Apple Watches.

The appeals courts just ruled that the guy, and not his former employer owns the patent. A reversal from a lower court's decision back in 2018. So this patent fight is likely to continue.

And of course you have people who dislike apple saying it was unethical of Apple to steal this patent. And that all the "Apple Fanboys" will cry "Patent Trolls".

What I find interesting about this case is that the court did not side with his former employer, who said they legally and contractually owned the patent.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Interesting patent lawsuit against Apple going on right now.

It has to do with the Apple Watch and heart rate monitoring.

A guy registered a vague patent that would pretty much cover any heart rate monitoring fitness device / wearable. The interesting part about this was the guy's employer says they own the patent. That because of his employment and contracts he signed any patent he files belongs to his employer.

They guy is now the owner of a company that holds over 250 patents. They don't make products, just money off the patents. So classic patent troll.

The guy of course is accusing Apple of stealing his parents and is seeking huge monetary compensation and an injunction to stop the sale of Apple Watches.

The appeals courts just ruled that the guy, and not his former employer owns the patent. A reversal from a lower court's decision back in 2018. So this patent fight is likely to continue.

And of course you have people who dislike apple saying it was unethical of Apple to steal this patent. And that all the "Apple Fanboys" will cry "Patent Trolls".
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Why do I feel like Apple didn't actually make their heart rate monitoring hardware and instead license it for use in the Apple Watch? Maybe because Garmin, Mio, and several others do the same and for at least the past few years there were really only 2 different technologies in use across all the devices?
 
I'm curious with what's going to end up happening with evictions.

The White House said the CDC could not extend the eviction moratorium because they lacked the authority to do so. However, they just chose to anyways citing 6.9 million tenants were unable to pay their rent in full ontime in June as Delta was ramping up. More renters are expected to be behind in July payments when the numbers come out.

The House of Representatives had no interest in extended the eviction moratorium with the exception of a few progressive democrats. The rest of the more moderate / establishment democrats said ti would be morally incorrect to extended it as it's hurting the landlords.

A large portion of the money made available as aid for renters is still sitting unused due to the hoops it requires jumping through. It also requires an agreement between both the renter and the landlord and the landlord can't evict the tenant for being behind on rent once they accept the aid. It's also a months long process from filing for the aid until receiving it. Something many landlords don't want to wait for.

ABC News interviewed a woman who was laid off yet again because of Delta. She works in the casino industry. While she has been able to find low wage work, she can't find a job that pays her a living wage. After putting food on the table for her two kids she was unable to pay rent in full on time for the past couple months. She applied for the renters aid money 2 months ago and should qualify, yet it's still being processed and it sounds like her landlord is not interested. On Monday, as soon as the eviction moratorium was over, she received a 24 hour eviction notice. She had to come up with the back rent owed, $2,000, or be out within 24 hours. If she wasn't out within 24 hours as ordered by housing court, she could be forcefully removed. She has zero chance of the renters aid being approved within that 24 hours and set up a gofundme to raise the $2,000. This story was on Monday, and I haven't seen an update as to whether or not she was evicted or not or if she raised the money.

A realtors group has already filed lawsuit against the CDC's eviction moratorium citing they do not have the authority to issue such a moratorium.

It will be interesting to see if we end up with a mass waive of evictions or if the moratorium will hold off some or most for now.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
I'm curious with what's going to end up happening with evictions.

The White House said the CDC could not extend the eviction moratorium because they lacked the authority to do so. However, they just chose to anyways citing 6.9 million tenants were unable to pay their rent in full ontime in June as Delta was ramping up. More renters are expected to be behind in July payments when the numbers come out.

The House of Representatives had no interest in extended the eviction moratorium with the exception of a few progressive democrats. The rest of the more moderate / establishment democrats said ti would be morally incorrect to extended it as it's hurting the landlords.

A large portion of the money made available as aid for renters is still sitting unused due to the hoops it requires jumping through. It also requires an agreement between both the renter and the landlord and the landlord can't evict the tenant for being behind on rent once they accept the aid. It's also a months long process from filing for the aid until receiving it. Something many landlords don't want to wait for.

ABC News interviewed a woman who was laid off yet again because of Delta. She works in the casino industry. While she has been able to find low wage work, she can't find a job that pays her a living wage. After putting food on the table for her two kids she was unable to pay rent in full on time for the past couple months. She applied for the renters aid money 2 months ago and should qualify, yet it's still being processed and it sounds like her landlord is not interested. On Monday, as soon as the eviction moratorium was over, she received a 24 hour eviction notice. She had to come up with the back rent owed, $2,000, or be out within 24 hours. If she wasn't out within 24 hours as ordered by housing court, she could be forcefully removed. She has zero chance of the renters aid being approved within that 24 hours and set up a gofundme to raise the $2,000. This story was on Monday, and I haven't seen an update as to whether or not she was evicted or not or if she raised the money.

A realtors group has already filed lawsuit against the CDC's eviction moratorium citing they do not have the authority to issue such a moratorium.

It will be interesting to see if we end up with a mass waive of evictions or if the moratorium will hold off some or most for now.
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Where I’m curious about how this will turn out is if it will instigate a deflationary cycle in real estate. The eviction moratorium was a significant influence in the inflation of real estate prices over the last year and a half. It helped drive a lot of artificial demand.

Of course one way that government could do a lot of help to stop this issue is to stop forcing people out of work. Remember, it wasn’t Covid that closed businesses. It was the government.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
I'm curious with what's going to end up happening with evictions.

The White House said the CDC could not extend the eviction moratorium because they lacked the authority to do so. However, they just chose to anyways citing 6.9 million tenants were unable to pay their rent in full ontime in June as Delta was ramping up. More renters are expected to be behind in July payments when the numbers come out.

The House of Representatives had no interest in extended the eviction moratorium with the exception of a few progressive democrats. The rest of the more moderate / establishment democrats said ti would be morally incorrect to extended it as it's hurting the landlords.

A large portion of the money made available as aid for renters is still sitting unused due to the hoops it requires jumping through. It also requires an agreement between both the renter and the landlord and the landlord can't evict the tenant for being behind on rent once they accept the aid. It's also a months long process from filing for the aid until receiving it. Something many landlords don't want to wait for.

ABC News interviewed a woman who was laid off yet again because of Delta. She works in the casino industry. While she has been able to find low wage work, she can't find a job that pays her a living wage. After putting food on the table for her two kids she was unable to pay rent in full on time for the past couple months. She applied for the renters aid money 2 months ago and should qualify, yet it's still being processed and it sounds like her landlord is not interested. On Monday, as soon as the eviction moratorium was over, she received a 24 hour eviction notice. She had to come up with the back rent owed, $2,000, or be out within 24 hours. If she wasn't out within 24 hours as ordered by housing court, she could be forcefully removed. She has zero chance of the renters aid being approved within that 24 hours and set up a gofundme to raise the $2,000. This story was on Monday, and I haven't seen an update as to whether or not she was evicted or not or if she raised the money.

A realtors group has already filed lawsuit against the CDC's eviction moratorium citing they do not have the authority to issue such a moratorium.

It will be interesting to see if we end up with a mass waive of evictions or if the moratorium will hold off some or most for now.
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Biden didn’t extend the moratorium initially because they don’t think they have the ability to extend the moratorium legally. Congress would need to pass a law to extend it, which they didn’t and won’t due the the Senate. Biden having CDC extend the moratorium in place with a high infection rate (which is currently the entire country) thru October. The administration knows this CDC order will likely be struck down by the courts but at the very least it will give states some extra time to pay out millions in additional Covid relief funds that haven’t yet been used while the courts litigate the ruling. It’s a stall tactic and in that regard it will be successful.
 
Wait, so this is Biden's idea? The article I read this morning said the White House told the CDC that they likely do not have the authority to extend the eviction moratorium. Was it a we don't think it will hold up but do it anyways kind of thing?
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Wait, so this is Biden's idea? The article I read this morning said the White House told the CDC that they likely do not have the authority to extend the eviction moratorium. Was it a we don't think it will hold up but do it anyways kind of thing?
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So, his read of the situation was initially from a legal standpoint (and will likely prove to be the correct) however the Left (rightfully) freaked out that nothing was being done and a whole bunch of people were likely going to lose their homes due to bureaucratic red tape and government inaction. Rep Cori Bush had been sleeping on the Capitol steps in protest since congress went on recess. So after the justified uproar Biden acted from a political standpoint and suggested the CDC extend the moratorium. Like I said the courts will likely invalidate the order but if that takes 2 weeks or a month that gives people more time to receive the Covid relief benefits and Biden can say he did all he could.
 
NPR is reporting that thousands of tenants were evicted between the end of the eviction moratorium and the pledge to resume it.

Evictions came fast and swift Monday. Many of which only gave tenants 24 hours to move out.

One example given was a 74 year old Rhode Island landlord who was tired of waiting for the federal government to pay the rental assistance. He said to the Judge "what they're doing with that money". The judge sided with him and evicted his tenant. A 43 year old landscaper who was 4 months behind in rent at the time. This renter spend 3 months in the hospital ICU with COVID and was not able to work at the time.

The judge ordered him to move out. Now the 43 year old says he will be homeless.

There are many more stories like the above. Where the renters got approved for the federal rental assistance, but the long delays of getting that money have resulted in their landlords filing for eviction and just wanting them out.


A 42 year old in Miami was evicted after her landlord refused federal assistance to cover the $5,000 in back rent. Enforcement showed up and forced her to move out on Monday. She had already been evicted after the landlord refused the federal assistance, but had not moved out yet because of the eviction moratorium. As soon as the moratorium expired officers showed up to enforce the eviction.
 
Chucktshoes said:
Of course one way that government could do a lot of help to stop this issue is to stop forcing people out of work. Remember, it wasn’t Covid that closed businesses. It was the government.
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Just because the government got involved doesn’t mean economic outcomes would not have been significantly depressed without their involvement. It’s not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but the plague significantly decreased trade when it happened.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Just because the government got involved doesn’t mean economic outcomes would not have been significantly depressed without their involvement. It’s not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but the plague significantly decreased trade when it happened.
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Yup. The 2008 crash (brought upon by greedy investors) essentially caused new construction to cease for about 2 years then slowly start to ramp back up. Problem was at the same time many young folks were abandoning the trades. It’s been 13 years since the housing bubble crashed and we are still building less houses today than we did in 2007 and it’s not because of desire, it’s because there isn’t enough skilled tradesmen to build the number houses to keep up with demand. I saw a report last week that things are starting to turn around but it will take another decade at least before there are enough skilled tradesmen to start to reverse the trend in any meaningful way. In the mean time you will have almost 2 full generations of Americans where the majority will likely be priced out of buying their own home.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Just because the government got involved doesn’t mean economic outcomes would not have been significantly depressed without their involvement. It’s not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but the plague significantly decreased trade when it happened.
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Hey call me biased if you will, but you cannot tell me that the government mandating the closure of businesses did not make economic situation exponentially worse than it would have otherwise been. One need only to look at the economic situation in New York city and compare it to any major metro that does not remained locked down. Governors DeSantis and Abbot aren’t begging businesses to return to their states. They don’t have to.
 
Chucktshoes said:
Hey call me biased if you will, but you cannot tell me that the government mandating the closure of businesses did not make economic situation exponentially worse than it would have otherwise been. One need only to look at the economic situation in New York city and compare it to any major metro that does not remained locked down. Governors DeSantis and Abbot aren’t begging businesses to return to their states. They don’t have to.
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You have some actual data on this?
 
Chucktshoes said:
Hey call me biased if you will, but you cannot tell me that the government mandating the closure of businesses did not make economic situation exponentially worse than it would have otherwise been. One need only to look at the economic situation in New York city and compare it to any major metro that does not remained locked down. Governors DeSantis and Abbot aren’t begging businesses to return to their states. They don’t have to.
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Which major metro centers did not shut down in the US? Can you give similar sized metro centers that did to compare to? I'm not being facetious, I really don't know.

People too sick to walk and talk and breathe unassisted were going to go and do their 40 hours at their 9 to 5? Were going to go shopping for groceries, gas, clothes? Blame big bad government if you like, but the shutdowns likely saved lives and, if you want to be mercenary about it, jobs and money losses that would have been worse. Dead people don't work, don't make money, don't spend money.

I can't speak to Abbott, but DeSantis isn't begging for businesses to come back because the money makers in the state are agriculture and tourists, neither of which can easily relocate. You want to go to Disney on this side of the rockies or Miami Beach, your options are kind of limited. It's here or nowhere. Likewise, if you make your business selling orange juice, good fucking luck packing the farm up and taking it to Wisconsin or wherever.

edited to add: DeSantis can mug like a tough guy for the cameras, but the actual businesses tell a different story: Disney shut down voluntarily -- this is a place that doesn't shut down for anything, ever. Even when they opened in a limited paranoid fashion again, all their office workers were remote. After Trump's "keep them offshore to make the numbers look good" fiasco, the cruise companies -- which bring tourists, but are registered in the Caribbean islands for tax reasons, so don't count as "American businesses" if you want to split hairs -- knew they were on their own. And when they did open in small ways, they had breakouts. So now they're doing vaccination passports voluntarily and non-vax'd cruise travellers are treated like second class citizens, because they're goddamned plague rats and fuck 'em.
 
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15 years ago only 7 CEO's were paid more than $25 Million a year. Today it is the norm for CEOs of fortune 500 companies.

Apple's Tim Cook was paid $265 million in 2020, mainly comprising stock awards and a bonus as in previous years, making him the eighth highest-paid executive in the United States. In 2019, Cook was paid compensation of $133.7 million, but ranked second after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was paid $595.3 million.
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CEO compensations surged coming out of the recession and again with the pandemic. Meanwhile the working class has only seen stagnant wages. CEO's are not just making $25 Mil a year at that, but getting paid grossly higher amounts.

CEOs are being compensated like they are god like figures solely responsible for bringing in the revenue of a business.
 
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