FlightPrep Assault On Online Flight Planners Continues To Draw
Negative Response From GA
Someday, someone is going to write
down a list of some of the most foolish decisions in the history of
General Aviation... and if/when that list is compiled, ANN will not
be too surprised to see the FlightPrep patent suits among the
leaders. Industry and community response to the threats of legal
action over alleged IP infringement of the FlightPrep patent has
been swift and fairly uniform... and flyers pretty much do not like
it. One of the first (but not only) victims of the FlightPrep legal
assault was RunwayFinder.com... who shut down the site after a
lawsuit was filed -- along with suggestions that this
free-access site may have been costing FlightPrep as much as $3.2
million in lost business... a number reached via some very
questionable math.
RunwayFinder Founder Dave Parsons announced a few days ago that
the was not prepared to fold his tent quietly, even though
RunwayFinder is hardly a good-paying gig. Now, and at the urging
and request of a number of comments to his blog, Parsons has
established a legal defense fund to fight the FlightPrep patent
assault.
Parsons stated that, "I’ve thought through a few options
on how to handle donations for defending RunwayFinder against the
FlightPrep lawsuit. Considering the time and complication of
setting up an independent trust, I’ve decided to keep the
donation process simple for now. I pledge to you that every penny
will go toward patent research, attorneys fees, court fees, and
other costs directly related to defending RunwayFinder. I will
forward any funds remaining to the next company that FlightPrep
goes after. If the issue dies out, I will pass the money to another
general aviation defense fund project. This seems like the fairest
way to make use of your donations. I appreciate any amount you can
give."
A simple Paypal donation button on the left hand side of the RF
blog page is the means by which persons may contribute to the
defense fund.
Parsons also had a few comments on the state of the patent war
and some of the reading that has struck him, of late. "On a side
note, there was an interesting article posted recently on
TechCrunch regarding a company called 'Where' that just received a
broad patent for an implementation of geo-fencing, a concept used
by many mobile apps. There are some humorous comments on the
article including examples of patents for having a cat chasing a
laser pointer and a 5-year-old kid receiving a patent for swinging
on a swing. The patent owner, Where, also posted a comment saying
they would not be using the patent in a predatory manner, using it
only for defense in the event another company files an infringement
suit. The whole thing turned into a PR win for them. That’s
how you do it."
In the meantime, the negative
response of the industry continues to grow... there are well over
800 cyber-signatures on a "BoycottFlightPrep" site and the net is
still abuzz with folks that seem to think that FlightPrep has
screwed the pooch. More recently, however; there has been growing
concern about the steps that FlightPrep has taken to distance
itself from negative comments and press. Critical comments on the
FlightPrep FaceBook page have been scrubbed and some of the
refutations published on the FlightPrep blog are questionable and
worded in a fairly circuitous manner. Further; at least one
aviation news organization has been the victim of a number of
significant threats over its coverage of this matter (yes... ANN),
and there are some bizarre details emerging in that story.
MORE (much) to come...
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