city caller id app - sued by cequint?
Monday, February 22, 2010
let me just start this off by saying "go download the city caller id app now!" the creator of this fantastic app which provides the city of your incoming calls is being sued by mega-caller id company cequint because he is offering the app for...well...free. sound like the most ridiculous lawsuit you've ever heard of? i'd sure say so.
update 2/22 12:32pm: it looks like the app creator has fallen to cequint. the app has been removed from the market and his blog has been updated. i'm working on getting the apk.
it now appears as though the app creator is asking for help to fight off cequint by writing this post where you can donate to the cause. here is some of the story...
Cequint has sued me for displaying a City name with a number. They have a patent on displaying a city name and state on a LCD screen with a limited processor.it's a crazy world out there. fight the "man."
Now, I understand the importance of patents and protection of an invention. But, this is simply not an invention. This is a frivolous patent lawsuit on a technology that most people already have in their heads. Most people know where some numbers are calling from. My application was put out to help people, not charge them!
cheers @guanako!
28 comments
Poor guy
ReplyDeleteYeah unfortunate situation. Cool app though.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely just downloaded based on principle.
ReplyDeleteYay, another app that I cannot find on the marketplace.
ReplyDeleteWhere do I download?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't find in the market.
yeah, ditto to that... can't find it on the market anywhere
ReplyDeleteWow it's been taken down since I put that up. I still have it installed and it works correctly...give me a few minutes to try and get this up for everyone.
ReplyDeleteAwesome ~!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it will come back better just like Beautiful Widgets did.
ReplyDeleteNo luck so far and the more I think about, I'm not sure I want a lawsuit on my hands either. If I figure out a way to get this app to you all, I surely will do so.
ReplyDeletethanks kellex!
ReplyDeleteWeird thig is that the app was up tyere for a while..first time I saw this kind of app was a trial I had on my old lg voyager sucks for the guy if he wasn't fined then is ok..because the app was free I hope you can get your hands on it because its really great and simple to use.
ReplyDeletethey patented an Area Code / Local Exchange lookup table?!?
ReplyDeletePretty much. And pretty ridiculous if you ask me. And they are really just pissed that he was offering it for free it sounds like. Funny world we live in.
ReplyDeletei looked at the patent he linked to from Cequint and it seems like it's specific to a centralized server based model of looking up the geo data to then send to the wireless handset for display. it looks like an entirely different process and methodology than what his local app would do.
ReplyDeletethat is to say, it doesn't look like their patent was being infringed.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=h8p-AAAAEBAJ&printsec=claims&zoom=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false
oh, and his post now says he's going to fight it and he's returning all donations.
ReplyDeleteoops. he's *not* going to fight it
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, it's a great app. I hate to hear about stuff like this. People are so greedy.
ReplyDeleteWell the patent says MCU or microcontroller these phones use MPU or microprocessors. Now if the judge can see the difference is a different story. But the phones are not a simple embedded system chip.
ReplyDeletethere's an application in the Market called Call Location. It's not as specific ..just says the State people are calling from and the Country. You can adjust the color code to display differently for national and international calls. Not a bad alternative ..for now
ReplyDeletepersonally i believe until cequint puts an app on the market like this one they shouldndt be able to do anything and the app should stay on the market until that time
ReplyDeleteSo I managed to get this app before it was taken off the market and I'm wondering if anyone knows how I could be able to share the .apk file with others with a phone that is NOT rooted? I mounted onto my computer and searched through every available file on my droid and wasn't able to find anything. I know it might have something to do with Linux permissions, which means I can't share the app without rooting my phone, but I'm not 100% sure?
ReplyDeleteHopefully this gets put up on Demonoid or some other torrent site.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know if you can get the apk anywhere yet??
ReplyDelete@Ryan, I sent the apk to kellex last night. not sure if he will post it up or not.
ReplyDelete@justin, you need to get a file viewer app like Astro. use astro to make a backup of all your apps. connect to a pc and find the backups folder. the callerid apk will be in that folder. use astro as the installer on another phone too.
Will post today! Thanks DM :)
ReplyDelete@Disco - Awesome, thanks!
ReplyDelete@Kellex - Will it be posted here on Droid Life or somewhere else??
If anyone gets the apk and doesn't wanna post it. It would be nice to have it in an email :) let me know if any one gets I feel like I've searched everywhere
ReplyDelete