News: Cedar Fair, Disney, others face patent suit

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=1087

"I call Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, and Bugs Bunny to the stand, your honor"

Am I missing something? Shouldn't the manufacturer of said coasters be held responsible for patent infringement? I didn't realize the customers were responsible for making sure that no patents were infringed in the design of a product.

Or is this just a company trying to make a name for itself, and since the public would recognize these names over Intamin or Bolliger and Mabillard, its these company's that end up as defendants.

You'd think going after Disney and others would be less favorable than going after IAG, B&M, etc.

But Disney, CF, GE are very public and more likely to settle than risk a law suit.

IAG and B&M don't have the public visibility and are more likely to let it go to court which costs time and money and isn't a guarantee.

Not to mention suing the giants guarantees your name in the press.

True, those are all valid points. But, as you pointed out, why would any judge/lawyer/human-with-an-IQ-greater-than-4 even give this case a second look? Should I be afraid that I am going to be sued? After all, I did ride one of their coasters.

If you notice in the article, it mentions King's Island, not the entire Cedar Fair chain.

I'm thinking this has to do with some retrofitting that parks did on rides, not original equipment magnetic brakes that Intamin or B&M supplies.

Didn't King's Island put magnetic brakes on the Beast?

^But, does it really matter that we're talking about retrofits? Does CF/KI have their own machine shop where they fabricate these patented items?

That's crazy talk. Shouldn't this suit involve Kennywood as well, for retrofitting the Jack Rabbit with Magnetar's brand of magnetic brakes?

If you run a google search on this company, it doesn't really turn anything up - Magnetar Corp. comes up, but their site is gone. Perhaps this company got to them, too?

That's pretty interesting.

I don't think the parks fabricate the brakes, but Intamin and B&M could have some type of licensing arrangement that allows use of the technology. The source of King's Island's brakes may not.

This is so stupid

The patent dispute could be about almost anything. Safety Braking Corp. may believe they have a persuasive case that amusement park operators and ride manufacturers intentionally colluded to bypass its licensing agreement with Magnetar. It may be the case that Magnetar, which apparently holds one of the patents, believed that the use of the patented technology in amusement rides was excluded from the licensing it granted to SBC, and so therefore was legitimate technology to sell to any and all comers. It could even be that usage of said technology in amusement rides wasn't even specified in the patent to begin with. Whatever the reason, SBC apparently believes that it can gain monetarily from this suit.

What a waste of time and money.

"Let's sue people because they figured out how magnets work."

Sacre Bleur! My 11th grade physical science class will be sued for usage of magnetic coils!
*** Edited 3/10/2007 2:29:18 PM UTC by maXaiRaptor***

I don't know when else I'll ever get to trumpet this on Pointbuzz, but I have a patent on taking recycled or waste copy toner and turning it into dampproofing. Never made a cent off it, but I have it. To this day I still get 'invention' junk mail. Just thought I'd mention it. In case anybody was impressed. :)