News Ultra claims rights to modular PSU

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/04/14/ultra_claims_rights_to_modular_psu/1

Ultra Products, a PC power supply unit manufacturer, is claiming twenty-two companies are infringing its patent on modular power supplies.

 

missing a ] in the link

And I'm sure someone in the modding comunity would have done a modular PSU before that...

 

Performance-PCs in the US modulated and sold power supplies in 2003. Wonder what Ultra thinks of that?
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/ppcs_ultima_psu/index.shtml

 

I don't really get patents.

It sounds like a broken system which people use to sue others for vast sums of money.

 

I believe Performance PCs are fine since they're shortening cables and then adding additional cables on... rather than making it modular from the unit itself.

 

Yeah, but isnt the point that May 2003 (ie when that article was released) is before September 2004 when the patent was filed, so either way they are fine, and like Blademrk said, theres bound to have been someone who came up with a modular PSU before that.

 

Well I won't ever buy an Ultra PSU. I don't support a company that tries something like this. I will stick with Enermax and Antech.

Our patent system is so flipping broken. Why the hell is nothing being done about it?

 

ultra is a rather small company, they will probably just be bought out by a bigger company to stop the lawsuit.

 

Probably what they are after

 

what exactly is broken?

it is not the system that has issues, it is the people trying to use it as a form of income. and usually they get big news by saying they are going to sue, and then fail, and just make fools out of them selves.

don't worry about it, and don't buy ultra (i plan on never buying an ultra...not like i ever found one i wanted anyway...)

 

the HP one sounds like a redundant PSU patent, which im surprised they could get as its not a new idea atall

the Ultra patent sounds like a modular PSU patent, could be interesting

 

The thing is they will sue and most likely win. Cases like these happen all the time here in the US. We have entire companies that just go out and file patents then sue when they get infringed on. The patent system should not be able to be exploited like that.

Now at least we know Ultra has a product. So this one is not so bad. The problem is how late the patent was filed. Many companies had modular PSUs in 2006, not just Ultra. So it was not that Ultra came up with the idea, it is that they filed first. That is not what patenting is all about.

In order to file a patent you should need proof of concept (meaning something other than just the idea, something tangible) and proof that no one else has anything like it. If you don't patent it right away you should not be able to ever IMO. You snooze you loose.

 

It looks like bit-tech assembled this news based on a little bit of news from over here and a little bit from over there. Mostly from the DailyTech article: http://www.dailytech.com/Ultra+Sues+Everyone+Over+Modular+Power+Supplies/article11438.htm

For example: It wasn't Ultra that was quoted as saying they spent $250K searching for prior art, although I'm sure Ultra could have easily spent as much if not more on this. It was one of the defendants. Furthermore, it must be pointed out that the other defendant that was stating that this is "a case of Ultra versus end-users" either didn't read the patent or is doing a good job of spreading FUD, because that part of the patent is simply trying to narrow the claim by stating the application of the device. It was the manufacturers that were served... not the end users.

Also, one has to understand how narrow the claim is. Not only do they define that it's a "power supply" and that it's "modular" but that the interface is on the housing, there's two or more connectors, that these connectors provide a direct DC to DC connection with the peripherals and that, as I pointed out before, the unit is used in a personal computer and how it is installed, etc. All of that actually rules out A LOT of prior art when you think about it.

That said, I really hope this goes away quickly. Worst case scenario is Ultra wins and fewer modular PSU's on the market and the cost of whatever modular PSU's we do have available to us are expensive because of licensing fees that will have to be built into the price of the unit. On the other hand, now that this has finally come into light, if it gets overturned then the playing field is wide open. Other companies can product modular power supplies without fear of getting sued or having to pay licensing fees.

Let's hope that the folks that actually did spend the $250K on finding prior art really has something that makes this whole thing go away and go away quickly.

 

http://www.google.com/patents?id=-mZ7AAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&pg=PP1&ci=362,953,268,279&source=bookclip

Here is the HP patent. I would say the HP Patent pretty much rules out any case that Ultra had.

Regardless, I had an Ultra modular. It worked great while I had it. But honestly. My case is tidier with being able to stash cables, than it was with a modular.

 

Actually no, that's the Ultra patent. The link in the news post is pooched. THIS is the HP patent: http://www.google.com/patents?id=cHgLAAAAEBAJ&dq=6,466,433

Just looking at the title you can tell it's not the same thing. It's a power supply that's modular because it's in a separate bay (like how a redundant PSU works). It's not a power supply with modular cables. The cables are fixed to the interface that the PSU slides into thereby making it a completely different idea. Check out the diagrams. Neat idea actually. I like it. But not the same.

 

Yeah you are correct. Sorry about this. I saw the image in the article and when I saw the first Image on the patent wasnt the same I stopped. I wasnt able to read the whole thing at the time.

 

I always thought the patent system went on the basis of "you cant patent something if its obvious". My Hi-Fi back home has a mains going in, and has ports on the back for supplying power to my speakers and thats early 90s, I know its not the same thing but its a similar concept. Optical drives have ports on the back of them for plugging wires in, I'm amazed a patent like this would even be granted nevermind used to sue someone.

 

i also consider the patent system broken and inefficient....

 

You got that right. I posted something about this end of last week when I read something about it over at [H]. It's scary. I for one enjoy modularity in my PSU's. I'm a wire-management freak so I tend to like the fact that I don't need some lines attached at all.

By the way, I have you to thank for getting me to buy the Ultra X3 1kW unit with the killer review you did on it, lol. Talk about feeding the fires. My cash, in part, is helping Ultra attack the other companies!