ShopSavvy has been getting great press coverage since our launch with T-Mobile and Google last week. However, someone going by the name of StreetStylz has been posting negative and threatening comments everywhere. The comments go something like this, “I wonder if the creators of ShopSavvy know that they are in violation of NeoMedia’s patents?” I thought it might make sense to respond to the issue, i.e. whether or not ShopSavvy violates patents issued to NeoMedia:
First, the US Patent Office has rejected ALL 95 NeoMedia patent claims according to an article by Joel Hruska, “Bar code patent invalidated, another notch on EFF’s belt.“ Bascially, the patent office reviewed ex parte briefs filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and found “a significant amount of prior art, arguing NeoMedia’s patent claims were not novel”. The patent office will review the patent in October, until then all litigation against ScanBuy has been put on hold.
Second, I have reviewed the NeoMedia patent in question and it seems fairly clear that it is focused on the 2D CueCat-style business model (perhaps why they were able to confuse the Patent Office the first time). Had the examiner fromt he Patent Office realized that NeoMedia would assert a claim on barcode scanners in general I suspect the patent would have never been issued. I suspect this is why NeoMedia hasn’t contacted our company.
Finally, StreetStyle’s comments are not isolated, but EVERYWHERE. Mr. StreetStylz is making a concerted effort to defame our application. I did a little digging and learned that Mr. StreetStylz is a 27 year old male from the East Coast (likely from New Jersey) who works for NeoMedia. We have a list of the IP addresses he has used to make the comments and our next objective is to determine if he posted them from his work computer at NeoMedia (i.e. acting as a NeoMedia representative). If NeoMedia has an issue with our application it is my view that they should contact us directly and not mount a public relations campaign against ShopSavvy in blog comments.
More on StreetStylz:
StreetStylz’s Blog
Where the Tires Meet the Street in The Mobile Space RaceBlogger Profile:
Member since May 2006, Gender Male, Tech Industry, Located in USBlog Catalog Profile:
Name: SeanMyBlogLog Profile:
Member since April 2007Dailymotion Profile:
Member since Sept. 25, 2006, Age: 27Office 2.0 Profile:
Member since Sept 11, 2008MySpace Profile:
Home Town: New Jersey (picture of Mr. StreetStylz himself)
ShopSavvy Coverage -
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 am
http://www.youtube.com/user/getqode - has been posting the same message about NeoMedia’s patents on all videos on YouTube that are ShopSavvy-related, even on the video that you have embedded on the front page. On his profile page it says he’s 27 years old, so i think this is the same guy.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
The guy’s IP address is 65.182.224.20 and he is a frequent contributor to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/65.182.224.20
October 9th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Streetstylz is a Neomedia shareholder, who writes his blog and responses to imply he is somehow directly associated with Neomedia. He uses words like “WE” when discussing the company, to suggest he is a part of the actual operations. When he was challenged on these type statements, his reply was that as an owner of the stock, his comments are not misleading, even thoughg there are 15000 or so other stock owners who have no say in the day to day operations, and do not frequent all the bar code blogs using words like “we” or “our” when discussing the company.
Streetstylz is not from the east coast, he is from the west coast, and unlike him and his group, I will not disclose any more information publicly, as they have done to me in the past repeatedly. However, he himself disclosed in another forum where he is located, and for whom he works for, unlike my case where they attempted to find out personal information on e and then post it on various web sites, including full name, address and telephone numbers they thought to be accurate.
The information is available privately if you wish to contact me althougth he has made the information public. As to his posting from work, I believe that you are onto the same thing I picked up on a while ago. If you look at his posting times in another forum, they range all hours of the day, evening, night and early morning. Surely he is on the clock at work during some of those time periods. He can not be off work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, especially when as he once stated, he was strugging financially and pinching pennies to purchase more Neomedia stock.
October 12th, 2008 at 6:51 am
So you still need some help? Well here is a public post made by him, when he first became a shareholder in neomedia. Since he disclosed this information himself publicly, it violates no laws to repost it, as its his own post. You might notice as well in his first sentence he suggests that he indeed typically keeps up with Neomedia message board during company working hours. He states since he was out of the office this particular day that the 10-Q was released, he was unable to keep up with the information being posted, meaning if he were in the office he would of been able to keep up with the posts.
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