Ultra Products sues almost every PSU manufacturer

This would be an interesting case.. If any PSU manufacturers can some how prove they had some sort of modulated power supply unit in july 2004, they would be immediatly off the suit.. The others however, could have easily filed for the patent too... i mean.. what happened if they all did LOL..... To sue after letting others jump on the modular bandwagon was stupid.. they didnt even tell these people they were filing for a patent..... couldnt that be used against ultra ? Anyway, i have checked most stock markets against ultra (i presume Ultra in Ohio is the company im looking at) and if they lose, well they are bankrupt... because these companies could quite easily counter sue, on top of the high priced lawyers these bigger names like corsair and ocz could account for :)

Comment by Lightning_Pete at 12:55am 16th April 2008

what part of the modular psu did they patent. thankfully they don't have a patent on electricity. bye.?

Comment by kingjohn721 at 9:58pm 13th April 2008

One of the criteria that is required in order for a design to be patentable is that the idea is non obvious. I believe the idea of a modular power supply is touching on the brink of bleeding obvious, therefore i think they will lose this one since the patent will possibly be deemed void in court.

Comment by Gaz001000 at 9:44pm 11th April 2008

To be frankly honest, all this buisiness of sueing is exactly whats stopping forward thinkers in the electronics market, well that's how it seems to me. For one, if I were a company, and someone copied what I made, well, they've no doubt just elabarated on the original idea, someone somwhere had to think of it first, just cause they did doesn't grant them ownership of that idea, cause someone else could've thought of it before, just not made a product yet. Fine if they copied your design directly, but puttin thier own spin on the concept aint stealin, Really it isnt. Look at Genetics, did Watson & Crick ever take huge action just cause different people added to thier original work? Others simply researched and refined the original concept discovered by the 2 very folks 50 years ago, its the exact same with electronics, slightly different way of addaptimg the idea, manufacturers will constantly improve and/or put a new spin on the idea, but sayin I came up with it first is the main problem with the world these days, and exactly whats gonna happen is that people'll just stop inventing, too scared sopme mongrel too big-dicked for his own sake thinks he wants to dominate the planet(Microsoft+ Apple come to mkind here by any chance? same bloody thing really) and if they get thier way, one company'll dominate everything, and that's basically b8lloks, they can do, charge, whatever they want, and be as unfair and cruel to everyone as they like, nobody wants that, do you? Stick your wee F*cked up sueey game up your *rse, that's what I say. Cheers Sam The Bam

Comment by masa20 at 7:34pm 11th April 2008

Think I'll be scratching one name off my shopping list for the near future, I'll let you guess which one?

Comment by kazara1001 at 12:33pm 11th April 2008

Modular PSU. It takes no genius braincells to see that modular was the next step. I am no inventor but I saw the need for this as a next step when I took to bits my first PC in 1997. Patent protection is necessary to protect the intellectual INNOVATION where it is clear that the work is original and unlikely to have been duplicated by many without it. Grasping greed like this is sadly the norm.

Comment by alexmackie1 at 10:13am 11th April 2008

i cant see that company called Trust on the list. i have got to point out, although they are called trust... Do not i said Do Not trust thier products, seriously they break every 5 miniutes

Comment by NikoBellic at 3:06pm 10th April 2008

in responce to the post about hiper, well i would'nt think theyre even worth the time and effort. my bro has a hiper PSU and everytime he taps his pc case it resets itself. i would'nt go for a hiper PSU myself after experiencing that... and i am hoping that nothing comes out of this, because i wanna buy an OCZ PSU next

Comment by NikoBellic at 3:01pm 10th April 2008

"Somebody set up us the PSU." :-)

Comment by cjagusz at 1:54pm 10th April 2008

which is odd as they where first modular psu's ive used or are they ownde by someone else. doesnt matter much dont use them any more me and 2 other mates have had them explode on us....

Comment by whereisbob at 12:56pm 10th April 2008

But if the patent was issue a year ago and Ultra sent out cease and desist letters and the other companies chose not to stop producing the product, would Ultra not be due any "damages" for products sold at least from when the letters were received? I think it's called "known infringment" or something like that, and it is punishible.

Comment by four_gone at 12:55pm 10th April 2008

I'd guess that the purpose of this is to try to get another PSU manufacturer to buy out the company to stop the court case. Its been done before.

Comment by NotFred at 12:30pm 10th April 2008

The law doesn't work backwards so they can't count on money pouring in from all these companies for the years they've been making modular PSUs. Second thing is that much more important than a patent is a trademark under which these companies have been releasing their products (modular PSUs) for years. .

Comment by groch at 12:09pm 10th April 2008

The PSU per say is a clever design that deserves a patent. however, the cabels connecting to it (to me) isn't really a design. It's just a slight modification. An advancment on the original design. There are many electrical items out there with seperate cables attaching them.

Comment by marcus at 9:52am 10th April 2008

I don't think ultra should win. Im sure they patented 'their' modular design , but surely the company's in question haven't directly copied the idea , therefore the patent is non effective. Im no expert on PSU's and have never dared open one but i'm sure quality manufacturers would have developed the idea into there own. you cannot patent an idea really , or can you ?

Comment by AaronPcz at 8:51am 10th April 2008

IF...... he says.... 'if' they did patent this way back and other manufacturers copied then they have every right to Sue. If you designed a product and some company copied it and started making profits would you not be pi55ed off?

Comment by pveater at 8:01am 10th April 2008

Read the patent. It's for a power supply with a modular interface adjacent to the housing consisting of two or more connectors. The unit has to be used inside a PC with a direct connection from said interface to the peripherals. It's a lot narrower than people are thinking. They didn't patent merely the concept of modularity. What's patented is not the same as Performance-PC's concept of a "modular" power supply or any other kind of "home brew" PSU mod.

Comment by four_gone at 4:56am 10th April 2008

It takes ages for patents to be approved because of all the official investigations and procedures you have to go through. In order to get one approved you need to provide evidence of original conception and show that your invention is new and has an inventive step. If Ultra managed to get the patent approved then they could do quite well out of this. Every one of those companies listed will probably have to provide evidence showing many modular units they have ever sold and then a decision would be made on how much should be paid to Ultra in compensation. Any manufacturer who releases a PSU's using the modular design in the future could face royalty payments. If it wasnt their idea, as suggested below they did well to get it approved.

Comment by The_Janitor_ at 11:20pm 9th April 2008

It takes ages for patents to be approved because of all the official investigations and procedures you have to go through. In order to get one approved you need to provide evidence of original conception and show that your invention is new and has an inventive step. If Ultra managed to get the patent approved then they could do quite well out of this. Every one of those companies listed will probably have to provide evidence showing many modular units they have ever sold and then a decision would be made on how much should be paid to Ultra in compensation. Any manufacturer who releases a PSU's using the modular design in the future could face royalty payments. If it wasnt their idea, as suggested below they did well to get it approved.

Comment by The_Janitor_ at 11:20pm 9th April 2008

the idea of a modular PSu was invented by an american computer modding supplies company called performance-pcs, they never patented it but it was their idea. ultra patented someone else's idea, no way they can win this case.

Comment by yougotkicked at 10:20pm 9th April 2008

The moral of the story is...Who the F**K is Ultra products?!

Comment by dr4ygon at 10:08pm 9th April 2008

This really does show how cumbersome copyright law really is. The application for the pattent was submitted in 2004, but was only granted in 2006? 2 years later? That's a hell of a long time, especially in this industry. 2 years makes a pc obsolete. And on another point, if what C7ouD says is right about Ultra's PSU's outputs falling way short of advertised, then surely anyone owning a Ultra PSU can sue them for false advertising? Now that would be a taste of Ultra's own medicine.

Comment by adgaddas at 9:25pm 9th April 2008

i cant see them winning this. some good lawyer ppl will work out a way round this im sure.

Comment by TBallS at 9:26pm 9th April 2008

Goes to show how stupid copyright is.

Comment by RickA at 8:49pm 9th April 2008

other manufacturers wont have to stop making them, they'll just have to pay Ultra for the privilage

Comment by NewParadigm at 8:30pm 9th April 2008

maybe i should have patented the atx power supply i modded for my amiga 500 and a520, with modular plugs so i only had 1 power supply for both devices, which i then transfered to my amiga cd32, sx1 module, and 3.5 inch HD, simply by unplugging the a500/a520 leads, and swapping with new leads for said devices. Back in the 90's

Comment by richardcreedy at 8:02pm 9th April 2008

I'm surprised there not sueing because they have a fan grill on their PSUs, and every other manufacturer copied them. Or, they have coloured perspex in them, maybe there going to sue every single modder who has ever put perspex in their PSU.

Comment by Cerberus_xiii at 7:59pm 9th April 2008

Well compared to companys like OCZ

Comment by NikoBellic at 7:43pm 9th April 2008

Didn't CPC include an Ultra PSU in one of their PSU tests, I think it was the first one they did with the new advanced monitoring hardware stuff they got. Anyway, IIRC, the Ultra actually blew up at 100% load. There is no way that they can win these law suits, if they do then we have a serious problem. Not just because we will lose Modular PSUs, we will have a serious problem in the future of man!!!

Comment by Cerberus_xiii at 7:31pm 9th April 2008

I think the people who know about this probably wouldn't be buying Ultra anyway. I doubt they'd even notice the loss in sales - they probably don't have much to begin with, so this is how they're trying to make some money.

Comment by TWeaKoR at 6:51pm 9th April 2008

Ultra power supplies have always been crap and misleading, never representing the Voltage they advertise. They now have the cheak to try and take on most of the PSU manufacturers even though a good 3rd of them not only make PSU's, but are Billion dollar size firms. Stupid thinking from a stupid company - you could say a practical joke.

Comment by C7ouD at 7:00pm 9th April 2008

Do a list of every product made by Ultra so I know not to buy it ? As suggested by AaronPcz. the only way to stop this kind of stupidity is to hit them where it hurts the most. In the marketplace.

Comment by bluetuba at 6:25pm 9th April 2008

The patent system is an absolute joke! I can remember reading a story about a man, in an effort to prove how pathetic the system is, patented a circular object used to aid motion and movement (Basically the Wheel!) and got his patent approved. Its just a joke what you can do. I cant for the life of me think that the idea of adding essentially what is a few plugs to a power supply a Patentable idea. Its crazy, thats like patenting cheese on toast or the 5 blade razor! Just plain stupid. If they had designed a 100% efficient method of transfering the electrons through the plug at room temperature then they should be allowed to patent that. That would be ground breaking science! But to patent a few plugs is just nonsense! This is the sort of thing that gets me really worked up! Who ever granted that patent is ... well i shouldnt really say that here!

Comment by connectionlost at 6:14pm 9th April 2008

I see Coolermaster aren't listed, even though they make modular PSUs...

Comment by thewelshbrummie at 6:07pm 9th April 2008

it is if other companies have stolen your idea. Telling everyone to stop buying a produuct because its att the centre of a legal battle won't do anyone any favours. What if the same happens with 80+ PSUs? should we all stop buying them and ignore the money-saving benefits they offer? Intel & AMD have taken each other to court, so what shall we do? buy Cyrix CPU's? If the idea was stolen then people need to be punished and (I personally think) a licensing system should be put into practice. If the idea wasn't stolen then it'll be tough luck on ultra and they'll probably get some compo for their bad luck.

Comment by EdArch at 5:47pm 9th April 2008

Couldn't these companies claim "prior use" as they were selling modular designs before the patent was approved?

Comment by l3v1ck at 6:01pm 9th April 2008

I think maybe Ultra saw a niche market segment they could have all to themselves. However since there's a two year gap this could be similar to the arguments that have surrounded the invention of the telephone, where two people submitted patents for a telephone on the same day. So if other companies have stolen that patent or its ideas then Ultra are entitlled to some compensation. But if the other manufacturers have devloped the idea themselves and started selling them before the patent was approved then I dont think Ultra have much to stand on. I've never heard of them personally so I can't say if they make good products or not. Could be another legal fisco in the world of computing or just a case of coicidental timing on part of the other manufacturers. I do like the idea of modular power supplies although they can be rather expensive (£90 for a seasonic 550W modular compared to £55 for a standard PSU - a 60% price jump!) but it is nice to have just the cables you need in you case, rather than a muticoloured mess you have to hide under your DVD drive!

Comment by EdArch at 5:47pm 9th April 2008

I agree , sueing isn't a way out. I think everyone should stop buying there products to get over the message that sueing is pointless way to slow / mess with your rivals

Comment by AaronPcz at 5:55pm 9th April 2008

What a bunch of ****. Obviously just jealous that their products are so inferior to the other, bigger, manufactures. ***Edited by moderator - please refrain from strong swearing***

Comment by D_Cypher at 5:45pm 9th April 2008

• BFG unveils hand built Phobos gaming PCs
• UPDATED: LiveJournal announces mass layoffs
• Top 10 PC games chart
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 gets 500GB on single platter
• Creative reveals new Zii processor
• Happy Christmas from Custom PC
• Intel might buy Imagination Technologies
• First Blu-Ray and DVD hybrid disc announced
• Abit denies closure rumours
• Download ‘AAA’ games in a few minutes with AWOMO

These are the most popular news articles over the past seven days.

• Phenom II overclocked to 6GHz
• GeIL unveils Cyclone RAM cooler
• Rumour control: GeForce GTX 260 GX2 in January
• Nvidia cuts price of 216 SP GeForce GTX 260
• VIDEO: PC version of Mirror’s Edge features hardware PhysX
• Get Half-Life for less than a dollar on Steam
• IBM plans to build virtual human brain
• RivaTuner 2.20 adds SLI and CrossFire support
• VIDEO: ArmA II trailer released