A bit of news that might be of interest to techies. SeboTek, located in Tulsa, a few years ago developed the open ear,OTE HA whose style has become the most popular type sold in just 2-3 years. They obtained Patents on this and attempted to get the industry to license it from them.
Starkey and another one or two took out the license. The rest formed a consortium and filed for a review by the US patent office. This typically takes 5 years or more. So in March the PTO reviewed it. A couple of days ago they published the review. Most of the claims were rejected which didn’t surprise me. But the important ones remain.
The PTO just issued an Office Action to SeboTek who now has a chance to reply and defend their claims. This will be of interest on how it plays out… Will take a long time.
Patent defense is extremely costly I’ve been there… The two law firms involved in this are high end and there is a huge amount of money at stake. I don’t know how a small company can raise enough money for defense but I wish them well. I use this style HA made by an unlicensed mfg. I couldn’t find their dealer in my area. Also of the ones I tried the Brand I bought was far ahead in noise suppression which was the most important feature to me.
I just have to trust the system to do the right thing but feel a bit guilty. Without SeboTek the new design would not have happened imho.