Is it true the courts stopped lowrance from selling structure scan

[Tony Shirley]

cant believe it

[Sabot]

:muahaha:

Humminbird sure hopes so... Lowrance sales are thru the roof

[SAMSAMSAM]

cant believe it

NO it is not true

[perchjerker]

NO it is not true

for one, its not breaking any site rules.

two, if we were to remove it, it would appear that we are trying to hide something, which we are not.

so we let it stay and get addressed.

I just went on Cabelas website, put one in the shopping cart, so they are still selling them, thats all I can tell you for sure

[okiefishman]

Get real

[ozarkeyes]

This is a patent infringement case that has just been filed in the Federal Court, and the defendants have been officially served just in the past few days. They have 21 days to file their answer. And then the fun begins, possibly years and years of fun and money before it will come to trial, and then all the experts get to testify to prove or disprove the infringement.

This is a patent case, and getting a preliminary injunction issued in a patent, copyright or trademark case, prior to trial- Well, good luck getting a Federal District Judge to sit through hours or days and even weeks of expert testimony needed to prove a defendant is infringing your patent, all for a "hearing" not a trial, and that your entitled to an injunction. Thats what would have to occur. It aint going to happen.

So dont worry about buying the Structure Scan, if HB does ever win it, Lowrance may have a totally new technology by that time, and it wont matter.

[Tony Shirley]

Get real
Jim i was told by a Cabelas top manager that the lowrance is not releasing them anymore,so that is why i asked.I have the lss-1 already.So behave yourself

[okiefishman]

Did he have any beachfront property in Arizona for sale? Did you get any???

[Tony Shirley]

Did he have any beachfront property in Arizona for sale? Did you get any???
Jimmy didnt i tell u to behave yourself

[cast_and_blast]

cant believe it

There has been no court order for a cease/desist on producing or selling the LSS-1.

Now, whether Lowrance is voluntarily holding back production I have no idea. I cannot imagine that they would go through all the work of development fully aware that HB had beat them to market and was pursuing a patent and then "voluntarily" pull the LSS-1 modules. Doesn't make sense in my opinion.

Scott

[okiefishman]

Tony,
You may have me mixed up with someone else. I'm not Jimmy.

[Tony Shirley]

Tony,
You may have me mixed up with someone else. I'm not Jimmy.
I meant steve typo .behave yourself Steve

[MarkG]

Jim i was told by a Cabelas top manager that the lowrance is not releasing them anymore,so that is why i asked.I have the lss-1 already.So behave yourself

Heard their accelerators are sticking !

[Tony Shirley]

Heard their accelerators are sticking !
no accelerators on lowrance products go back to school

[blueicecpa]

HISTORY OF SIDE SCAN SONAR

Side scan sonar technology was developed in the early 1960's by Dr. Harold Edgerton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Edgerton, an MIT electrical engineering professor, had been developing high-speed flash photography since the 1930's. He discovered that photography was not best suited to the murky conditions underwater so applied the electronic principles from flash tubes to acoustics. By sending "flashes" of acoustic energy into the water and recording the reflections, Edgerton could tow his sonar device behind a vessel and create a continuous image of the seafloor.
http://www.starfishsonar.com/images/technology/edgerton.jpg Detail from Self-Portrait in Lab, 1942 by Harold Edgerton
© The Harold E. Edgerton 1992 Trust
In 1963, Edgerton used an early side scan sonar system to find the sunken Vineyard Lightship in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. From 1963-1967, a team lead by Martin Klein at Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (later EG&G, Inc.) developed the first successful towed, dual-channel commercial side scan sonar system. The sonar was used to help Alexander McKee find King Henry VIII's long-lost flagship Mary Rose in 1967.
Edgerton made many expeditions around the world using his side scan sonar devices to search for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness monster. In 1975, Edgerton and Jacques Cousteau, the famous French underwater explorer, used side scan sonar to discover the sunken wreck of HMHS Britannic in the Kea Channel in the Aegean Sea. The Britannic, a White Star ocean liner turned British hospital ship, had sunk during the First World War on November 21st, 1916 and is now one of the most famous shipwrecks in the world.
Original side scan technology produced images on paper rather than a computer screen. These early paper records were produced by a thermal plotter that burned the sonar image onto a scrolling paper record. By the 1980's, commercial systems using newer, cheaper computer systems could convert the analogue scan into a digital scan displaying the images on a computer screen and storing data on computer hard drives.
By 1985, advances in submersible, video and side scan sonar technology helped Dr. Robert Ballard discover the wreck of HMHS Britannic's legendary sister ship RMS Titanic at a depth of 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) in the North Atlantic. Ballard has discovered many other shipwrecks including the German battleship Bismarck in 1989.
Modern advances in acoustics and computer systems have made side scan sonar a very powerful seabed imaging device. Digital mosaics of the seafloor, referenced with GPS location coordinates, can now be created with advanced software applications and stored on computer for future reference.
Today, side scan sonar is used for a wide variety of commercial, military and leisure applications including offshore pipeline location and survey, law enforcement search and recovery operations, marine archaeology, shipwreck hunting and fish finding to name but a few.

[blueicecpa]

Other Sidescan Sonar Companies



Benthos SIS-1000 (SSS+SBP), SIS-1500, SIS-1624, SIS-1625
C-MAX CM2 USB and Analog interface

Edgetech 4200, 4100, DF-1000, DT-1 (Deep Tow), SubScan, DCI, ACI, all analog models (e.g. 272/260, etc)

GeoAcoustics Analog and Digital (DSSS)

Imagenex SportScan, YellowFin

Klein 2000, 3000, 5000, 595 (SSS+SBP), all analog models (e.g. 531, 595 etc)

Marine Sonic Limited Real-time Ethernet interface.
Starfish Sonar

[blueicecpa]

So this is going to get real interesting.

Not only do these company's use the Tow fish capabilities by pulling the transducer like a torpedo many yards away from the boat, I see they also have a method to attach it to the hull or a fixed pole.

1930's to 1960 's is a long time ago. 2006 to 2010 did they really change anything Transom , Bow trolling motor vs bottom of the Hull or on a pole ?

Side scan sonar technology was developed in the early 1960's by Dr. Harold Edgerton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Edgerton, an MIT electrical engineering professor, had been developing high-speed flash photography since the 1930's. He discovered that photography was not best suited to the murky conditions underwater so applied the electronic principles from flash tubes to acoustics. By sending "flashes" of acoustic energy into the water and recording the reflections, Edgerton could tow his sonar device behind a vessel and create a continuous image of the seafloor.

[acar555]

Guys, read the patent. No where does it say that Humminbird invented it. The way the humminbird system works is what is patented. They were awarded the patent afterall.

[Singing in the rain]

Palm verses Blackberry

Palm won, blackberry is kicking bootae in sales.

[REW]

In deference to the nay sayers about the inability of the courts to quickly decide on a patent infringement - take the case of Johnson Outdoors - (hummingbird/ minnkota) against Motoguide on thier patent infringment case with respect to electric front mounted trolling motor auto pilot.

From the time that the infringment suite was filed, it was only about 30 days for the courts to find in favor of Johnson Outdoors and issue a cease and desist order against Motoguide and have them pull all motors using this auto pilot from dealers shelves as well as to disallow Motoguide from repairing any autopilots that might be returned for service.

Motoguide - if a autopilot motor were returned for service - was required to offer the client a non auto pilot motor to the customer and refund the difference in price between the non auto pilot motor and the auto pilot motor.

I have no idea as to how fast this particular patent infrringement case will take to go through the courts, but it will happen and I would not be at all suprised to see that the court finds in favor of Johnson outdoors (hummingbird) and asks that the Lowrance models having the affected feature be pulled.

Of course, it could go the other way just as well.
However, normally companies don't file infringement suits unless they are pretty sure that they have a solid case.

We will know for sure as soon as the decision is rendered - whether it is in a few minutes or a few years.

-----------
I just checked the Johnson outdoors web site, and they have no information on the status of the lawsuit.
Take care
REW

[Wade@JollyAnnMarine]

Just got a batch in on Friday and they shipped out the same day. Lowrance keeps shipping them and we fill backorders faster than they can get them to us. From what I am told, there will still be more coming. ETA on new orders is the end of this month. Nothing new that I have heard guys.

[Hawker]

Just got a batch in on Friday and they shipped out the same day. Lowrance keeps shipping them and we fill backorders faster than they can get them to us. From what I am told, there will still be more coming. ETA on new orders is the end of this month. Nothing new that I have heard guys.

Thanks Wade! Well now, guess that pretty much clears up the "rumor mill" on this subject! Straight from a dealer!