No doubt about it, today's ruling on '774 was a disappointment, a big one, for all the reasons that have been stated. I won't repeat them except to state that even for a cynic like me, it's hard to believe that two different judges could get it so totally wrong. But they did. Inability to read? Willed ignorance? Or. . .

But despite that, predictions of a s/p drop to .01 haven't yet come true. And Fred got out a quick pr saying:

"Although the ruling could adversely impact e.Digital's efforts to establish patent infringement of certain claims by certain defendants of the '774 patent and US Patent No. 5,839,108, the ruling has no apparent impact on the Company's assertions of patent infringement against the defendants under the Company's US Patent No. 5,742,737, and US Patent No. 5,842,170 which are also asserted in the cases.

Our cases do not therefore rise or fall on the back of any one patent. Handal & Associates and their technical advisors have deemed that the Defendants infringe several of our patents, and a finding of infringement on any one claim of any one of them would be significant. Regardless of the ruling, the enforcement of our patents will move forward."

In other words, '737 and '170 are still very much in play, and I believe they, especially '737, are our strongest bets against Apple and the others anyway. Thanks to Fred for the clarification.

Hope we've seen the worst of it.