Patent Battles: Who are the Trolls?

[diogen]

The Apple vs. Samsung patent battle is getting vicious...

First, the Duesseldorf court banned Samsung from selling its tablets in all of EU but Holland.
(Just as a sidenote: the Duesseldorf court is akin the one in Texas - very patent troll friendly).
Second, they started questioning whether they can issue an EU-wide decision and limited it to Germany only.
Third, the Dutch court had their own "discussion" and decided that
- Apple's tablet claims are complete crap;
- 3 out of 4 Apple patents related to smartphones are garbage;
- the remaining one - swiping through the photo collection, native Android app - is in violation of an Apple patent.
Fourth, the Dutch judge explicitly told Samsung that the same app in Android 3.0 does not violate the patent.
And if Samsung decides to switch to the newer version, their smartphones will be cleared (have until October).
Fifth, Samsung's appeal in Duesseldorf failed and their tablets are still banned from being sold (in Germany for now).

This fight doesn't get boring...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Definitely begging for an Apple lawsuit: rectangle, rounded corners, and now even thin...
Toshiba to announce ultrathin tablet – leaked pictures

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

A good summary of the Apple vs. Samsung patent war
Apple's worldwide court battles against Samsung: where they stand and what they mean

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Those will most likely show up in the Apple vs. Samsung case...
Galaxy S II finally lands on American shores for Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T - Engadget

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

It might not have been only patents that Google was after when buying Motorola
The real reason Google bought Motorola ? The Register

Very speculative but Google might have paid less for the whole of Moto than the Apple+Microsoft+RIM gang paid for Nortel patents...
And Google's fancy bidding could have been just an attempt to drive up the price...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Toshiba is not going to be Apple's friend any time soon, if ever...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/toshiba-announces-at100-tablet-10-1-inches-worth-of-honeycomb/

7.7mm, quite a bit thinner than the Samsung 10.1...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Is this the sign of the coming post-Jobs era at Apple?
DailyTech - Apple Cries About Samsung and Motorola's Patent "Monopoly"

Apple Claims Android Phone makers are "Abusing" Patent System...
Apple is irate about these companies' countersuits, which rely largely on patents covering wireless communications.

They will most likely file a brief against Moto's acquisition by Google. Interesting to see how far it will get them...

It is going to be Comedy Central!

Diogen.

 

[berck]

Apple is a strange company. The sue anybody that has anything similar to something they create. They also take what they want. Cisco owed the trademark on iphone before Apple created it. Since Cisco is a big company, Apple had to do something to get the name. I have a friend that has a company that created a product called Spotlight. They own the trademark to the software. Yet, four years later, Apple comes out with a search software called Spotlight, violated my friends trademark. When I asked him what he was going to do, he said nothing. Apple basically challenged them to sue them if they wanted to, but they weren't going to giving them anything. He loves Apple too much.

Which also reminds me, Apple has a sound on their systems called sosumi (so sue me) from their first lawsuit with the Beatles over the use of the Apple name and logo

 

[mperdue]

Apple is a strange company. The sue anybody that has anything similar to something they create. They also take what they want. Cisco owed the trademark on iphone before Apple created it. Since Cisco is a bit company, Apple had to do something to get the name.

On February 2, 2007, Apple and Cisco announced that they had agreed to temporarily suspend litigation while they held settlement talks, and subsequently announced on February 20, 2007, that they had reached an agreement. Both companies will be allowed to use the "iPhone" name in exchange for "exploring interoperability" between their security, consumer, and business communications products.

It looks to me like Cisco and Apple both got what they wanted.

 

[diogen]

Apple basically challenged them to sue them if they wanted to, but they weren't going to giving them anything.

I don't think Apple has a patent on strongarming the small players...
Here is what Cisco did just a few months ago (with US DOJ help).
And I'm not even talking about Microsoft checkered past...

I think the problem is Apple's desire to look morally right regardless of what they do.
They themselves started believing in their sainthood!

This state never lasts. Karma is a b!tch...

Diogen.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

You really are obsessed with this stuff, aren't you? LOL

 

[TheForce]

Obsession? I would have never guessed--

32 posts, 26 are from diogen.

 

[diogen]

When facing a choice between "obsession" and
stupidity, I'll pick the former every time...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

A nice article about the trolling business...
Guest Post: Patent Troll Myths - Patent Law Blog (Patently-O)

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

That is interesting
HTC sues Apple with help from formerly Google-owned patents -- Engadget

Not quite clear what are those 9 patents that Google transferred to HTC.
They could not have come from the Moto acquisition (that hasn't been cleared yet).
Regardless, it looks like this is the way Google decided to get involved directly without being sued...

This is probably what Schmidt meant when he said

we will make sure they [HTC] don’t lose, then.

I can't quite understand the stand-off between Apple and the 2 main Android handsets manufacturers - Samsung and HTC.
Apple's goal is clear - to slow them down. But at this stage of any patent fight the sides usually get sober and start looking for ways to mend fences.
With Apple vs. Samsung and Apple vs. HTC the exact opposite is happening.

And if the first can be semi-justified (nobody wants their CEO to be insulted), the second is violating any common sense.

Diogen.

EDIT:
It does look that Moto patents are in play here because

The nine patents from Google come from a variety of places such as Motorola, Palm, and Openwave Systems. It should be noted that the patents were transferred from Motorola before Google’s offer to purchase Motorola, and are independent of the purchase. There is no word on how much money HTC paid for the patents from Google, but it is clear that they did not waste any time using them against Apple.

That's interesting and most likely has to do with the patents Apple complained about...

 

[diogen]

A good article about the patent Armageddon in the smartphone market
Owning the stack: The legal war to control the smartphone platform

Last sentence

The future of the smartphone market is cloudier than it ought to be—and the increasing dominance of intellectual property lawyers is in large part to blame.

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Google is on a patent buying spree...
Google purchases Big Blue patents to defend Android

It might join other trolls like Microsoft and Apple...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

And this might be one of the reasons Apple hasn't sued LG...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

It's long overtime, but no slowdown in sight...
Samsung countersues Apple in Australia, claims iPhone / iPad 2 violate its patents -- Engadget

The IP/patent lawyer profession never had it this good...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Can it get any worse? Yes it can
Samsung wants to ban the iphone 5 in korea- The Inquirer

The two shiny gadget makers are suing and countersuing each other at a furious pace
in about 23 countries around the globe, most recently in the UK, France and Japan.

Diogen.