Fighting Over Rectangles

Image via CrunchBase

That is nicely put. Apple is fighting over rectangles. It is being unreasonable. If Samsung is a copycat why is it beating Apple in both the smartphone and the table space by now?

Samsung Product Chief: ‘It’s Unreasonable That We’re Fighting Over Rectangles’

the most important patent dispute of the decade ..... the ongoing patent wars that have spawned dozens of lawsuits across the globe, involving not only Samsung and Apple, but also HTC, Motorola and Microsoft ..... Samsung owns more than 100,000 patents worldwide ..... Kevin Packingham ... Samsung's Chief Product Officer .. There are times when I’m absolutely appalled that we sell what I consider to be the most innovative, most secret parts of the sauce of our products to some other manufacturer — HTC, LG, Apple, anybody. ..... these very broad design patents like a rectangle. ..... “How is this possible that we’re actually having an industry-level debate and trying to stifle competition?” Consumers want rectangles and we’re fighting over whether you can deliver a product in the shape of a rectangle. ...... the patent system is broken. .... there’s just one company that’s firing the first shot consistently

Fight it out in the market, not in the courts of the world. The real news here is that the patent system is broken. The industry itself has to take the lead. Policymakers will follow.

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Hello Samsung, Hi Apple

The official online color is: #A4C639 . 한국어: 공식 온라인 색은: #A4C639 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This shakes the Android ecosystem. No matter which way it goes.

The Apple-Samsung Trial: What Apple Will Attempt to Prove

Samsung’s infringing sales have enabled Samsung to overtake Apple as the largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world. Samsung has reaped billions of dollars in profits ..... Samsung also flagrantly breached . . . commitments to [license to Apple its standards-essential patents on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms"]. Samsung made a general FRAND commitment on December 14, 1998 and specific FRAND commitments for the two asserted declared-essential patents on May 16, 2006 and August 7, 2007, respectively. Samsung has breached its FRAND commitments by seeking to enjoin Apple from selling products that support the UMTS standard and by refusing to offer Apple a license to declared-essential patents on FRAND terms.

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Zuck: Innovator?

Image via CrunchBase

This account of rejections is amusing.

Mark Zuckerberg Finally Wins Approval of First Patent Application

The patent office wasn’t impressed with the invention at first, handing Messrs. Zuckerberg and Kelly a series of rejections over the years that complained of vagueness and the obvious nature of the invention. .... The young CEO has been named as an inventor on eight different U.S. patents .... as it wades further into the dangerous world of high-tech patent disputes. .... Facebook said it had 774 U.S. patents and 546 applications as of March.

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Motorola To The Rescue

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Google Says Patents, Tech Were Less Than Half Motorola’s Price

$5.5 billion of the $12.4 billion price tag was attributable to “patents and developed technology.” .... would strengthen its patent portfolio and help legally insulate its Android mobile phone software from infringement lawsuits..... The acquisition would “supercharge Android,” Chief Executive Larry Page wrote then. .... Google said Motorola contributed some $1.25 billion in revenue, though the new unit also posted a $233 million operating loss. ..... Oracle sued Google for alleged patent and copyright infringement by Android in 2010, though a related trial earlier this year resulted in a victory for Google. .... $2.9 billion of the purchase price for Motorola was attributable to cash acquired, $2.6 billion was related to goodwill, $730 million for customer relationships and $670 million for “other net assets acquired.” ... the synergies expected to arise after the acquisition.”

For a software company like Google to want to do hardware in house is a big move. For a culture driven company like Google to nearly double its workforce size from one acquisition is not an easy move, not easy to pull off. For a young company like Google to buy Motorola which has a deeper bench of patents is wise, but it is a package deal. For Google to want to defend Android is very understandable.

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The Empire Strikes Back, Finally

Seattle Times: Motorola wants patent royalties from Xbox, Windows 7 a court in Germany seems inclined to side with Motorola in the company's patent fight with Microsoft in which Motorola would like Microsoft to pay it royalties of 2.25 percent in sales of Windows 7 and Xbox 360, among other products. ...... Microsoft Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9, the Windows Media Player and the Xbox 360 infringe on those two patents. ..... have to do with video compression and decompression technology, covering methods for reducing the amount of bandwidth needed for video that is streamed online..... At stake are millions of dollars in royalties, along with strategic competitive advantages. ..... Microsoft itself has a number of patent agreements in place in which manufacturing companies pay royalties to the software giant. Microsoft has not disclosed how much it gets in royalties, but Microsoft attorney Brad Smith has suggested in the past that about $5 per mobile device "seems like a fair price."

Granted the Google Motorola integration has not happened yet, the purchase has not gone through, but don't tell me the people at Motorola do not feel the need to get on the right side of their future boss, Larry Page. They know exactly why he bought Motorola.

World War III Time: Let's Go To War
Android Has To Be Kept Free

Or if these legal steps have been a long time coming, just goes on to show how software patents need fundamental reform, for everyone lives in glass houses.

But until that reform happens, the Android people have to simply fight back. Owning Motorola patents helps.

Texting While Driving Asks For Driverless Cars

Image via WikipediaSome people are referring to it as an epidemic. People who text while they drive are more likely to get into an accident. That sounds like common sense. But the real solution is not to ban texting, although it might make short term sense. The real solution is to speed up and end up with driverless cars.

Self Driving Google Car

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Arugula And Location Patents

Arugula, the aromatic salad green. Also known as rocket, roquette, rugula and rucola, and is popular in Italian cuisine.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama said arugula on the campaign trail and people were left scratching their heads. Arugula who?

Facebook's Location Patent

And now we learn the Einsteins at the patent office have granted not one but two location patents. In this land of plenty. I would not be surprised if Gowalla has the third one. If not why has FourSquare bothered competing with that little nuisance in the first place? Why not simply go ahead and sue like every big company seems to be doing to every other big company back there in Silicon Valley? With the exception of Larry Ellison. Larry is into fist fights. (Putting My Money On Larry Ellison)

TechCrunch: Oops! That Facebook Location Patent Forgot To Mention Crowley’s Earlier Dodgeball Patent
PC Magazine: Skyhook Sues Google in Location Patent, Contract Dispute
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