18294792
submission
FlorianMueller writes:
A couple of weeks after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Interval Licensing saw its patent infringement suit against major tech companies thrown out, it has refiled an amended complaint. The court found that the original complaint wasn't sufficiently specific about the accused products and services. Now those are named. The amended complaint accuses, among other things, Android and all devices based on Google's mobile operating system, of infringement of a user interface patent. Interval says it's an example of an infringement that "when a user receives a new Google Voice message, the Android Operating System and Google Voice software display a notification in the status bar screen for a short period of time." Allegations against Apple are less fundamental: they relate to content recommendations provided to users by iTunes, the App Store, and Apple TV.
18266050
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FlorianMueller writes:
CNN.com/Fortune reflects on how the patent dispute between Apple and Nokia has escalated over the last 14 months: "In Oct. 2009, when Nokia (NOK) first complained in a U.S. federal court that Apple (AAPL) had infringed on 10 of its telecommunications patents, the case could be summarized in a fairly simple chart [...] Fourteen months later, that relatively straightforward patent dispute has escalated through suits and countersuits into a legal battle of Dickensian complexity now being fought in seven different venues, from Delaware to Dusseldorf." The article then refers to "what is likely to be the definitive map of Nokia vs. Apple. The finished document covers 19 'moves,' 11 reference pages, 31 PDF slides and more than 75 individual patents. A preview is also avialable on Twitpic.
18237496
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FlorianMueller writes:
Patent suits are the IT industry's new Christmas cards: Microsoft and Motorola just added new accusations to their row. Motorola filed another suit in the Western District of Wisconsin, for the first time also attacking the Kinect. Microsoft threw in seven patents in Southern Florida. Two of them cover touchscreen technologies and two allegedly read on Motorola's DVRs. At this stage of the game, 35 patents are in suit between the companies. Afraid to lose track of so much peace and harmony? There's a visualization available (detailed reference material included).
18205626
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FlorianMueller writes:
There seems to be no end to those smartphone patent suits. This week's special: audio and video patents that its owners claim are key to formats like MP3 and MPEG 2. The targets: Apple and Android. On Monday, Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary Multimedia Patent Trust filed a patent infringement suit in Southern California against Apple, LG (over 64 different phones including some Android-based ones), Canon and TiVo over four video patents. Fortunately for Apple and LG, none of the patents asserted against those two companies are likely to be in force by the time the judge decides, so there's no risk of an injunction. They may nevertheless have to pay for past damages. The same company once obtained a record $1.5 billion jury verdict against Microsoft but saw it slashed by a judge. And on Tuesday, Hybrid Audio LLC filed a suit in Eastern Texas, asserting a patent against various Apple products and certain Android-based products from HTC and Dell.
18161000
submission
FlorianMueller writes:
The US International Trade Commission, which is increasingly popular as a patent enforcement agency, voted to investigate a complaint filed by Motorola against Microsoft last month. Motorola claims that the Xbox infringes five of its patents. In October, Microsoft complained against Motorola, alleging patent infringement by its Android-based smartphones. Apple, Nokia and HTC are also involved with ITC investigations as complainants and respondents. A new one-page overview document shows the ongoing ITC investigations related to smartphones and the products that the complainants would like to be banned from entry into the US market. The good news is that any import bans won't be ordered until long after Christmas. The ITC is faster than courts, but not that fast.
18046248
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FlorianMueller writes:
Bloomberg was first to report on a suit filed by mobile software company Myriad Group against Oracle in Delaware on Friday. The Swiss company, which sells its own Java implementation for mobile devices, claims Oracle doesn't honor its licensing commitments and overcharged Myriad and its customers by at least $120 million. Observers see a potential Google hand in this, given the obvious connection with the dispute between Oracle and Google. It turns out that on the same day Oracle sued Myriad (in Northern California) for infringement of the Java trademark. Oracle says Myriad stopped paying royalties more than a year ago and demanded a royalty-free license, which Oracle apparently isn't willing to grant. The Apache Foundation finds itself in a similar situation--but not in court (yet).
17835700
submission
FlorianMueller writes:
Apple's patent dispute with Motorola is one of the biggest legal battles going on at the moment. Apple, which is also entangled in litigation with Nokia and HTC, recently beefed up its legal team, but it also keeps throwing in ever more patents. Apple made important court filings on Wednesday and Thursday. The bottom line: Apple now asserts 24 patents against Motorola, which uses 18 patents in claims against Apple. 21 of Apple's infringement allegations relate to Android, 3 to Motorola set-top boxes and DVRs. Motorola targets the whole range of Apple products.
17549028
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FlorianMueller writes:
Yesterday, Vertical Computer Systems filed a patent infringement suit in Eastern Texas against Android device makers Samsung and LG as well as Internet software company Interwoven. Vertical asserts a patent over which it previously sued Microsoft. That case was settled with a license deal. Earlier this year the USPTO granted Vertical a continuation patent extending the original one by another 32 claims. In an SEC filing, the company already announced its plan to exploit the extended version of the patent aggressively. This is just the latest in a series of suits relating to the Android operating system. Google also has to defend itself directly against Oracle but so far hasn't countersued anyone attacking Android.
17467324
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FlorianMueller writes:
As if there weren't already enough patent suits related to smartphone technologies, Motorola just announced its widely anticipated countersuit against Microsoft. Its subsidiary Motorola Mobility filed complaints with two US District Courts (Southern District of Florida and Western District of Wisconsin). Motorola already litigates with Apple in those and other courts. According to Motorola, the patents relate to technologies in the fields of operating systems, video codecs, email, instant messaging, object-oriented software architectures, WiFi, and graphical passwords. Motorola claims Windows, the Live messenger, Windows Phone, Outlook and other Microsoft products infringe. Motorola's action is no surprise given that all of the companies sued over patent infringement by Android--with the exception of Google--have already countersued.
17348286
submission
FlorianMueller writes:
In February, Apple asked the US International Trade Commission to ban the entry of several Nokia products into the US market because of patent infringement. In a pre-trial hearing that started this week, the ITC staff presented an analysis according to which "the evidence will not establish a violation ... as to any of the asserted patents", reports the IDG News Service. However, most media reports don't mention that this relates to only four of the patents Apple asserted against Nokia. The case hit a fork in the road back in April. Nokia's alleged infringement of five other patents now forms part of the case Apple filed against HTC. Even if those four patents turned out invalid (or valid but not infringed), Apple could still prevail over Nokia. Also, not counting the patents the ITC views skeptically, Apple has 24 different patents in play against HTC and Motorola. Android has become a popular target of patent suits.
17347224
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FlorianMueller writes:
Computerworld reports that the US International Trade Commission takes Nokia's side in a patent battle in which Apple wants a number of Nokia phones to be banned from entry into the US market. According to a preliminary analysis by the ITC staff (which could theoretically still be overruled), "the evidence will not establish a violation ... as to any of the asserted patents." But this relates to only four of the patents Apple asserted. The original complaint listed five more patents but those are now part of a case involving HTC as well. Three of the four patents analyzed by the ITC so far are also used against Android phone makers HTC and Motorola in different US district courts. But so are 24 others, including several multi-touch patents. Even after the ITC's findings, Android still faces essentially the same crossfire of patents.
16760958
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FlorianMueller writes:
In addition to suing Motorola in a district court, Microsoft also lodged a complaint with the US International Trade Commission. The USITC provides a fast track to an injunction: while court cases most often take years, the USITC could ban imports of Motorola Droid phones within about 18 months. Apple's complaint against HTC was also filed with the USITC in addition to a court. Oracle could complain against vendors of Android-based phones to step up pressure on Google. At any rate, Android is caught in a formidable crossfire of patents covering a wide range of technologies.
16624270
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FlorianMueller writes:
The EU still hasn't finalized its European Interoperability Framework v2, a set of IT procurement guidelines focused on interoperability and avoiding lock-in. Glyn Moody reported on "Double standards on open standards", mentioning the Free Software Foundation Europe and criticizing the position of the Business Software Alliance. In the ensuing discussion, FSFE president Karsten Gerloff and FSFE counsel Carlo Piana face tough questions about why their organization lobbies for "open standards" hand in hand with IBM, Oracle and Google, given that IBM is being investigated by the EU over a mainframe interoperability issue, Oracle doesn't turn Java into an open standard, and Google's search index is also closed.
15765430
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FlorianMueller writes:
The European Commission's antitrust investigations against IBM has a cloud aspect. The probes were launched only a week after the new zEnterprise mainframe, a device that IBM calls a "system of systems" or "datacenter in a box". It "assimilates Unix and Linux servers", said a Trekkie at V3.co.uk. Fantasy fans might call it "one box to rule them all." With 80% of the world's business data residing on mainframes, many enterprise clouds (private, public and hybrid) will need to be tethered to a mainframe. An entire datacenter can now come under the control of one administrative tool (Tivoli). However, IBM doesn't allow the opposite approach: the execution of mainframe legacy workloads on Intel-based servers through virtualization.
15574458
submission
FlorianMueller writes:
In a recent Slashdot discussion, a Linux evangelist from Google, Jeremy Allison, said that "Google submitted an anti-software patent brief in the Bilski case." He disclosed his affiliation and encouraged double-checking. I have performed a detailed analysis of Google's amicus curiae brief in re Bilski. While it cites some patent-critical literature, the document stops far short of advocating the abolition of software patents. The brief supports the idea that patent law should expand according to technological progress. It complains about some software patents being too abstract and others making only a "conventional" use of a computer, but under patent law, that doesn't mean that all software is conventional by definition. Google's own patents, such as the PageRank patent, are (at least intended to be) non-abstract and non-conventional. Is anyone aware of Google ever having spoken out against the patentability of all software, including the software Google itself patents every day?
