Thread: Who's suing who in the Mobile World

I had no idea it's this fucking ridiculous. I wonder how many of these patents are for ridiculous things like "a screen that shows text"?

Nokia seem a tad aggrieved

Most arrows pointing at Apple too

Arrows pointing at Apple means everyone's suing Apple, or Apple's suing everyone?

Apple wins, because they are smarter than the other kunts

And their appetite for patents doesn't appear to be on the wane, either:

And so it ends. One hundred and sixteen years after its founding, Nortel Networks has reached a deal to sell all its remaining patents for a remarkable $4.5 billion to a consortium of six high-tech giants - Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony.
The price easily trumped an opening bid of $900 million by Google for all 6,000-plus Nortel patents, and emerged after four days of bidding at the New York offices of Nortel's lawyers.
Assuming the deal passes all the regulatory hurdles, it will be very good news for Nortel creditors - from pensioners and suppliers to debt holders. The amount exceeds the $3.2 billion raised to date through the sale of all of Nortel's active businesses - involving wireless, optical and telephone gear.
Nortel's top remaining executive said the bidding was "very robust."
"The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world," said George Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel.
The patent haul is also far greater than the several hundred million dollars former CEO Mike Zafirovski reckoned Nortel would pull in. Of course, Zafirovski's estimate was made in 2009 near the depth of the stock market crash.
Nortel expects to close the sale of its patents by Sept. 30, at which point the firm should have about $7 billion available to distribute to its various creditors. The total value of the claims against Nortel is still guesswork.
Nor is it yet clear how the proceeds will be divided among the different jurisdictions - mediation efforts led by former U.S. federal district court judge Layn R. Phillips failed in April.
Creditors in various countries have filed motions in favour of their preferred allocation of the proceeds. Three weeks ago, the Canadian and U.S. bankruptcy judges indicated it would be some time before they ruled on the motions. In the meantime, they suggested mediation efforts continue.
Nortel was the biggest telecommunication company in the world in 2000, with sales of more than $30 billion. Even after accounting scandals and mismanagement, it was generating $11 billion in sales in 2008 - before filing for bankruptcy in January 2009.
The $4.5 billion raised in the patent auction could play in favour of Canadian creditors. That's because the Canadian estate is believed to own most of the patents. The cash from their sale would therefore come to Canada. However, in previous sales of Nortel assets, judges have been careful to note that the proceeds should be held in escrow, with no bias attached to how the cash is allocated.
Nortel began assessing interest in its extensive patent portfolio in May 2010, eventually holding talks with more than 100 potential buyers. Forty companies were keen enough to sign confidentiality agreements and study the intellectual property in detail.
The patents run the full range of communications technologies - including 4G wireless, optical, voice, Internet, data networking, semiconductors and even social networking.
While Nortel had lost its lead in many of the technologies, the patents are considered useful in a number of ways.
Research In Motion, which has a relatively small portfolio of patents of its own, can use the Nortel assets to develop new products of its own, or defend itself against patent lawsuits.
Wireless giant Ericsson - which already has an extensive library of wireless patents - likely made a different calculation. The Swedish firm earlier paid more than $1 billion to buy Nortel's wireless technology business, including a number of patents. Unknown was what percentage of those patents was acquired outright, or merely licensed. Ericsson may have purchased Nortel's patents to avoid paying royalties on them.

Samsung Electronics Co has dropped a lawsuit against Apple Inc that claimed Apple copied many of Samsung's innovations, Bloomberg reports.
Samsung dropped the suit on Thursday, Bloomberg said. The news service quoted Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based company as saying the company wanted to "streamline" the legal proceedings.
Spokespersons from Samsung and Apple did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Apple and Samsung are part of a wider web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in smartphones and tablets, as rivals aggressively rush into a market in which Apple jumpstarted with iPhone and iPad.
Samsung had launched the suit in April as a counter-claim against Apple, which has sued Samsung previously, saying Samsung's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copies the iPhone and iPad.

1 down.

it's ridiculous, they are desperate for revenues, so like little fiefdoms, they are fighting for territories so they can exploit the dumb mass and the "landscape" behind them

Microsoft is squeezing the Android patent cash cow as hard as it can, with Samsung in the firing line this time.

According to The Economic Times, Microsoft is demanding that Samsung pay $15 for each Android handset it makes. The report also goes on to suggest that Samsung would seek to lower this figure to some $10 for each handset ’in exchange for a deeper alliance with Microsoft for the U.S. company’s Windows platform.’

These patent deals are lucrative. Microsoft has already struck a deal with handset maker HTC where it’s estimated to receive some $5 for every handset. Nokia has also recently struck a deal with Apple which rakes in some $11.50 for each iPhone sold.

Samsung is the #2handset maker selling some 19 million smartphones between April and June, and it’s expected that it will take the #1 slot from Nokia pretty soon, so it’s a big target for Microsoft to go after.

Gives some credence to rumours that WP7 has been seen running on the Galaxy S II.....

Re Post #5:

The Canadian government said yesterday it is looking into whether the country's laws governing foreign investment apply to Nortel's US$4.5 billion sale of patents to a consortium of largely foreign technology giants, reports Dow Jones Newswires. A short statement said Canada's Industry Minister, Christian Paradis, has asked his department to determine whether the transaction, announced last week, is subject to review under the country's Investment Canada Act.

Originally Posted by Plan B

1 down.

And now 1 up.

Apple Inc has filed a fresh complaint against Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp with a U.S. trade panel over unspecified portable electronic devices and software, according to the panel's web site.
Apple already filed a separate action last year against HTC before the U.S. International Trade Commission, where HTC then levelled its own patent infringement claims against Apple.
The latest complaint by Apple was filed on July 8, according to a brief description on the ITC's web site on Monday. A copy of the complaint was not available.
Apple has launched patent lawsuits over its iPhones and iPads against different handset manufacturers, including HTC and Samsung.
Grace Lei, HTC's general counsel, said the company continues to deny all of Apple's past and present claims.
"HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," Lei said in a statement.

This one could run and run. If the c*nts spent half as much on R&D as they do on lawyers, we'd probably see some really good stuff being developed.

Google Acquires 1,023 IBM Patents to Shore Up Android Defense

By Jason Ankeny, FierceMobileContent | More Articles
September 16, 2011 | Comments (1)


Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) has acquired 1,023 patents from IBM as it continues its battle to defend its Android mobile operating system from legal threats mounted by the likes of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) , Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) .

Patent assignments recorded earlier this week on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website indicate that Google acquired the IBM patents on Aug. 17. Bloomberg reports that Google had already purchased 1,030 IBM patents in a separate agreement finalized in July. Google confirmed the latest transaction without divulging details or additional terms. IBM declined to comment.

Google finalized the second IBM patents deal just days after revealing an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI ) for roughly $12.5 billion. In a blog entry announcing the Motorola purchase, Google CEO Larry Page stated the company made the deal in large part to enhance its product portfolio in an effort to "protect Android from anti-competitive threats."

An Oracle suit filed last year seeks billions in damages against Google, alleging "approximately one-third of Android's Application Programmer Interface (API) packages" are "derivative of Oracle's copyrighted Java API packages" and related documents. (Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems and its Java programming language in April 2009.) According to court filings submitted in late June, Oracle wants Google to pay $0.9 billion to $1.4 billion upfront for infringing on its patents. Oracle also wants 15 percent of mobile advertising revenues generated across the Android platform. Late last year, Google said its mobile ad business operates at a run rate of $1 billion annually.

Earlier this year, Google also lost out in a patent auction to a coalition of six companies including Apple, EMC, Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC ) , Microsoft, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM ) and Sony for Nortel's patent portfolio. The consortium paid $4.5 billion, and Apple contributed $2.6 billion, though antitrust officials at the Justice Department are reportedly investigating the sale. Google has subsequently been rumored to be interested in purchasing InterDigital for that company's patent position.

A scathing blog post published last month by Google senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond alleges Apple, Microsoft and Oracle are attempting to "strangle" Android by leveraging "bogus patents" that could drive up costs for devices running the mobile operating system. Drummond contends that Google's opponents have banded together to acquire patents held by firms like Nortel and Novell "to make sure Google didn't get them ... Our competitors want to impose a 'tax' for these dubious patents that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers. They want to make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation."

Last week, Apple upped the stakes again, alleging Android began taking shape almost two decades ago while Google senior vice president and Android chief Andy Rubin was employed within the Apple ranks. In a reply to the International Trade Commission's ongoing investigation into Apple's complaint against Android device manufacturer HTC, Apple states "Mr. Rubin began his career at Apple in the early 1990s and worked as a low-level engineer specifically reporting to the inventors of the '263 [realtime API] patent at the exact time their invention was being conceived and developed ... It is thus no wonder that the infringing Android platform used the claimed subsystem approach of the '263 patent that allows for flexibility of design and enables the platform to be 'highly customizable and expandable' as HTC touts."

REUTERS - Oracle Corp on Thursday estimated it suffered roughly $1.16 billion of damages from Google Inc's alleged copyright and patent infringement of Java technology used in the Android operating system.
In a court filing, Oracle said Google's claim that the damages sought exceeded $2.2 billion "mischaracterizes" a report by Oracle damages expert Iain Cockburn, a Boston University business professor.
The lowered damages estimate is one-fifth the maximum $6.1 billion that Oracle had earlier sought in the case.
Oracle had sued Google in August 2010, claiming that the Internet search company's Android system infringed Java patents that Oracle had acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems Inc seven months earlier. It also alleged copyright infringement.
The lawsuit is one of several among phone and software companies seeking a greater share of profits in the growing market for smartphones and tablets.
A trial is set to begin on Oct. 31 before U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. The judge had on July 22 rejected Oracle's request for up to $6.1 billion, but gave the company a chance to revise its claim.
In a letter to Alsup, Oracle lawyer Steven Holtzman said the revised damages estimate includes as much as $202 million for patent infringement, and as much as $960 million for copyright infringement.
He urged the judge to deny Google's request to exclude parts of Cockburn's report from the case.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google is based in Mountain View, California, and Oracle in nearby Redwood City.
The case in Oracle America Inc v. Google Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 10-03561.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Carol Bishopric)

It just gets more and more ridiculous....

Samsung seeks sales ban on iPhone 5

• Published: 20/09/2011 at 09:32 AM
• Online news: Computer

South Korea's Samsung Electronics will file lawsuits to try to block the sale of Apple's iPhone 5 as part of its global legal tussle with the US technology giant, a report said Tuesday.
A Samsung Electronics flag flies in Seoul. The South Korean copmpany will file lawsuits to try to block the sale of Apple's iPhone 5 as part of its global legal tussle with the US technology giant, a report said Tuesday.

The two firms are at loggerheads in a series of patent lawsuits over the technology and design of their smartphones and tablet computers.
Maeil Business Newspaper cited a Samsung official as saying the firm would "strategically" launch the legal actions as Apple was expected to start selling the much-anticipated smartphone next month.
"We have not yet decided whether to launch the suits in South Korea or in a third country," the unidentified official was quoted as saying.
It was unclear whether Samsung would seek a sales ban only in South Korea or internationally. A Samsung Electronics spokesman declined to comment.
Apple has accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying the technology and designs of its market-leading iPhone and iPad.
It has filed complaints in countries including Germany and Australia, seeking a ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab.
Samsung, the world's biggest memory chip maker and the number two mobile phone maker after Nokia, has launched counter-suits claiming its US rival infringed its wireless technology patents.
The Suwon-based company earlier this month was forced to withdraw its new tablet PC from a major electronics fair in Berlin after a German court approved a request from Apple to ban sales and marketing.
Samsung however vowed to appeal, saying it would actively take "all available measures, including legal options" to defend its presence in the European market.
The company said last week it had filed complaints in France against Apple alleging infringement of three mobile phone technology patents in the US firm's iPhone and iPad.
The complaint was filed before a Paris district court in July and the first hearing is expected in December.
Despite their legal battles, Apple is one of the biggest customers for Samsung's chips and display screens.

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co won a round of its bruising global patent fight with Apple Inc on Friday when an Australian court lifted a ban on the sale of its Galaxy tablet computer in time for the busy Christmas shopping season.
But the South Korean firm's triumph in a Sydney courtroom was tempered by a setback the previous day in Paris, where another court rejected its bid to block sales of Apple's iPhone 4S in France.
Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in some 30 legal cases in 10 countries since April, as they jostle for the top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet markets.
The Australian High Court ruling allows Samsung to offer the device to Australian shoppers for the final weeks of the key Christmas shopping season and came a week after a U.S. court denied Apple's plea to ban Galaxy phones and tablets in the country.
Apple on Thursday appealed against the U.S. decision, which deprived the iPhone and iPad maker of crucial leverage.
In France, Samsung's bid to impose a preliminary sales ban on the iPhone 4S was rejected. Calling the request out of proportion, the court also ordered Samsung to pay 100,000 euros ($133,900) of Apple's legal fees, according to the decision.
Samsung said on Friday it would review the written grounds for the French ruling and continue to exercise all available options to assert its intellectual property rights.
Apple first sued Samsung in the United States in April, saying the firm's smartphones and tablets slavishly copied its iPhone and iPad.
Samsung shot back, suing Apple for infringing on its telecommunications technology, and later expanded its suit to include Apple's iPhone 4S, released in October.
The South Korean firm filed preliminary injunction motions against the iPhone 4S in Japan, France, Italy and Australia in October.
In Australia, sales of iPhone 4S are allowed to continue after a court agreed to hear a patent infringement case brought by Samsung in March.
"If the Italian bid (by Samsung) also fails, the time may come for both Apple and Samsung to realise that you can't win a marathon with a sprint," said intellectual property expert Florian Mueller.
"The problem with those 'sprints' -- in terms of requests for preliminary injunctions that courts can grant after a fast-track proceeding -- is that when they fail, they do nothing to enhance the credibility of the respective plaintiff."
SALES RESUME AFTER NEARLY 5-MONTH ABSENCE
Samsung's Galaxy tablet 10.1, which is considered one of the main alternatives to Apple's iPad, has been kept out of the Australian market since late July.
The Australian market, while not huge, is the first launch market for Apple products outside the United States.
In late November, Samsung won a rare legal victory after an Australian Federal Court unanimously decided to lift a preliminary injunction, imposed by a lower court, on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Apple had appealed against the decision in the High Court, which is the final court of appeal. Apple could not be reached for comment immediately.
Samsung is the world's top smartphone maker, but a distant second to Apple in tablets.
The quarrel has triggered expectations that some of the pair's $5 billion (3 billion pounds)-plus relationship may be up for grabs. Samsung counts Apple as its biggest customer and makes parts central to Apple's mobile devices.
Global tablet sales are expected to explode to more than 50 million in 2011. Apple, which has sold more than 30 million iPads so far, is expected to continue to dominate the market in the near term.
Now Amazon.com has also entered the fray with its Kindle Fire tablet, but Samsung's Galaxy line-up is widely deemed the closest rival in terms of capability and design to the iPad.
Shares in Samsung fell 0.4 percent by 0355 GMT versus a 1.8 percent drop in the wider market.

good news comes in pair,

BBC News - Motorola wins Apple wireless patent fight in Germany

Whether any of these will come in handy in Mobile suits remains to be seen, but it's still a lot of cash...

Software giant Microsoft has bought technology patents and related applications from AOL for about $1.1 billion.
AOL is expected to retain a licence for the 800 patents which relate to instant messaging, online chat and email, online media, search and browsers.
AOL chief executive and CEO Tim Armstrong has been under pressure from unhappy shareholders with Starboard Value leading a proxy campaign to win seats on AOL's board. AOL has promised to return a "significant portion" of the sale proceeds to shareholders.
Shares in AOL soared to $26.86, an increase of 46% in New York, as news of the deal broke out.
Armstrong said: "We continue to hold a valuable patent portfolio as highlighted by the license we entered into with Microsoft. The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value."
Patents have of late become hot properties with expensive battles being fought for control over the technology underpinning smartphones, social networks and tablet computers. Google struck the biggest deal so far, when it announced plans to purchase Motorola Mobility last year for US$12.5 billion, largely for its portfolio of mobile patents.
AOL will not only be retaining licenses for the patents it has sold, but is keeping more than 300 patents and patent applications relating to advertising, search, content generation and management, social networking, streaming and security. It has however, granted Microsoft a non-exclusive licence to this portfolio.
Brad Smith, general counsel and EVP of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft, said that acquisition of the AOL's patents will be “a valuable portfolio that we have been following for years and analysing in detail for several months.
"AOL ran a competitive auction and by participating, Microsoft was able to achieve our two primary goals: obtaining a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio."

A win for the good guys.

Motorola wins in Apple patent row ruling

• Published: 13/04/2012 at 10:32 PM

Motorola has scored a victory in a patent war with rival Apple when a German court upheld a decision banning it from offering services for syncrhonising e-mails on its devices in Germany.

The Mannheim regional court found that Apple's iCloud and MobileMe services breached the patents on the technology held by Motorola Mobility and it ordered Apple to pay damages to Motorola, but did not specify the amount.
The ruling marks a victory in a series of bitter patent war between various technology giants.
Earlier this month, European regulators opened two antitrust investigations against Motorola Mobility, bought by US Internet giant Google.
The European Commission said it would check whether Motorola had abused a dominant market position on patents by seeking injunctions to stop Apple and Microsoft from selling their iPhone, iPad, Xbox and Windows products.
Microsoft and Apple accuse Motorola Mobility of unfairly using its extensive patent portfolio to try to block competing products through court orders across the EU and by charging excessive licensing prices for essential patents.

I can only assume Microsoft and Apple are taking the piss.

Another win for Motorola (or Google by proxy).

Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents in making its popular Xbox gaming consoles, a judge for the US International Trade Commission has ruled.
ITC Judge David Shaw said that Microsoft infringed four patents and did not infringe on a fifth in the complaint.
The full commission will review the judge's decision and issue a final ruling in August.
The patents in the complaint are for technology like wireless connections for the Xbox to the internet and video compression to speed transmission.

Originally Posted by Plan B

Another win for Motorola (or Google by proxy).

Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents in making its popular Xbox gaming consoles, a judge for the US International Trade Commission has ruled.
ITC Judge David Shaw said that Microsoft infringed four patents and did not infringe on a fifth in the complaint.
The full commission will review the judge's decision and issue a final ruling in August.
The patents in the complaint are for technology like wireless connections for the Xbox to the internet and video compression to speed transmission.

Now that's interesting... I wonder how much Google pay Microsoft for Android licensing? I wouldn't be surprise to see the same number bandied around in return.

Oracle Gets Pounded in Week 1 of Google Copyright Case

By Dan Rowinski / April 27, 2012 03:19 PM / 1 Comment

inShare10

As Phase 1 of Oracle’s case against Google’s use of Java in its Android software draws to a close, Oracle has taken a pounding from Google’s lawyers.
With closing arguments due early next week, the jury is about to rule on testimony from a parade of star witnesses, including Android chief Andy Rubin, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and especially Jonathan Schwartz, the former CEO of Sun Microsystems, who testified that Sun never charged for Java APIs.

As a reminder, the fundamental issue in this case is whether Google violated the copyright on Oracle’s intellectual property by using Java APIs in the design of Android. The APIs are the crux of Oracle’s case – as the idea of copyrighting Java as a language is too far-fetched, even by Oracle’s standards. But Java without its APIs is basically useless, the way the English alphabet would be without a writing utensil to create words.
Schwartz Hurts Oracle
Schwartz was CEO of Sun Microsystems before it was acquired by Oracle, and negotiated with Google concerning Java licenses after the search giant acquired Android.
In addition to saying that Sun never charged for Java APIs, Schwartz explained that Sun’s goal for Java when the language was created in the mid-to-late 1990s was to build an open-source universal language that was not reliant on Microsoft or Windows. Giving the APIs away for free was the only way to do that.
From Groklaw’s coverage of the case:

Furthermore, Schwartz said there were several other uses of Java, such as GNU Classpath and Apache Harmony that never required licenses from Sun to create “forks” of Java. He said that Sun could not do anything about it.
One of Oracle’s primary pieces of evidence is a series of emails from Google programmers and executives wondering if the search company needed to license Java. Schwartz said that negotiations with Google were primarily over licensing the Java name to create a “Java Linux” phone. In the end, those negotiations became moot when Google adopted the name Android for the branding of the operating system.
Scott McNealy, one of Sun’s co-founders and its longtime CEO, testified about Java’s importance to Sun’s bottom line, noting that Motorola and Nokia licensed Java technologies for mobile devices. Google’s lawyers tried to discredit McNealy by pointing out his close personal relationship with Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison.
Both sides offered testimony to establish technical foundations and provide historical documentation of the relationship between Google and Sun over the use of Java in Android. On that front, Oracle provided emails between Schmidt, Rubin, Schwartz and others that it said showed that Googleexecutives had internal discussions regarding whether they needed to license Java.
In the end, Google decided not to license any Java technologies and built most of Android in a “clean room” environment with the help of outside contractors. The 37 APIs that Oracle is claiming copyright infringement on were built in that clean-room environment.
Jury Verdict Likely Next Week
The final arguments for Phase 1 are tentatively scheduled for Monday, with the case heading to the jury later in the week. If the jury understands the key issues here (and they should after a week of technical testimony), it seems likely that Oracle will lose most if not all of its copyright case.
But that’s far from the end. After the copyright portion concludes, the trial will then move to Phase 2, which deals with two Oracle “patents” it claims Google infringed upon.