06.19.11
Linux-Hostile Patent Lobbying Disguised as Analysis
Summary: Florian Müller is spinning and manipulating the news again, also by calling patent “trolls” those who are not (while supporting Microsoft’s stance)
SOME of the attacks on Linux are being magnified by those whose agenda is clearly Linux-hostile. Let’s put things in perspective.
Apple has been suing Linux/Android companies since about a year ago and its latest target is Samsung, which already pays Microsoft for Linux (since 2007). Various reports indicate that Apple is increasing the volume of patent ammunition with more and more patents [1, 2]. This includes “Method of tethering a mobile phone to a PC to share a data connection”. It is said that “more products [are] included” now that the complaint is modified to apply increased pressure against Linux/Android. Suffice to say, Microsoft Florian is still distorting and lying, which is basically what lobbyists are hired to do. Well, the president of the FFII explains to him that “[c]ounter-suing for when you are attacked is not trolling.”
“This lobbyist is lobbying against Google and for Microsoft’s interests, so he has already lost credibility among those who know better.”For those who missed what we wrote last week, Microsoft Florian pushes for coverage of the Nokia-Apple agreement as something which vilifies Android rather than Microsoft and the company it abducted, Nokia. In the coverage of this case we occasionally see him injecting his presence in the usual way, probably by mass-mailing journalists again. This is how he (t)rolls.
Speaking of Nokia, Nokia’s Symbian patent proved that the company gradually becomes a troll in the UK, but fortunately this does not go as far as a 3G patent after a High Court ruling in the UK. Expect Florian to play ball for Nokia now that it serves Microsoft agenda.
While it is true that Nokia might go after Android next, it is premature to use this as ‘dirt’ and also daemonise Google — not Nokia/Microsoft — for it. But that is what Microsoft Florian has done over the past week, banging on about this and quoting Microsoft folks like Bott (also chatting with Sam Ramji and Microsoft Jack). Microsoft Florian pushes for coverage of whatever is bad for Linux. If something does not refer to Linux, then Mr. “FOSSpatents” will find some way to spin it against FOSS. He is apologising for Microsoft and also turning the Nokia deal with Apple into an amusing case against Linux, as always, which is really his agenda right from the start (when his lobbying started over a year ago, without naming the client/s but promoting TurboHercules, a partly Microsoft-owned company that sent him documents). This lobbyist is lobbying against Google and for Microsoft’s interests, so he has already lost credibility among those who know better. Tweets like this one leave little room for doubt, even though he softened following the ousting of anti-Google AstroTurfers (hired by the partly Microsoft-owned Facebook).
The funny thing is, even those who once collaborated with Florian have mostly turned against him as they clarify that “Skyhook seeks to enforce its soft patent, so they can be called a patent troll. Google is not trolling yet. Microsoft is.” This was said in reference to patent trolls attacking Google over Android, Skyhook in the case (previously covered here).
As we showed before, many of the patent trolls which attack Android have some Microsoft connections. Microsoft has also been lobbying against the Nortel patents going to Google for defensive purposes. Not only trolls are attacking (trolls cannot be counter-sued as they have no products). It’s also Microsoft and Oracle, which seeks damages as follows:
-
Oracle Seeks ‘Billions’ From Google in Java Technology Patent Lawsuit
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) is seeking as much as $6.1 billion in damages in a patent- and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc. that claims the search-engine company’s Android software uses technology related to the Java programming language, according to court papers.
The extent of the claims was disclosed yesterday in San Francisco federal court by Oracle, as it sought to prevent Google from filing under seal documents in the case stating Oracle’s monetary claims.
-
Oracle claims billions of dollars in damages from Google’s use of Java in Android
-
Oracle Seeks ‘Billions’ From Google
-
Oracle sues Google for huge piece of Android pie
-
Oracle seeks billions from Google over Java patent
-
Oracle seeks ‘billions’ with Google Android suit
The company’s damage claims are backed by Oracle expert testimony, but according to Oracle’s court filing, Google opposed the testimony, claiming that it included “all Google advertising revenue from all Android devices and all harm from fragmentation of Java” and that it argued Google should pay Oracle a 50 per cent royalty rate on Android devices.
Some of the above is being pushed the lobbyist, who keeps predicting doom and gloom for Android even though it’s growing. █
