07.03.12
Nokia is Already Fighting Android With Patents, at Microsoft’s Behest
Once a maker, now a troll
Summary: An accumulation of reports about the kamikaze manoeuvre of Stephen Elop
DR. Glyn Moody explains “Why Patent Injunctions Are Even Worse For Open Source” than for proprietary software. Recently we saw a number of injunctions issued against Android devices and Nokia seems to be taking aim at Android via proxies such as MOSAID.
Nokia does not deny that it plans to focus on its patents. Some Microsoft PR from a former Microsoft employee, who does not disclose this conflict of interest when he reports for CNET, says that Microsoft’s moles (at Nokia) have a “contingency plan” with Microsoft. It doesn’t even say what the contingency is, it’s just deceiving companies (maybe RIM) so as to lure them in rather than having them run away. Is this a patent-centric contingency? Here is a recent headline:
Nokia turns patent troll
[...]
Nokia is to be feared as a patent troll as it has one of the widest patent portfolios in the industry, along with Ericsson and Qualcomm.
The patents are for technology like synchronising information, including calendars, between the smartphone and mainframe computers, extending battery life and allowing mobile phones to be compatible with different systems.
Based on Google’s complaint to the government [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], Nokia does in fact target Android with its patents, maybe behind the scenes (a lot of extortion starts like this). To quote that last article, “Beleaguered Nokia (NYSE:NOK) announces that it is amenable to selling a portion of portfolio of some 30,000 patents, to help raise needed cash.”
This is accompanied by propaganda from Elop and his gangster friends at Microsoft [1, 2]. It’s akin to Ballmer’s “balance-sheet liability” remarks about GNU/Linux. Elop is a troll, not just a mole, and his bosses at Microsoft are unlikely to face prison time for a conspiracy that destroyed many jobs (and will continue to destroy many more).
Nokia is not the only company which is gradually becoming nothing more than a patent troll. Watch what Openwave is doing based on articles from April
Updated: Openwave, ‘Inventors Of The Mobile Internet’, Sells Software Biz To Focus On Patents
Mobile messaging, in its traditional sense, is on the decline, and the patent world is hot, hot, hot, and today one company that plays in both areas showed where it sees its stronger ties at the moment. Openwave, which calls itself the “inventor of the mobile internet” for the early role it played in developing mobile data technology, today announced it was selling its core software business — messaging and mediation operations — and will instead concentrate on its patent holdings in smart devices, cloud technology and unified messaging.
There are other such parasites coming into sight — companies that act as a pile of patents rather than producers. Here is Intel arming itself with wireless patents by acquisition [1, 2, 3, 4]. Being the abuser that it is, Intel will use those patents to extort competitors (usually behind the scenes, not in the courtroom).
Patent troll Acacia has been arming itself too (“Acacia Subsidiary Acquires Rights to 6 Prominent Patent Portfolios Comprising 68 Patents Covering a Wide Range of Software Technologies”), leading to the extortions that tend to be characterised as “settlement”. Those are becoming more prevalent. It’s sad to see Nokia joining the ranks of those abusive companies that have no social right to exist; they are parasitical. █
