Bonum Certa Men Certa

Anti-Smartphones Patent Troll Equipped With 2,000 Microsoft-led Nokia Patents

Patent stooges



Summary: Using a proxy (patent troll), Microsoft's patent cartel appears to be preparing for a legal war on Linux

AS POINTED out about an hour ago, Linux is winning in mobile platforms. There is evidence of this coming from different directions, so it seems irreversible. When GNU/Linux was winning on the server side, Microsoft paid SCO which back then launched the never-ending SCO case, so we know what Microsoft is capable of. Microsoft also tried (but got caught by the OIN) to sell some Linux-hostile patents to patent trolls [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The biggest mistake one can make is assume that Microsoft is "dead" and therefore doing nothing more to harm GNU/Linux.



As we noted earlier in the week, Microsoft's partner Attachmate now possesses UNIX, but not before Attachmate gave a lot of Linux-hostile patents to Microsoft (CPTN). As TechDirt points out, "part of the legal fight involved SCO claiming slander against Novell for telling the world that SCO didn't actually hold the copyrights for UNIX. SCO tried to claim that this hurt its business, and Novell reasonably countered that the thing that really hurt SCO's business was its own actions -- and, as part of that, showed the jury a BusinessWeek article about how SCO was "The Most Hated Company in Tech." SCO claimed this was hearsay, but the court didn't buy it, noting that it was one minor image seen by the jury over a much larger trial, but, more importantly, noted that "there was repeated testimony and argument over the course of the trial pointing out the unpopularity of the SCO Source program.""

SCO is just a bad PR absorption proxy, it is being used by others to cause trouble to Linux. Look no further than those who funded SCO, either directly or directly. "Microsoft wished to promote SCO and its pending lawsuit against IBM and the Linux operating system, explained Larry Goldfarb, a key investor in SCO who had been approached by Microsoft. "But Microsoft did not want to be seen as attacking IBM or Linux."

Microsoft recently took over Nokia (senior Nokia staff claims this), which helps Microsoft "neutralise" MeeGo, to use the word the OIN's CEO repeatedly used in his very long conversation with me. Some patents are now being passed to a patent troll, MOSAID, which is already attacking Linux companies (Groklaw covered this several days ago). The pro-Microsoft lobbyist is promoting this press release titled "MOSAID Acquires 1,200 Nokia Standards-Essential Wireless Patents and 800 Wireless Implementation Patents". To quote a portion:

The patents and patent applications cover technologies used in a wide range of mobile communications devices and services. One hundred of the patent families, consisting of approximately 1,200 patents and applications, have been declared essential to second, third and fourth-generation communications standards, including GSM (Global Systems for Mobile communications),


Dr. Glyn Moody quotes "expected to generate income from lawsuits" and says that this is "totally sick". Here is an article about it. "Nokia sees Canadian IP firm manage 2,000 of its patents in licensing and lawsuit push" says the headline. So Elop's (Microsoft's) Nokia is now using a proxy for extortion. Why? Because unlike Nokia, it cannot be sued back. It has no products. Here at Techrights we've warned about Nokia's patents since 2007. We did this many times, even though Nokia was exploring Linux at the time. In other news today, "Google Chairman Eric Schmidt Weighs In On Patent Issues: They’re ‘Terrible’". Who can blame him for saying that? To quote:

Eric Schmidt, Google’s Executive Chairman and former CEO, took the stage at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco today to talk about a host of topics, including the success of Google Apps, his feelings about Steve Jobs, Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola, with the conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff even ranging into Schmidt’s thoughts on the current landscape facing the U.S. patent market.

The executive chairman began by addressing the purchase of Nortel Networks’ roster of patents by a group of buyers that included some of Google’s rivals, including Microsoft and Apple. Fellow TechCruncher MG Siegler covered the back-and-forth between Google and Microsoft that unfolded in regard to the supposition that the group that bought the Nortel patents was effectively attempting to cut the legs out from underneath Android.


Also see the mew blog post "Patent Shill Attacks Google for Complaining about Patent Predation" and mind the new article "Apple Cries About Samsung and Motorola's Patent 'Monopoly'". [via]

I. Apple Claims Android Phone makers are "Abusing" Patent System

Yes, this is the same Apple that has initiated a patent war [1][2][3][4][5] with these smartphone rivals. And it's the same rival that has tried to remove competing products from the market, rather than agree to negotiate a licensing fee. And it's the same company that patented multi-touch gestures 26 years after they were invented at a research university. And it's the same company that allegedly doctored evidence in European courts [1][2] to support its lawsuits against Android.

Yet in Apple's rose-colored glasses it is Samsung and Motorola who are bullies. Apparently Apple is irate about these companies' countersuits, which rely largely on patents covering wireless communications.



Apple and Microsoft are waging patent war on Linux, through Android. Now they are using trolls to prepare for legal attacks that are harder for Google to counter. Where on Earth are antitrust regulators? This is sheer corruption. It is a cartel and it is a clear distortion of the market... brought to the world by Apple to Microsoft. They cannot compete on a technical basis, so they cheat, they extort, they intimidate, and they hide behind proxies like CPTN and apparently MOSAID.

Recent Techrights' Posts

12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
This New Determination on a Case Echoes the Modus Operandi of Microsoft's Serial Strangler vs Techrights (Its Online Decision/Judgment Says Truth and Public Interest Defend the Publisher)
Noel Anthony Clarke hopefully has enough money left to pay his victims, which include the publishers
 
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Was Right About "Sideloading" in 1996
We now have computers that treat booting GNU/Linux like an act of "Sideloading"
Panama: Windows Down From 97% "Market Share" to Less Than 30%
In 2009, Windows was measured at 97.24% (compared to 62.32% right now or less than 30% if one also counts Android)
The UEFI 9/11 - Part I - Introduction to Impending Catastrophe (Microsoft Preventing People From Booting Non-Windows Systems)
eight-part series
Why Techrights is Slow Today (Bot Floods)
We don't know if those bots are connected to LLMs (we have not checked), but that is a possibility
Slopwatch: DDoS Slop, LinuxBSDos.com Spam, and Slopfarms in Google News, Including webpronews.com
Among the news we also found fakes, albeit not so much today
Links 26/08/2025: "Ballooning Debt" in France and "Transnational Repression in the UK"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/08/2025: Listening to Alcest and Google Doing Evil (Users Installing Software is "Sideloading" and Prohibited)
Links for the day
Links 26/08/2025: DNS Tampering and TikTok Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows "Market Share" Overestimated
Microsoft's income sources are shrinking
We Shall See...
My wife and I are hardly the first victims of Brett Wilson LLP
Going Offline
There was life before the Net
The Register MS Has Apparently Shut Down Its Office
It is basically a fake address on the face of it
There Are Also Expectations of IBM Layoffs Very Soon With "Narrative Control."
Some of them mention Red Hat and how IBM failed to achieve anything substantial with that acquisition
After at Least Two Rounds of Mass Layoffs in August Microsoft Said to Have "September Layoff Confirmed - Performance Based"
Those "M5 level meetings" sound plausible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 25, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 25, 2025
Slopwatch: Slopfarms All Over Google News and Real News Sites Pushed Out of Visibility
Google News is dying (as a tool of value)
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Numeric-only VM and Alhena 5.3.0
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: ‘Panama Playlists’ and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit Aims at Class Action
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Empathy Towards Autistic People and Old Gadgets
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025