LINUX devices (sometimes with GNU in them) are taking over the world. GNU/Linux isn't just the de facto platform of servers anymore; it's also a de facto platform in the embedded/devices/gadgets space. But Microsoft is eager to turn that into a Microsoft cash cow, e.g. with patented filesystems of Microsoft and much more. Watch TomTom and what Microsoft did to this modest Dutch company 8 years ago. It didn't end too well for TomTom, which spent a lot of money on lawyers and ended up settling with Microsoft anyway (paying about half a million dollars and surrendering technically too). To Microsoft, the whole lawsuit was a warning shot, designed to scare other small- or medium-sized companies into paying 'protection' money without any questions asked. Even when patents granted by the USPTO are not valid elsewhere (no software patents in Europe).
"To Microsoft, the whole lawsuit was a warning shot, designed to scare other small- or medium-sized companies into paying 'protection' money without any questions asked."Linux devices in the form of Android have become bigger (in the installed base/market share sense) than Windows. It's still all over the news this week. Does that mean that proprietary software giants are doomed? Well, not if they become patent parasites. The top EPO grantee, Philips, has apparently notified Archos, which makes Android devices, that it wants 'protection' money. As a reminder, Philips' patent assertion people are working by proxy via Intertrust among other tentacles. Here is a new article about the subject:
Dutch Court Rules in Standard Essential Patent Abuse of Dominance Claim
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After Philips notified Archos that it was using Philips’s SEPs, the two parties entered into negotiations. In July 2015, Philips made Archos an offer of EUR 0.7 per product sold that used UMTS and/or LTE functionality. In January 2016, Archos countered with an offer of EUR 0.07 per product.
In a guest post for this blog shortly following the announcement, Eric Stasik of Swedish consulting firm Avvika AB, made the argument that in many way Ericsson’s announcement does not represent a big departure from its approach to 4G/LTE. In 2009, for example, Ericsson disclosed that its royalty rate for 4G/LTE devices was expected to be around 1.5% for handsets. In his piece Stasik then crunched the numbers arguing that for the average device the new rate would not be a significant change on the Swedish company’s approach to 4G/LTE but would be higher for the cheapest devices. At the very top end, he suggested, the new rate would represent a significant discount on the current position.
The Federal Circuit has denied Google’s petition for rehearing en banc. The patent challenger asked the Federal Circuit to overturn Versata in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Cuozzo. The issue is well known to attorneys involved in the post-grant review of covered-business-method (CBM) patents.
According to the statute, the CBM process begins with a petition and institution decision by the Director. Once instituted, the PTAB holds trial and issues a final decision. The statute indicates that CBM review may be instituted “only for” CBM patents but that the Director’s institution decision “shall be final and nonappealable.”
"These defensive patent pacts have one major loophole: they're not effective against trolls."In light of all this, recall what we wrote yesterday about PAX, which is definitely defensive. This was mentioned here the other day because we expect the facts to be twisted by patent maximalists.
"PAX looks a lot like the OIN (Open Invention Network) but Made By Google IMHO," Red Hat's Jan Wildeboer wrote. "OIN is focused on Linux rather than Android," I told him, noting that Oracle in OIN had attacked OIN's Google. These defensive patent pacts have one major loophole: they're not effective against trolls. Sometimes they even admit this publicly. Benjamin Henrion joked, "let's submit those 230K patents for an Alice review," but many of these patents (from the likes of Samsung and LG) are actually hardware patents, so the Alice test isn't applicable.
It didn't take long for pundits like Andrew Orlowski to pick on PAX. Here is what he wrote yesterday:
Samsung, LG and Foxconn are among the founding members of a patent pool for Android phone makers under Google's benevolent eye. Google hopes the "community-driven clearinghouse" for IP sharing will fend off patent trolls.
Google already operates a non-aggression alliance for Android phone makers called License on Transfer, launched 2014, in which patent holders agree not to use them aggressively against other members after the sale of a patent. The LOT Network is run by ARM's former head of IP, Ken Seddon. That move was designed to deter NPEs (Non-Practising Entities, aka trolls) from buying up industry-standard patents already in patent pools to collect royalties, and stemmed from Google's panic purchase of Motorola in 2011 for its IP portfolio.
Microsoft and large Chinese vendors are notable by their absence from PAX.
"We expect a lot more of these trolls to go after Android OEMs, GNU/Linux distributors, so-called 'cloud' hosts like Amazon and their clients."Yesterday, friends of Intellectual Ventures said that this troll now focuses on "monetising existing portfolio through sales and licences," taking note of Dominion Harbor and Equitable IP (trolls of the troll of Microsoft). To quote: "Earlier this year IV announced the sale of more than 4,000 former Kodak patents to Dominion Harbor and it has made a number of disposals to other monetisation entities, including Equitable IP. Most if not all of those deals have involved some cash upfront with with IV then receiving a portion of future licensing revenues from the assets."
We expect a lot more of these trolls to go after Android OEMs, GNU/Linux distributors, so-called 'cloud' hosts like Amazon and their clients. It's the only way for Microsoft to survive now that Vista 10 brings no concrete income, just users' data (while Windows' relative market share keeps declining across form factors). ⬆