06.22.11
Posted in Antitrust, Apple, Microsoft, Windows at 6:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“We’ve always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
–Steve Jobs, Apple
Summary: Software ‘thieves’ get aggressive and also get sued for their abuses; somehow, Mirosoft is getting off the hook
APPLE WAS NEVER a nice company. It was never an innovative company, either. In other words, it does not really contribute much to technology, it is an imitator that excels at marketing (a non-producing industry). Apple is about branding and at times about “enforcing” those brands, where enforcement is merely a euphemism for bullying. Consider those Chinese factories that Apple had shut down, for hypocritically claiming them to be ‘stealing’. Here is a new video that we shared earlier about this subject: [thanks to TinyOgg]
Putting new cartoons about Apple aside, there is nothing funny about what Apple is doing and we have exposed Apple’s dark side in this Web site for at least four years. Apple’s hypnosis sure is powerful and it suppresses critics in ways we explained before. This new cry from Amahi says that it has just been hit by a cease and desist nastygram from Apple. And here’s why:
After the first shock, the questions start to emerge, like … What!? … or … why Amahi?
Long story short, Apple has to show they are defending a trademark claim they have on that term. Microsoft filed a motion to oppose that trademark claim in January, among other things stating that the two words separately are generic[1], that the 2-word term is also generic in English, that it’s widely used by consumers, by the press and in the software industry to refer to the many app stores available today, and that even Steve Jobs used it in a generic way to refer to other app stores. All possible reasons to not grant the claim. Later, Amazon launched their Appstore for Android in March, and Apple filed a lawsuit against Amazon. Here is an article with a brief history of the claimed trademark. Update: apparently, Nokia is also contesting the mark in Europe.
Shame on Apple, the branding company. Without the brand, Apple’s products are just commodity PCs with a greatly inflated price and ripoff versions of BSD — or a version which is typically filled with other software that Apple merely exploited. Apple is very glad to take things from others, even vocabulary. The company is a hoarder, probably like many of its stereotypical clients. “Apple Sued In India For Practising Unfair Competition,” informed us this new article. Very well. To quote:
The Competition Commission of India, or CCI, a seven-member body that has been formed to keep anti-competitive acts at bay has found a defaulter in Apple, the manufacturer of the iPad and the iPhone. Apple’s sales practices are being questioned by the committee, and Apple has been reprimanded for practicing unfair competition in the Indian market.
According to the report prepared by the committee, Apple’s movements in a market, as competitive as India are seemingly unfair, in the sense that, its products are being made available only through a few, handpicked service providers, in addition to their own signature stores.
This site adds that the Competition Commission of India should sue Microsoft too:
The Competition Commission of India, or CCI, a seven-member body that has been formed to keep anti-competitive acts at bay has found a defaulter in Apple, the manufacturer of the iPad and the iPhone. Apple’s sales practices are being questioned by the committee, and Apple has been reprimanded for practising unfair competition in the Indian market.
This report raises several questions. Is the commission really serious about anti-competitive business practices or its driven by the desire to be able to buy shiny, expensive and proprietary Apple toys with greater ease?
If the commission is really serious about anti-competitive business practices, why can’t the commission see Microsoft’s practices as killing competition? Indian users, who want to install Linux on their machines, are forced to pay Microsoft Tax, as you can’t buy a system without Microsoft’s Windows pre-installed on it. Why is CCI not suing Microsoft and hardware vendors to not force Indian users to pay the Microsoft tax?
Why can’t the commission see Microsoft’s anti-competitive business practices where most government sites endorse or support the usage of Microsoft insecure Internet Explorer and not ensure fair competition by making it mandatory that sites must support all popular browsers such as Mozilla’s Firefox and Google Chrome?
Just the other day we wrote about Microsoft's unethical/illegal bundling tactics. Here we see this again in Europe:
A no-OS-computer? You must be a pirate!
After reading this piece about a Linux keyboard PC , I got excited. I’ve been looking for a nice computer that is sold without any operating system so that I can install my own. Yes, I’m aware of the existence of System76 (Ubuntu systems) and ZaReason (several Linux offers), but I wanted to try something else. Thus, I checked the vendor’s page and, sure enough, there was a “NO OS” option. With a high heart, I selected the components of the system and submitted my request waiting to receive the quote with the price.
A day later, I received it and, with it, there came a surprise. The price was satisfactory ($555), but they had included Windows 7 Professional 32 bits and were charging me for it!
This abuse has got to end. We no longer live in a world where people can be assumed to be Windows users. Windows is a declining platform with artificial hype that is intended to create a perception that it’s actually desired. It’s part of the lobbying effort that falsely convinces regulators that Windows is what customers really always want.
To Apple’s credit, it hardly forces people to buy its products. Its founder is not rallying politicians to abuse the education system and turn it into taxpayers-funded indoctrination of children for use of his own products, unlike that other dangerous charlatan. Bill Gates “acted like a spoiled kid, which is what he was,”said Ed Roberts, Gates’ employer at MITS in the 1970′s
Another reason to crack down on Microsoft is its current patent abuses. The patent extortion is clearly a sign of Microsoft’s imminent death, but while the company is dying it is trying to destroy other companies along with it. We already know that patent extortion is the last thing companies do before they implode.They just cannot yield anything of real substantial value.
“The patent extortion is clearly a sign of Microsoft’s imminent death, but while the company is dying it is trying to destroy other companies along with it.”To summarise the key findings we’ve put together in this Web site, Bill Gates, world’s biggest extortionist who misuses a $500,000,000,000/annum education budget to indoctrinate the young and lobby for companies like Monsanto (for profit) so that even all our food becomes patented, i.e. taxed, also created the world’s biggest patent troll, with whom he lobbies against elimination of software patents this month. Their plan it to turn Windows tax into patent tax on all technology. US citizens ought to report them to the authorities and explain these abuses to family/friends. These bullies see themselves as overly entitled and they control the government with their money. Bill Gates also spends on average $1 million per day buying the press, not donating (the money which would otherwise go towards taxes).. It’s a reputation laundering operation that distracts the public. Having seen the writings on the wall ($18 billion in losses for MSFT in 1998) they move on to their next scheme for world domination. Just over a decade ago Gates faced the government after he committed his crime; now that he is whitewashing his image no regulators dare to approach him. If that’s not scary, what is? Regulators are scared of him. They don’t punish Microsoft. █
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06.20.11
Posted in Apple, Bill Gates, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 10:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A look at some of the latest lobbying against “Linux” and “FOSS” in light of the news and bogus ‘advice’ from pretenders
Microsoft’s FUD tactics have evolved. No longer must we see lies perpetuated about the capabilities of GNU/Linux (or that it’s like “communism”). The new FUD tactics paint Linux and Android as disrespectful of the law (so-called ‘IP’) and “not free”. The monopolist has been hiring lobbyists accordingly and we named some of these before. Few of them must disclose their funding sources in order to comply with the law (disclosure weakens them).
Any pundit or other entity which promotes Microsoft’s party line on patents can be seen as endorsing the blackmail Microsoft has been engaging in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]; it’s bad for PR and for one’s karma. Justifying what Microsoft does with patents is extremely hard, so such pundits often turn to daemonising Microsoft’s competitors. A few years ago we referred to this tactic as the “equally evil” troll, where basically one ‘defends’ what Microsoft has been doing by saying that a competitor like IBM, Google, or Apple is just as “evil” for some specified reason (which usually does not compute).
Last year a lobbyist came out of the woodwork promoting a company now partly owned by Microsoft. He got some special access to documents with which he daemonised IBM. He is happy enough to accuse companies that are not patent trolls of being "trolls" while leaving parts of the Microsoft cartel — Intellectual Ventures (IV) included — unaddressed. He not calling IV a troll, even though it is the world’s biggest patent troll. The name of this lobbyist — you’ve guessed it — is Florian.
At Groklaw, Pamela Jones asks, “where can you go where you will be safe from patent trolls?”
She wrote this in relation to Microsoft and patent trolls when she added: “Plus the problem is bigger than patent trolls. Remember when Microsoft tried to sell patents to use against Linux to patent trolls? So proxy patent trolls are a much bigger problem than just patent trolls. Remember where Lodsys got its patents from and the picture gets clearer. There is a disturbed ecosystem here, and the problem is that software patents should never have been introduced into the environment. Now they are overwhelming everything. The only true solution is for software and patents to get a divorce. And the only entity that can accomplish that is Congress.”
This was written in relation to a patent from IV being used against iPhone and Android developers (but no Windows developers). We also wrote about the origin of this patent in [1, 2, 3]. The only good thing about patents is that no matter how much they are passed around, the names on them do not change; neither does the changelog, to speak, or the change of ‘ownership’ (however bizarre the notion of ‘selling’ ideas may sound). So, it’s not too hard to show Microsoft in the details.
“Remember when Microsoft tried to sell patents to use against Linux to patent trolls? So proxy patent trolls are a much bigger problem than just patent trolls. Remember where Lodsys got its patents from and the picture gets clearer.”
–Pamela Jones, GroklawBased on this item, “Lodsys LLC is a Marshall, Texas-based subsidiary of Lodsys Holdings LLC, a Delaware LLC. Some have speculated that the ownership trail leads to Intellectual Ventures” (yes, not news by now, not to mention that IV uses many other shells according to other reports, at least a thousand shells according to one source).
“Leverage If You Are Threatened with Patent Infringement (and why you should ignore FOSSpatents)” says the headline of a post about Microsoft Florian and the misdirection he gives to those sued by Lodsys; basically he instructs them to surrender and he neglects to tell them what IV really is and where it leads back to (Microsoft and Bill Gates, the patents maximalist who lobbies for patents even on poor people's basic food ingredients, for his own profit). Semi-truths and ill advice is what Florian is all about. As the blog post states, “Lodsys probably LOVES Florian’s analysis and opinions. (I have no connection or contact with anyone at Lodsys, Apple, and no longer any contact with Florian). He seems to be making all the arguments that support the troll’s business plan – you can’t afford to fight, don’t even try, the trolls arguments are decent, just give in and sign the license.”
To quote more:
Whatever you do, please ignore the advice of non-attorney commentators (such as Florian Muller @ fosspatents) because they can be shortsighted and are not qualified to provide the complex legal analysis and advice you will need. (e.g. from one of Florian’s latest posts about the Lodsys patents, any patent attorney should be able to recognize that Florian does not understand the law regarding patent infringement and numerous other issues.)
For example, some commentators (including Florian Muller @ fosspatents) are advising targets of patent trolls to roll over and pay the license fee; Florian is even advising you that the license agreement that has not been made public is acceptable for you to sign. I very much question the soundness of this advice, especially considering the above article at IP Watchdog. Contrary to the bad advice and legal analysis put forth by Florian, there are options available to companies threatened by patent trolls and even if the outcome is a license agreement, Florian’s legal analysis and advice is not solid. (I could write a white paper explaining why Florian’s analysis is messed up, but I don’t have the time right now. If anyone requests me to provide more detailed analysis, I will put it on my to-do list.)
For starters, in my opinion, Lodsys probably LOVES Florian’s analysis and opinions. (I have no connection or contact with anyone at Lodsys, Apple, and no longer any contact with Florian). He seems to be making all the arguments that support the troll’s business plan – you can’t afford to fight, don’t even try, the trolls arguments are decent, just give in and sign the license.
[...]
Any good negotiator (which IMO excludes Florian) will tell you that you do not negotiate with yourself. Thus, I have no idea why Florian claims to be supporting application developers when he writes analysis that attempts to shred their potential leverage arguments and advises them to pay what Lodsys is asking. If someone was truly supporting the application developers, they would be trying to bolster the application developers leverage arguments (as I have been trying to provide on this blog).
Some sites evidently fall for it because at least one writer wrote that the “best course of action for iOS developers faced with patent infringement suit threats issued by patent holding firm Lodsys earlier this month might be to play nice with licensing requests, according to one intellectual property researcher. Florian Mueller, who runs the FOSS Patents blog that posted an in-depth FAQ for concerned developers last week, says that indicating a willingness to play nice with Lodsys could be far less costly than the alternative, in the long run.” We have already challenged this FAQ, which is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s a trap. Smells more like a lobbying/marketing exercise…
“Later on it turned out that Florian was indeed wrong and his advice was worse than useless.”
Later on it turned out that Florian was indeed wrong and his advice was worse than useless. It was pure poison. As Jones put it, “this was Mueller’s advice when the story began. Now that Apple has stepped in, which every lawyer I know thought was inevitable from day one, how does that advice look to you? It’s important for developers in a particular legal situation to have a lawyer and not to listen to “legal” advice from those not qualified to offer it.” Or worse — from a lobbyist! He also advised companies which Microsoft and its proxies sued to just surrender and pay up. it’s exactly what Microsoft needs. In order for these pieces of bad advice to make it into the press, this lobbyist (not a lawyer or a patents veteran, yet he pretends everyone but himself is not qualified t speak on the subject), whose main skill is mass-mailing journalists, has been working behind the scenes to get himself quoted. We are saddened to see that many people think he is quoted in articles due to merit as opposed to his lobbying skills. He is a veteran lobbyist. He knows the tricks.
This man seems to have been lobbying in vain to paint Google as a patent aggressor because, according to this new report, Microsoft’s lobbying (part of the same party line) failed to incite US regulators to the point of blocking a bid for Nortel's patents.
“According to this article,” notes Jones, “Apple has thousands of patents, Nokia has more than 10,000 patent ‘families’ (same patents, different jurisdictions), Microsoft has around 18,000 patents, and Google has about 600, mostly search-related”, so over whom would Google have an unfair advantage?” Google has its reasons for buying — not so much applying for — patents. Microsoft has been attacking Google’s Android (and by extension Linux) from many angles in an attempt to tax Google’s work and turn that into a Mirosoft cash cow. As we have argued all along, one of the next players that may sue or at least extort Android is Nokia, which Microsoft pretty much conquered in nefarious ways.
“Dying companies try to use patents and copyrights. That’s who does it, as we saw in SCO’s saga.”
–Pamela Jones, GroklawAbout the patent war that has been brewing in the mobile space, Jones writes: “It’s been going on for a while. Dying companies try to use patents and copyrights. That’s who does it, as we saw in SCO’s saga. Now it’s Nokia and Microsoft struggling to deal with a world that is passing them by. So out come the patents. If you find that nauseating, tell your Congresscritter. That’s who can change patent law.”
To quote some findings of interest, in case of “a breakup, Nokia’s three units may be worth about 21.9 billion euros, based on the sales multiples of its competitors this year. The breakup value may not include Nokia’s patents, which Tero Kuittinen, an analyst with MKM Partners LP, estimates are worth 5 billion euros. That would bring the total to 26.9 billion euros. Huawei, ZTE Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. (ZTCOF.PK) may also be interested in buying Nokia’s assets.” [via Groklaw]
“The breakup value may not include Nokia’s patents, which Tero Kuittinen, an analyst with MKM Partners LP, estimates are worth 5 billion euros.”
–Seeking AlphaSpeaking of lobbyists, recall those employed by the company of Bill Gates’ father [1, 2] and then watch who is going after Apple according to the following report. So, who represents Kodak, which we previously wrote about in relation to the Gates dynasty [1, 2]? Answer:
Pickard and fellow Sterne Kessler attorney David Cornwell are representing the firm against Kodak’s subpoena; Pickard declined to comment. K&L Gates is representing Kodak in the New York case. Kodak spokesman Gerard Meuchner confirmed that the firm will also handle the litigation in Washington.
Interestingly enough, the new York Times has published this piece about the demise of Microsoft as compared to Kodak’s (both resorted to using patents as their products are no longer desirable or necessary):
Technology upends companies in different ways. It allows new firms to deliver better products and services in a more efficient way; it also creates new goods and services for consumers to want. Eastman Kodak, the fifth-biggest company in the S.& P. 500 in 1975, was almost destroyed by digital cameras and is no longer in the index. General Motors, fifth biggest in 1985, was hobbled by rivals that could make more fuel efficient cars. Microsoft still rules the PC desktop. But that will matter less and less as users migrate to tablets and more computing takes place in “the cloud.”
There is another lesson in Microsoft’s long slide. It is about how far corporate behemoths will go to stop technology that threatens their dominance. Ten years ago, Microsoft tried to use its virtual monopoly of the operating system to strangle potential rivals and their new technologies. Fortunately, it failed. But the new rising behemoths will likely try similar tactics on whatever new gizmo challenges them.
As the Microsoft boosters note, “The New York Times this weekend had an editorial comparing the current state of Microsoft with the plight of Eastman Kodak.”
Kodak too is a patent aggressor as we showed in older posts. Curiously, at one point Kodak complained about Gates' accomplice at Intellectual Ventures. Guess which lobbyist dare not really criticise it? Instead, he tries to attribute its deeds to Google. Astonishing claims; look no further than Florian for those bits of humour disguised as serious allegations. If it’s bad for FOSS due to patents, then it’s good for Mr. FOSSpatents. █
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06.18.11
Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 6:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
(ODF | PDF | English/original)
“Android tiene una cuota de patentes. Usted tiene que licenciar patentes.”~ Steve Ballmer
“… Microsoft deseó promover SCO y su pendiente demanda en contra de IBM y el sistema operativo Linux. Pero Microsoft no quizo ser visto como atacando a IBM o Linux.” -Larry Goldfarb, BayStar, inversor clave en SCO abordado por Microsoft.
Resumen: Microsoft hace un buen uso de su topo dentro de Nokia para imponer impuestos a la competencia (elevación de sus precios), mientras que también está tratando de bloquear al propietario de Android, Google, de conseguir patentes.
LA extorsión de Microsoft no es noticia. Este sitio ha cubierto desde 2006. Este sitio previó diferentes aspectos del problema y explicó con bastante exactitud lo que sucedería.
Como explicamos ayer[http://techrights.org/2011/06/13/cant-beat-them-tax-them/], Microsoft está imponiendo impuestos sobre Android, mientras que los medios corporativos en su mayoría le siguen el juego en vez de realmente denunciar la práctica de penalizar la competencia con una sanción sin ni siquiera un juicio. Esto es chantaje y ya hemos explicado por qué, incluso hace 4 años [1[http://techrights.org/2007/06/08/shuttleworth-on-racketeering/], 2[http://techrights.org/2009/07/17/racketeering-melco-microsoft/], 3[http://techrights.org/2009/12/29/microsoft-extortion-software-patents/], 4[http://techrights.org/2009/07/24/red-hat-on-microsoft-two-face/], 5[http://techrights.org/2009/09/08/staples-employees-anti-linux/], 6[http://techrights.org/2009/07/01/patent-racketeering-myhrvold/], 7[http://techrights.org/2008/02/22/open-for-patents/]].
“Microsoft quiere que Google permaneca indefenso mientras que el departamento legal de Microsoft, dispara a los distrubudores de Google uno por uno, incluso llevando a algunos de ellos a la corte (por ejemplo, B & N, Motorola) …”En lugar de atacar directamente a Google a través de patentes, Microsoft va a los distribuidores (menos incentivados para contraatacar), que es el equivalente a hacer chantaje de estilo de la mafia por ir tras los clientes de la tienda con una pistola, intimidando a uno por uno hasta que la tienda ya se queda sin clientes. Para empeorar las cosas, cuando Google (el tendero en esta analogía) quiere conseguir un arma para su protección, Microsoft (el mafioso) interviene y hace el papel de “policía” de nuevo. Sí, el delincuente se hace pasar por policía de nuevo. Microsoft está tratando de impedir que Google obtenga patentes a pesar de que Google no utiliza ningún tipo de patentes ofensivamente y Reuters escribió sobre ello por primera vez[http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/14/us-nortel-idUSTRE75C5WT20110614] en la cara de las cosas.Microsoft quiere que Google permaneca indefenso mientras que el departamento legal de Microsoft, dispara a los distrubudores de Google uno por uno, incluso llevando a algunos de ellos a la corte (por ejemplo, B & N, Motorola):
Google no deberia ser permitido de comprar miles de patentes que pertenecen a la quebrada Nortel Networks en términos de la venta actual, Microsoft dijo el lunes, el plazo para las ofertas en una subasta seguida de cerca.
Microsoft, que reclama una “licencia mundial, perpetua, libre de regalías a todas las patentes de Nortel,” tras un acuerdo de 2006, dijo en una presentación ante un tribunal de quiebras de Delaware que los acuerdos existentes deben ser transferidas a cualquier nuevo dueño de la propiedad intelectual, que abarca muchos campos.
Mira quién habla …
Este comportamiento es absolutamente vergonzoso de Microsoft, que no hace mucho tiempo se embolsó las patentes de Novell con el proxy CPTLN. Microsoft el hipócrita es una vez más, haciéndose pasar por un agente de la ley[http://techrights.org/2008/02/02/microsoft-industry-cop/], mientras que en realidad es Microsoft quien debe cumplir la ley y ser sometido a juicio. Aquí hay más artículos sobre el tema [1[http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20070945-75/microsoft-raises-concerns-over-sale-of-nortel-patents/], 2[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/nortel_google_microsoft/]].
“Microsoft está usando Nokia por sus patentes y es probable que el próximo objetivo de este topo de Microsoft (Elop sigue siendo el octavo mayor accionista MSFT) es agravar todos los dispositivos que funcionan con Linux, elevando sus precios al igual que SCO quería elevar el precio de cada instancia de Linux.”Pero espere, esto se pone peor. Después de haber sometido a Nokia[http://techrights.org/2011/06/10/microsoft-is-abusing-the-market/], adivinar lo que su mole, Elop, va a hacer a continuación. Patentes que “licencia” a Apple, lo que ofrece espacio para la imaginación. Bueno, lo hemos dicho desde el principio, porque Nokia había dejado caer pistas al respecto. Microsoft utiliza Nokia por sus patentes y es probable que el próximo objetivo de esta mole de Microsoft (Elop sigue siendo el octavo mayor accionista MSFT) es agravar todos los dispositivos que funcionan con Linux, elevando sus precios al igual que SCO quería elevar el precio de cada instancia de Linux. Es todo lo que Microsoft tiene como una estrategia, ya que ha perdido en el aspecto técnico en los teléfonos (como lo hizo en los servidores en los días de SCO). Por lo tanto, ahora se recurre a la recolección de patentes[http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/06/13/ios-5s-fancy-new-camera-trick-microsoft-has-a-patent-on-it/] y la extorsión, a veces por encargo (por ejemplo, Nathan Myhrvold y Paul Allen). Advirtimos acerca de esto en varias ocasiones en 2007. “Se ve mal”, nos dijo un lector de Finlandia por E-mail, señalando a este artículo[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20070970-37/apple-agrees-to-pay-nokia-patent-licensing-fees/]:
Apple se ha comprometido a licenciar patentes de teléfonos móviles propiedad de Nokia que desató una disputa legal de larga duración entre las dos compañías.
En el acuerdo se asentarán todos los litigios sobre patentes entre Nokia y Apple, y los dos se retiren sus denuncias respectivas con los EE.UU. y la Comisión de Comercio Internacional. Además, Apple va a pagar un Nokia un único pago no revelado y un curso de las regalías, Nokia dijo hoy.
Los “derechos de autor en curso” no se especifican y una abstención enorme ha sido enviado por el topo de Microsoft en Nokia. El a veces cómplice de Microsoft el Register cita a Microsoft Florian[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Florian_M%C3%BCller], quien ha estado TRABAJANDO DURO PARA QUE LINUX SEA AGRAVADO Y FRACASE. Sí, Florian Müller, el cabildero que se apoya en los periodistas[http://techrights.org/2011/04/16/how-mobbyists-operate/], sigue cambiando de máscaras, esta vez[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/nokia_apple/] a “analista de patentes”. Para citar a The Register: “En su patente blog Mueller Florian analista sugiere que esto abrirá el camino para Nokia empezar a extraer dinero de los fabricantes de teléfonos Android, señalando que es casi seguro que en violación de las patentes de Nokia por las que Apple ahora paga licencias. “En este punto es realmente correcto para un cambio. Hace apenas unos días Elop el topo insinuó que Android se deriva sólo o con base en el éxito del iPhone.
“Hace apenas unos días Elop el topo insinuó que Android se deriva sólo o con base en el éxito del iPhone.”Nos pareció divertido que alguien en el IRC cree que Müller es citado es una señal de su credibilidad. Como hemos explicado anteriormente, Müller trabaja -por encargo de Microsoft -enviando correo masivo a periodistas, exhortándolos a imprimir sus citas en artículos para que después pueda alardearse de ellos. Hace afirmaciones falsas acerca de sus credenciales[http://techrights.org/2011/01/29/where-is-ms-florian-provenance-es/] y que también propaga desinformación (en su haber, su Inglés es excelente). Así es como los grupos de presión suelen trabajar. Este en particular pasar su tiempo en Twitter hablar con los abogados de patentes (software pro-patentes) y pro-Microsoft bloggers como Bott, Enderle, y otros. Uno sólo puede imaginar quién está financiando sus esfuerzos de cabildeo. En cualquier caso, hoy en día en las noticias que encontramos otro recordatorio[http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/risk-taking-and-social-networking-in-the-new-broadband-era] de que los abogados de patentes son fríos y apáticos cuando se trata de los daños causados por las patentes de software[http://techrights.org/2011/06/14/odf-wins-in-russia/]:
En la segunda parte de las Preguntsas y Respuestas de Computerworld y una entrevista con un abogado de propiedad intelectual …
¿Qué te están diciendo tus clientes sobre el cambio en la ley, con exclusión de las patentes de software?
Tengo clientes que tienen patentes de software y otros que están relajados acerca de ello y no se molestan en obtener una patente si pudieran. Se trata de caballos para los cursos. Creo que lo que realmente necesita cambiar es la posibilidad de obtener patentes sobre las “innovaciones” que no son realmente nuevas.
Escuche lo que Linus Torvalds acaba de decir acerca de las “innovaciones” (vídeo de abajo). Está a unos 20 minutos desde el inicio. Uno tiene que preguntarse cómo Torvalds se siente sobre el gigante de la tecnología de su país de origen (tiene doble nacionalidad, ahora) se convierta en un esclavo de las patentes-manejadas por Microsoft. █
Translation produced by Eduardo Landaveri, the esteemed administrator of the Spanish portal of Techrights.
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06.16.11
Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 11:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Intellectual Ventures runs lobbying campaigns while Microsoft is working to ensure it can tax Android and Google is left defenceless
MICROSOFT is a major opponent of whatever it takes for GNU/Linux to win. It is easy to see why. Microsoft probably has the most lose. Just the other day we explained the point about CPTN as proof of Microsoft’s hypocrisy when it complains about Google patents (same party line as Microsoft Florian the lobbyist). “Fascinating to see Goog’s approach,” writes Smári McCarthy, “Microsoft whines about possible #swpat [software patents] bullying”
Glyn Moody published this excellent rebuttal which says:
I’ve written plenty about why software patents should be resisted where they don’t exist, and abolished where they do. But if I wanted further ammunition for my arguments I couldn’t hope for a better example of software patent madness than what is happening in the smartphone sector.
[...]
Clearly, what Microsoft fears here is that Google might acquire the patents, and then threaten to cancel the licensing deal with Microsoft unless the latter halts its legal action against companies using Android as the basis of their products.
For Microsoft to complain is pretty rich, of course. Here it is, using patents to attack companies employing Android in an attempt to slow down the uptake of that rival to its own Windows Phone smartphone system. That’s a clear abuse of the patent system to dissuade companies from signing up with a competitor (which, interestingly, it doesn’t attack directly), rather than to protect real innovation (an aim that was thrown out of the patent system long ago.)
[...]
I mean, let’s be consistent here: if you want to abuse the patent system, expect to be on the receiving end of similar abuse. On the other hand, rather more laudably, why not stop abusing, in which case you can take the moral high ground when others start abusing the system to attack you?
Microsoft is meanwhile trying to tax Android from many directions, not just Microsoft (directly). The goal is to make Linux more expensive than Windows. Intellectual Ventures, the world’s largest patent troll (which is incidentally derived from Microsoft), is part of the Android patents shakedown and Nokia is probably next, as we correctly predicted. Walter Byrd dropped us these quotes from Microsoft’s mole in Nokia, Stephen Elop. Following the deal with Apple [1, 2], which was also covered by the Bill Gates-funded BBC, Elop stated: “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees. This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities” (and that comes just days after he named Android in relation to the iPhone). The Microsoft-controlled Nokia has turned into more of a patent parasite (maybe troll in the future) and Walter informed us that “Intellectual Ventures starts anti-reform campaign”. Representing the patent troll in its Windows-powered Web site is Microsoft’s former CTO. “Intellectual Ventures begins running radio ads equating patent reform with big bank thievery, on DC news radio. A new bill, HR 1249, called the American Invents Act, will scale back business method patents. Naturally, they are opposed (warning: PDF)” (We previously covered this joint lobbying for software patents, too). So… “radio ads equating patent reform with big bank thievery”… Microsoft got fined $40 million after it tried something similar. It was called “trial misconduct”.
Let us remember that Intellectual Ventures is behind the patent which is now used to attack and thus deter iPhone and Android developers. Even the New Scientist covered this and there is now a “Bounty set for invalidating Lodsys patents”. This patent from Intellectual Ventures leads lawyers to making a meme from Wilson’s “Enough is Enough”. Groklaw tackles this by hosting a post by Patrick T. Igoe, Esq. and providing further commentary while also showing that software patents which target Free software are in fact being revoked. Quoting Professor Webbink:
On May 19, 2011, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a Final Rejection [PDF] in the reexamination of Trend Micro’s U.S. patent 5,623,600 (the “’600 patent”). Groklaw has covered the story of Trend Micro’s assertion of this patent from early on, and many of our readers helped identify and contribute prior art relied upon in the reexamination. It strikes us as worthwhile to relay the history of this litigation and this reexamination as an object lesson of what can happen to a patent holder asserting a weak patent.
Trend Micro essentially attacked Free software at the time. There is no patents exemption for software just because it’s “open source” and as one person in Twitter pointed out yesterday, “PHP infringes on DuFresne’s patents (http://t.co/ng33kTs). Filed almost 1 year after PHP’s first release.”
In other patent news, Research in Motion has just been sued over patents:
Dolby has filed a lawsuit against Research in Motion for patent infringement, the audio technology company announced today.
One has to wonder what Nokia might do to Research in Motion, not just Google and/or Android distributors. Whatever it does, people are not foolish enough to forget that Elop is Microsoft’s mole who is still a top Microsoft shareholder. Under his leadership, Nokia is a Microsoft slave, not an independent company. We’ve warned about Nokia since 2007 because of its patent policy. Regulators are hopefully watching these abuses from Microsoft. █
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06.14.11
Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google at 12:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Android has a patent fee. You do have to license patents.” ~Steve Ballmer
“…Microsoft wished to promote SCO and its pending lawsuit against IBM and the Linux operating system. But Microsoft did not want to be seen as attacking IBM or Linux.”
–Larry Goldfarb, BayStar, key investor in SCO approached by Microsoft
Summary: Microsoft makes good use of its mole inside Nokia to tax competitors (elevating their prices) while it is also trying to block Android’s owner, Google, from getting patents
THE EXTORTION RACKET of Microsoft is not news. This site has covered it since 2006. This site foresaw the problem’s different aspects and explained quite accurately what would happen.
As we explained yesterday, Microsoft is taxing Android while the corporate media mostly plays a along rather than actually speak out against the practice of penalising one’s competition without even a trial. It’s blackmail and we have already explained why, even 4 years ago [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
” Microsoft wants Google to stay defenseless while Microsoft’s legal department shoots Google’s distributors one by one, even taking some of them to court (e.g. B&N, Motorola)…”Rather than attack Google directly using patents, Microsoft goes to distributors (less incentive to fight back), which is the equivalent of doing a mafia-style racket by going after shop customers with a gun, intimidating them one by one until the shop no longer gets customers. To make matters worse, when Google (the shopkeeper in this analogy) wants to get a gun for protection, Microsoft (the mafioso) steps in and plays the role of “police” again. Yes, the crook pretends to be the policeman again. Microsoft is trying prevent Google from having patents even though Google does not use any patents offensively and Reuters wrote about it first on the face of things. Microsoft wants Google to stay defenseless while Microsoft’s legal department shoots Google’s distributors one by one, even taking some of them to court (e.g. B&N, Motorola):
Google should not be allowed to buy thousands of patents belonging to bankrupt Nortel Networks under current sale terms, Microsoft said on Monday, the deadline for bids in an closely watched auction.
Microsoft, which claims a “worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel’s patents” following a 2006 deal, said in a filing with a Delaware bankruptcy court that existing agreements should be transferred to any new owner of the intellectual property, which spans many fields.
Look who’s talking…
This is absolutely disgraceful behaviour from Microsoft, which not so long ago pocketed Novell’s patents using the CPTN proxy. Microsoft the hypocrite is once again pretending to be a law enforcer while in reality it is Microsoft that law enforcers should put on trial. Here are more articles on the subject [1, 2].
“Microsoft is using Nokia for its patents and it’s likely that the next objective for this Microsoft mole (Elop is still the 8th biggest MSFT shareholder) is to tax all devices running Linux, elevating their prices just like SCO wanted to elevate the price of every Linux instance.”But wait, it gets worse. Having essentially taken over Nokia, guess what its mole, Elop, is doing next. He ‘licenses’ patents to Apple, which gives room for imagination. Well, we said it all along because Nokia itself had dropped hints about it. Microsoft is using Nokia for its patents and it’s likely that the next objective for this Microsoft mole (Elop is still the 8th biggest MSFT shareholder) is to tax all devices running Linux, elevating their prices just like SCO wanted to elevate the price of every Linux instance. It’s all that Microsoft has left as a strategy because it has lost on the technical side in phones (like it did in servers back in SCO days). So, it now resorts to patent collection and shakedown, sometimes by proxy (e.g. Nathan Myhrvold and Paul Allen). We warned about this repeatedly in 2007. “Looks bad,” said to us a reader from Finland by E-mail, pointing to this article:
Apple has agreed to license wireless phone patents owned by Nokia that sparked a long-running legal dispute between the two companies.
The deal will settle all patent litigation between Nokia and Apple, and the two will withdraw their respective complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission. In addition, Apple will pay Nokia an undisclosed one-time fee and on-going royalties, Nokia said today.
Those “on-going royalties” are not specified and a huge disclaimer has been sent out by Microsoft’s mole in Nokia. The at-times Microsoft-friendly Register quotes Microsoft Florian, who has been working hard to make Linux fail and be taxed. Yes, Florian Müller, the lobbyist who is leaning on journalists, keeps changing masks, this time to “patent analyst”. To quote The Register: “In his blog patent analyst Florian Mueller suggests that this will open the way for Nokia to start extracting cash from the manufacturers of Android handsets, pointing out that they are almost certainly in breach of the Nokia patents for which Apple now holds a licence.” On this point he is actually correct for a change. Just days ago Elop the mole insinuated that Android was merely derived or based on the iPhone’s success.
“Just days ago Elop the mole insinuated that Android was merely derived or based on the iPhone’s success.”We found it amusing that someone in IRC thought that Müller being quoted is a sign of his credibility. As we explained before, Müller works hard mass-mailing journalists, urging them to squeeze his quotes into articles so that later he can brag about these. He makes false claims about his credentials and he also spreads disinformation (to his credit, his English is excellent). This is how lobbyists typically work. This one in particular is spending his time in Twitter speaking to patent lawyers (pro-software patents) and pro-Microsoft bloggers such as Bott, Enderle, and others. One can only guess who is funding his current lobbying endeavours. In any event, today in the news we found another reminder of how cold and apathetic patent lawyers are when it comes to the damage caused by software patents:
In the second part of Computerworld’s Q and A interview with intellectual property laywer …
What are your clients telling you about the change in the law, excluding software patents?
I have clients that have software patents and others that are relaxed about it and wouldn’t bother to get a patent if they could. It is a question of horses for courses. I think what really needs changing is the ability to get patents on “innovations” that are not really new.
Listen to what Linus Torvalds has just said about “innovations” (video below). It’s about 20 minutes from the start. One has to wonder how Torvalds feels about the technology giant of his home country (he has dual nationality now) becoming a patents-wielding slave of Microsoft. █
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06.13.11
Posted in Apple, Deception, GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft at 7:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The inaccurate caricatures of Net Applications are further doubted, not just by GNU/Linux proponents (who do have some hard numbers)
INACCURACY that is imposed by design (data/method) can be called “bias” and bias is always up for sale. It is the business model of so-called ‘analysts’ and PR people (who overlap to an extent). As we frequently remind readers, anti-GNU/Linux trolls like to point to Net Applications, which is paid by Microsoft and Apple. Alex Faaborg from Mozilla notes:
The data shown here is from Net Applications. This is proportional to Web usage on each platform, and not individual users. So for instance if iOS users browse the Web more than Android users, their box becomes proportionally larger.
Also I should add the caveat that Net Applications usually reports lower numbers for Firefox market share compared to the other public data sources (and our own internal metrics), but nonetheless, this treemap sure has a lot of orange in it.
In other news, Mr. Pogson counters new FUD of the “GNU/Linux Desktop is DEAD” flavour:
Yet another “GNU/Linux Desktop is DEAD” FUD-piece. Basically the authour writes that it won’t happen because it won’t happen, a circular argument. He even claims Dell, HP, ASUS and others selling PCs with GNU/Linux is not happening. I agree Dell is rather weak in its effort but HP intends to put Linux on most of its PCs and ASUS already does (ExpressGate – “In response to great user feedback, our plan is to proliferate Express Gate across our entire motherboard product portfolio, starting with over one million motherboards per month,” says Joe Hsieh, General Manager, ASUS Motherboard Business Unit. “Consumers want to turn their PCs on and off like any other appliance, and Express Gate has made that possible.”).
He goes on to claim that those defecting from M$ are going to Apple which is partly true but he has the wrong numbers for shares to show that. GNU/Linux is on about 10% of PCs and MacOS is on about 4%. M$ is losing, certainly, but Apple scarcely sells any desktops outside USA/Europe.
The skewed Apple statistics from Net Applications have always served as evidence of US-centric bias. Did having Apple as a Net Applications customer contribute towards this? No wonder corporate press which us funded by Apple and Microsoft (key advertisers) is grooming Net Applications. █
“There’s a lot of Linux out there — much more than Microsoft generally signals publicly — and their customers are using it…”
–Paul DeGroot, a Directions On Microsoft analyst
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06.11.11
Posted in Antitrust, Apple, Patents at 8:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Apple falls behind Linux (Android) in the phones market, so it is exploiting other people’s work a little more, blocking competitors and subsequently it gets reported to the Bundeskartellamt
WHILE IT is true that Microsoft has been trying to give Apple antitrust trouble (we covered examples before), a lot of the complaints against Apple are generally justified because the company is extremely arrogant in a way that is infectious and it drives computing towards prison-like conditions faster than Microsoft ever did. Apple is about restriction that is typically disguised as ease of use or trendiness.
Apple’s crowd of fans (some are genuine) would typically whine about critics and shockingly argue that Apple takes computing in a good direction and invents things. But it’s utter nonsense. All Apple has done in recent years is exploit Free software projects that truly innovated and then added marketing to them; but the marketed brands are Apple’s and Apple was the sole supplier of all products. Nice, eh? That’s a nice monopoly you got there. When Apple loses the game — as it often does to Linux these days — then it files petty lawsuits using software patents. That’s how distasteful the company can be. The only thing wrong with Apple is that they have no ethics. The company is also copying and them stomping on ISVs, just like Microsoft did many times over the years. This is an observation we mentioned some years ago; Apple is bundling other people’s ideas without their permission and without even credit. One critic asks in a new headline, “Apple Stealing From Its Developers?” (“stealing” is the wrong word, but Steve Jobs uses it to describe Apple’s own behaviour).
It seems Apple has run out of ideas and has started looking at the apps developed by external developers and started branding them as their own.
Yes, Apple has done this for ages and it can also block competition by banning it from the so-called “app store” (Apple trademark). This too was done, e.g. when someone developed copy-and-paste functionality for the iPhone. Developers and partners who help Apple are basically making a mistake and wasting their time/effort because Apple fed patent trolls and created blockades. Having funded the source of Lodsys's patent, Apple now pretends to care about developers, who are affected by a ” Bulls*** Claim”. Where is their backlash against Apple?
“Apple is inherently a jail. The walls may be padded, but it’s still a jail.”Interestingly enough, last week we saw Apple making a step towards taking users’ data with the so-called ‘cloud’ (Fog Computing) and TuneCore’s CEO says (probably paraphrased) that “Apple Has Just Monetized Pirated Content” (Steve Jobs famously asked, “why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”). In any event, another company, Simfy, “says that it has filed a letter of complaint with the Bundeskartellamt, the country’s antitrust authority, claiming that Apple is abusing its market position by delaying the approval of the company’s iPad app. It has been more than three months since Simfy submitted its app for approval.”
Yes, all those DRM-laden shops are major trouble. Apple abuses its power and blocks what in theory could be partners. Apple is inherently a jail. The walls may be padded, but it’s still a jail. █
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06.07.11
Posted in Antitrust, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Novell, Patents at 4:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: In light of the Nortel patents situation, the US Department of Justice responds in a way that is similar to what it did about the CPTN/Microsoft acquisition of Novell’s patents
THE idea behind a patent (temporary monopoly) was long ago neglected and its application has been perturbed by a growing group of unethical opportunists. The comparison to nuclear weapons, however (not just a mere deterrence), is still a tad disturbing because, bar sanctions, anyone can ignore some pieces of papers claiming monopolies on mere ideas. This is why, as explained earlier, China and African should reject patents. Simply put, patents only exist to build artificial fences that keep over 90% of the world’s population in the dark. Here is a new article which uses the nuclear analogy:
Forget Google, DoJ Fears Apple Gaining Nortel’s “Stockpile Of Nuclear Weapons” — Here’s Why
Two months ago, Google disclosed that they were bidding on bankrupt Nortel’s patent portfolio. Why? They claim it’s a defensive maneuver to protect the “relatively young” company from would-be patent predators. And Google is very serious about it. They put up the $900 million “stalking-horse bid” (the initial bid) for the over 6,000 patents. Given the stakes, it should be no surprise that the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the bidding. But interestingly, it may not be Google they’re too concerned with.
We previously compared Nortel and Novell. Novell is mentioned in this new article, the context being patents:
The lawsuit filed by Mission Abstract Media over automation technology is moving forward despite the contention of some in the radio industry that automation systems already were well established in the market when the first automation patent was applied for in 1994 and issued in 1997.
[...]
“The largest hard drive we could find at the time was 2 GB. We had 10 [hard drives] in each server for 20 GB storage. We used a Novell network with SFT3 for transparent redundancy,” Paley said.
pointing to this report, Karsten Gerloff from the FSFE says that the regulators are finally watching (well, after CPTN had some intervention from the US Department of Justice). To quote what’s not behind a paywall:
The Justice Department is scrutinizing likely bidders for a trove of patents being sold by the bankrupt Canadian telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. amid concerns the patents could be used to unfairly hobble competition, according to people familiar with the matter.
The antitrust review has enveloped some of the U.S.’s largest technology companies, including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. It’s the latest sign the Justice Department has heightened its interest in whether patents are being used to stifle competition in high-tech industries.
Carlo Piana, a lawyer, wrote: “I anticipate problems for #Apple buying #Nortel’s patent portfolio. [nudging Google] Isn’t it time to get rid of #swpats? █
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