06.17.11
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Novell, OpenSUSE, SLES/SLED at 4:41 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Drying up but not dying
Summary: The OpenSUSE project lacks the level of activity it had back when Novell was in charge; the deemphasis occurs following the separation imposed by Microsoft’s partner, Attachmate
In order for the OpenSUSE conference to materialise, Jos Poortvliet has already begun looking for sponsors [1, 2]. A few years back OpenSUSE also sought sponsors for a server, as if Novell was being too cheap to buy its own project the necessary means to operate. What exactly is going on there? Despite the fact that activity remains in the project (however minor as it’s hard to find much of it), Attachmate left the project somewhat orphaned and development therefore relies on the likes of Google for funding [1, 2, 3] of key projects like YaST, For the rest, OpenSUSE relies on many packages from other companies/distributions.
Following the separation between SUSE and Novell there is hardly anything to see in OpenSUSE. Did Attachmate, a Microsoft partner, help/agree to keep OpenSUSE dry? Novell’s sale to Attachmate was financially assisted by Microsoft. What were the conditions? █
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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 FUD, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 6:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The ‘new Microsoft’: if you can’t beat them, tax them
Summary: Microsoft strives to turn Linux/Android into its own cash cow and IDG (among other Microsoft-funded corporate press) is helping Microsoft achieve this, not to mention Microsoft patent trolls
THE PRO-PATENTS lobby is very strong because the oligopoly hires lobbyists to pretend to be the voice of the people. There is also a fair number of pro-Windows PR agents, whom Microsoft is compensating in all sorts of ways (we covered these before). It is rather easy to spot them and as noted in our daily links, Mary Jo Foley (the longtime Microsoft booster) said that the sellers discouraged her from buying a “Windows” phone (of course they did, because it’s rubbish). IDG is trying to blame the carriers rather than blame Microsoft’s product. Amazing! To quote:
At a Verizon reseller kiosk, a salesman clearly tried to deter me from buying a WP7 device altogether. Not only did not he appear to know the fundamental difference between Windows Mobile and WP7, his kiosk didn’t even offer WP7 devices and said you’d only find WP7 demo products at a few of Verizon’s big retail stores.
“Honestly, only 1 out of 500 customers comes in here asking for a Windows phone,” he said. “Verizon won’t roll them out to kiosks until it performs better on the market.”
At Sprint, a salesperson was impressed by my insistence on trying a WP7 device (Sprint has only on Windows Phone 7 model, the HTC Arrive), but still tried to sell me the Android-powered HTC Evo (like the one he held). When I told him I’d rather wait for another WP7 phone to hit Sprint, he tried to convince me to return on June 24 for the HTC Evo 3D.
Yes, Android phones are technically vastly superior. As one of our readers put it, “sales people tell customers that Windows Phoney 7 is crap, Microsoft press [IDG] complains. Mary Jo Foley complained about the same thing, last week on Twitter with some nasty Microsoft PR person. The company has an excuse for all of their failures, it’s always someone else’s fault. boo hooo.”
Mr. Pogson notes that annual sales are at a region of “472 Million Smart Phones, 50 Million Tablets and 360 Million PCs”. This helps show that GNU/Linux need not aim so hard at the desktop, not anymore perhaps. Microsoft is currently demolishing Nokia to take over at no cost. Glyn Moody notes a headline that says “Nokia still dominant in #Africa, has 61% of mobile ad impressions” (adding, “but for how long when cheap #androids”). My response to him was, “Microsoft won’t allow cheap Androids. It will tax Android (=cash cow) and send along trolls which Florian will be cheerleading for. Microsoft does not need the desktop. It needs patent tax on 472m smartphones & 50m tablets that are sold per year (mostly w/ Linux/Android)” (these comments can be found in Identi.ca).
We really ought to reform/remove the USPTO, but the corporate press is not helping at all.
Almost nobody (except patent lawyers) denies the fact that the USPTO is broken. Some call for its abolishment, while more conformist voices (arguably “cowards”) call for mild reformation. The truth remains that the USPTO and its proponents try to spread and expand its clout to other continents, thereby instantaneously giving amazing power to a lot of American conglomerates over other countries. So-called ‘trade agreements’ are utilities of this unjust agenda. It should be noted that Europe is not innocent here [1, 2] and countries in Africa, south America, and east Asia should be furious. Their politicians happily sign away their citizens’ rights and freedom, using all sorts of lies and euphemisms (“trade agreements” is one such euphemism).
“We really ought to reform/remove the USPTO, but the corporate press is not helping at all.”As we noted in the previous post, Microsoft is trying to spread the USPTO’s mentality like it’s some kind of a medicine that would benefit other countries rather than turn those countries into slaves of the likes of Microsoft, Intel, and IBM. Shameful, shameful stuff. Everyone except employees of those companies (including the patent lawyers) has everything to lose and nothing to gain. Monopolies do nothing to promote innovation, they promote protectionism, exclusionism, and nationalism within the subjugating country (not the oppressed ones). These market dynamics ought to be understood in the context of the attacks on Linux, which has origins outside the United States and is often characterised as being “non-American” (despite its permanent basing in Oregon).
An American company called IDG is one heck of a curse not just to the English-speaking world. Since it has many publications in many different languages, it can often provide the American bias its customers (advertisers, not readers) require if not demand. It echoes a lot of US-centric statistics (more on that in a later post) to glorify domestic companies and it also promotes a US perspective on law. In relation to the Windows Mobile/Phone/whatever brand they choose today, IDG is now spreading new propaganda which came from itself and is allegedly Microsoft-funded FUD. For a change, it noted at the bottom: “Full Disclosure: IDC is a sibling company to PCWorld, both of which subsidiaries of IDG” (this is rarely noted, if at all, when IDG promotes so-called ‘studies’ from IDC, funded by the BSA to lie annually and harm the public with those lies). Recent headlines from IDG’s fake “open source” blog include “Shame on Richard Stallman” and “Has Open Source Made Google’s Software Stack Obsolete?” The writers there often have a proprietary software background/bias, as we explained before. One of the Microsoft apologists there is having a FUDfest right now with a “30 days with Ubuntu” rally. Anyway, in that latest article which predicts success for “Windows Phones” (based on its own ‘study’), the author adds: “An issue not taken into account by IDC is Google’s legal troubles relating to Android software patents” (Android has no software patents, it’s like saying “FOSS patents”).
“The USPTO reexamination process is so cumbersome that it helps show what a farce the USPTO really is.”Ah… FUD time again. When the i4i verdict came out from the SCOTUS and coverage arrived to disappoint, where was IDG? Doing some investigative journalism or just playing ball for the US patent system which was victorious that day (it does not harm the Canadian one, yet). Where is IDG when Microsoft patent trolls are attacking Linux? It just doesn’t report. It doesn’t do its work. It is left for sites like Groklaw to pick up the pieces and criticise the broken system. Professor Webbink writes about the Interval case which also affects Linux: “Don’t hold your breath for the court to issues a stay.. Although the court in this case previously denied a stay, it did so on April 29 only because the USPTO had not acted on the reexamination requests. That has now happened (See the update to The World Kicks Back). Despite the fact that the USPTO has now ordered a reexamination of each of the patents, Courts are generally loath to wait on the USPTO reexamination process.”
The USPTO reexamination process is so cumbersome that it helps show what a farce the USPTO really is. It is biased in favour of patent maximalism because it sells better (selling monopolies is the USPTO’s business). It is therefore left for other companies to pool their efforts and fight outrageous software patents one by one. This new example counters one such patent and it says: “Some of you may have known, that Widget Press is being sued for patent infringing on US Patent US Patent 7,822,816 (816) that covers data collection on a mobile device using an electronic form. A lot of folks have generous offered financial assistance in helping Widget Press during this difficult time. Thank you. This post is mostly to address how you can help and to discuss briefly about the lawsuit we are in. If you feel so inclined to help us out after reading this post, please feel free to support Widget Press in any way you can.”
Patents should be discussed more often as anybody but patents lawyers and monopolies should vote strongly against them. Why doesn’t the corporate press play along with the people’s interests? Maybe it’s just not supposed to and was never supposed to. █
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06.10.11
Posted in Bill Gates, GNU/Linux, Google, Hardware, Microsoft, Patents at 7:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
(ODF | PDF | English/original)
Resumen: Microsoft realiza un MS-DOS (Multi-Source Denegación de Servicio) ataque a Linux y a Android, utilizando los monopolios de patentes y a sus compadres los trolls de patentes.
ADEMÁS del post anterior[http://techrights.org/2011/06/07/fallacy-re-a-rise-in-patents_es/], hay abundante evidencia de que la USPTO (Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de los Estados Unidos) está quebrada, ya que no cumple con sus objetivos. No hay tal cosa como una “calidad” de patentes. Una patente es un monopolio y todos los que se aplican al software, impiden el uso de la lógica y las matemáticas. Aquí hay otra interpretación de la sentencia SCOTUS (Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos), de la que escribimos hace unos días (ENhttp://techrights.org/2011/06/02/scotus-vs-freedom-labour/[], ES[http://techrights.org/2011/06/03/scotus-vs-freedom-labour_es/]). El Register lo dice de la siguiente manera[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/01/us_supremes_update_patent_law/]:
En un caso con el apoyo de HP, eBay, Red Hat, Yahoo, y General Motors, la Corte Suprema de los EE.UU. emitió un fallo que puede hacer más difícil para una empresa sea demandada por induccir a otra empresa a infringir una patente.
Según la sentencia, un acusado de inducir a la infracción de patente, debe ser demostrado que tenía bien sabido que estaba infringiendo, o fue “voluntariamente ciego” a la infracción. El conocimiento real de la infracción puede presentar pruebas documentales o declaraciones juradas.
Esto de nuevo no se ocupa de las cuestiones principales con el sistema de patentes – Cuestiones que, incluso en el caso Bilski[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Bilski_Case] SCOTUS no pudo resolver. Echemos un vistazo a algunas de las últimas víctimas sobre la base de noticias de esta semana.
Twitter dejó en claro que está en contra de las patentes de software y ahora está siendo atacada por los trolls de patentes de nuevo[http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/twirpy-patent-troll-threatens-twitter/2011/06/03/AG9MwxHH_story.html]. Los trolls de patentes son, estadísticamente hablando, muy dependiente de las patentes de software.
Un troll de patentes llamado Kootol Software ha puesto en alerta a Twitter. La «sociedad», que luce un logotipo de empresa (y nombre) que es sospechosamente recuerdan a Google, esta mañana dijo que ha enviado un aviso de precaución a Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey y cooperación para expresar “preocupación” acerca de las posibles violaciónes de propiedad intelectual.
Citando la fuente original (“Twirpy Patentes Troll amenaza Twitter”), TechCrunch/AOL ha dicho[http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/03/twirpy-patent-troll-threatens-twitter/]:
La solicitud de patente en cuestión (un número de patente no se ha asignado aún) se titula “Un método y sistema para la Comunicación, Publicidad, buscar, compartir y dinámicamente proporcionar un diario de alimentación.”
Ellos están haciendo que sea muy complicado para los desarrolladores de software a desarrollar en paz y sólo empeora cuando la gente hace dinero de este sistema enfermo[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110531006845/en/Patent-Research-Software-Tools-Disrupt-Market-Patent]. Esto incentividad la mantiene quebrada. Jan Wildeboer, que es uno de los más prominentes entre los opositores de las patentes de software en Europa[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Software_Patents_in_Europe], señala que algunas personas construyeron sus empresas basados en la explotación del sistema de patentes. Él pregunta: “¿Está Myhrvolds de Intellectual Ventures con patentes de estilo CDO perturbando el mercado? Lodsys como ejemplo? ”
También se pregunta[http://twitter.com/jwildeboer/status/76581369601470464]: “¿Es señal de Lodsys del nuevo tiempo? 1. Licencia patentes 2. Venta de patentes 3. Nuevo comprador trata de licenciarlas de nuevo? Patentes == negocio CDB?”
Recuerde que el mayor troll del mundo (que vino de Microsoft), dijo antes de dar esta patente a Lodsys[http://techrights.org/2011/06/02/lodsys-and-intellectual-ventures/]. “La propiedad intelectual es el futuro software”, argumentó[http://www.newsweek.com/id/55777/page/2]. Microsoft y él están juntos en esto. Bill Gates es un afiliado cercano de este shakedown y Matt Asay reta esto yendo atrás en el tiempo[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/03/microsoft_ip_technology_battle/] (volver a los días en que Gates denunció las patentes, como una pequeña empresa):
Microsoft, alguna vez el gobernante del universo del software, ni siquiera hace de el presidente ejecutivo de Google, Eric Schmidt, Pandilla de cuatro compañías de tecnología influyentes. No es que Microsoft haya perdido su ambición. Pero puede ser que la ambición de Microsoft ha cambiado, y para peor.
Microsoft alguna que vez se enorgullecía de acuñación de las ganancias de copias de licencias de Windows y Office. Ahora parece más contento con lograr $ 5 por unidad de HTC y otros, matonea con patentes. Así es: en lugar de vender productos, está tráficando la propiedad intelectual (IP).
Escribimos acerca de esta extorsión antes. No sólo Microsoft está extorsionando HTC[http://techrights.org/2011/05/27/linux-swpats-own-cash/], parece como si Intelectual Ventures[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Intellectual_Ventures] también lo hace. Otra persona de Microsoft, Paul Allen, de Interval[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Interval] el troll de patentes, sigue atacando a muchas partes[http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2011060220384836], incluido Android/Google por la mera aplicación de algunas ideas. “Las personas preocupadas por Ridículo reclamaciones de patentes de Paul Allen Hace que la USPTO comienze de nuevo a exáminar sus patentes”, dice Techdirt[http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110601/02413214504/people-concerned-about-paul-allens-ridiculous-patent-claims-gets-uspto-to-begin-re-exams-his-patents.shtml]. Para citar a:
El año pasado, hemos cubierto demanda de patentes ridículas Paul Allen en contra de un montón de empresas de tecnología. Afirmó que todas estas compañías violaron cuatro patentes increíblemente amplio que declaró lo siguiente:
* 6263507: “Navegador para su uso en la navegación de un cuerpo de información, con aplicación especial a la información de navegación representada por los datos de audio.”
* 6034652 y 6788314 (en realidad la misma patente, con la participación continuaciones): “Atención gerente para ocupar la atención periférica de una persona en las proximidades de un dispositivo de pantalla”
* 6757682: “Alerta a los usuarios temas de interés actual”
Groklaw sigue este caso muy de cerca, o al menos solía hacerlo. Lo que la gente de Microsoft hace (incluso los que se fueron de la compañía) es lo que Microsoft siempre ha hecho, Ellos quieren que todo el mundo pague un impuesto en lugar de realmente hacer cualquier cosa de valor. Ellos están librando guerras legales y acumular patentes que ejercer presión para, con el fin de aumentar su valor.
En este momento parece que Microsoft está a la caza de las patentes de Nokia para que pueda agravar a todos los teléfonos móviles. Nokia tiene un valor para Microsoft por su software y sus patentes de hardware, hemos escritó tanto sobre éllo que no es necesario repetir las pruebas de ello. Este es un tema que hemos hablado en el IRC el otro día[http://techrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/irc-log-techrights-02062011.html#tJun%2002%2020:22:39]. Suponiendo que Microsoft quiere “tirar de un CPTN ‘de Nokia, será más sobre el uso de las patentes de Nokia ofensivamente y la explotación de la marca Nokia (como lo hizo con Yahoo y Novell). Mediante el envío de topos Microsoft sólo mejora sus posibilidades de convertirse en el receptor de patentes. Vea cómo Microsoft puso su mole en[http://www.businessinsider.com/ballmer-wanted-nokia-deal-so-bad-he-sent-a-huge-limo-to-pick-up-stephen-elop-2011-6]: [a través de F. Cassia]
Steve Ballmer estaba tan decidido a conseguir a Nokia a bordo del teléfono de Windows 7, que envió una limusina super-extendida de baile de estilo para recoger Stephen Elop de Nokia y otros ejecutivos de cuando visitaron el área de Seattle.
Esa es una de las revelaciones de perfil largo de BusinessWeek en los primeras seis meses de Elop en la empresa.
Microsoft está aplastando Nokia con tal de que esto pueda ayudar a Microsoft a recoger un buen precio junto con sus patentes. Teniendo en cuenta lo que ha sucedido hasta ahora, Elop ha hecho un trabajo maravilloso (para Microsoft, de la que es accionista mayoritario). El acuerdo no tenía sentido y que fue firmado en una carrera por la Stephens dos que son antiguos compañeros. Miren el Booke de Elop[http://www.techeye.net/business/ye-booke-of-elop] de un sesgo divertido. Es evidente lo que está pasando allí, pero no hay nada divertido en ello. Nokia representa la última víctima en la línea de los cadáveres dejados por el comportamiento abusivo-agresivo de Microsoft -otra compañía en el remolino del inodoro de la historia-. Nokia se estaba convirtiendo en una empresa de Linux antes de que Microsoft acabe de poner un topo dentro de ella. “Elop” es “Polo” hacia atrás y Microsoft puso su polo interior de Nokia, a pedir prestado broma de Brandon. En lugar de tener Meego y LSB en Nokia, ahora tenemos otro aliado de Microsoft por ahí, amenazando con el uso de sus patentes y la promesa de ofrecer un “nuevo” sistema operativo algún momento a finales de este año (momento en el que Nokia va a estar maduro para la cosecha por otra empresa). La cabeza de la Fundación Linux estaba muy decepcionado por esto y es fácil ver por qué. Nokia fue un contribuyente valioso para la Fundation Linux y su sitio tiene un nuevo cómic sobre las patentes de software. Se puede encontrar aquí[http://www.linux.com/news/biz-os/legal/453668-friday-funnies-bringing-a-little-levity-to-the-patent-system]. De alguna manera Microsoft se volvió varias empresas de Linux de usar como Nokia, Yahoo, Novell y Microsoft en refuerzos (antiguo socio de Microsoft Bartz no hizo nada de valor excepto estrechar la mano de Ballmer, al igual que Elop). Alguna gente todavía pregunta tonta lo que hace Microsoft mucho más dañino que otras compañías de una escala similar. Microsoft es muy, muy destructivo. Simplemente le importa un comino. █
Translation produced by Eduardo Landaveri, the esteemed administrator of the Spanish portal of Techrights.
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06.09.11
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 1:12 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft and pet trolls want to carve out a profit from every desktop, tablet, phone etc. even if it does not run Windows; Rick Falkvinge, who used to work for Microosft, calls for the abolishment of all patents
THE ridiculous patent system in the United States is under growing pressure to be scraped or radically reformed. It has become an international laughing stock and at times a national embarrassment. Not every idea deserves a monopoly and some would say that not a single idea deserves a monopoly enforced by the government. According to this new report, Linux-based devices from Motorola are going to be taxed because of some terrible patent:
A Motorola Inc. unit on Tuesday became the latest electronics maker to settle a patent holder’s Texas infringement suit over the double-clicking technology used in the Droid and Droid X smartphones and other popular mobile devices.
To provide some context and background, it is the infamous “Double-Click Lawsuit”, which is hinged on a patent from a Microsoft Gold Partner, namely patent #7,171,625: “Double-clicking a point-and-click user interface apparatus to enable a new interaction with content represented by.”
While the USPTO continues to granted stupid software patents, patent trolls will get hold of these and tax the market at the expense of every buyer and developer. In a sane system, patent trolls should have no right to exist; they are parasites that are also sometimes used as litigation proxies for larger entities. They are like the mafia mob.
In other news of interest, “Man Tries to Patent His ‘Godly Powers’” and as Rui Seabra put it: “Someone tell me this is an anti #swpat prank and not a for real lunatic…”
Here is the cited post:
Godly Powers: A Mystical US Patent Application
I’m going to take a break today from visiting obscure search systems (and writing long 2-part posts) to share with you a delightful patent application that I hold very close to my heart. I usually don’t spend my spare time reading the image file wrappers of US patent applications in PAIR, but I will openly admit that I spent a solid two hours one Saturday morning reading the entire file for US Application No. 11/161,345.
Guess what it’s all about?
No wonder people wish not to even bother reviewing patents. This whole system is ripe for abuse and it empowers abusers.
If it was up to Rick Falkvinge of Pirate Party fame (the original one, in Sweden), there would be no patents at all (software or otherwise). He quotes startup Investors as saying that “Patents are a cancer” and reiterates his points that he made in his talks before (we shared them back in 2009):
One oft-questioned objective of the Pirate Parties is the dismantlement of the patent system, as in scrapping the concept altogether. Patents are a remnant from the guild era that has never served to advance the rate of innovations, but always to brake it in favor of incumbent industries. It should have been killed when free enterprise laws were enacted worldwide in mid-1850s, but wasn’t.
The patent system delayed the Industrial Revolution by 30 years, broadcast radio by five to ten years, powered flight by 25 years… I could go on and on. And today, it’s no different. The situation certainly isn’t helped by clueless politicians who measure “innovation” as “number of filed patent applications”, which is about as useful as measuring “economic growth” as “number of smashed windows”. It’s not just unrelated, the correlation is strongly negative.
This is important: the patent system hasn’t derailed just recently. It was always a retardant on innovation. It’s just that the pace of ideas has picked up, and so this fact has become much more apparent — and much more damaging.
This truthful statement is somewhat of a taboo in the circles of patent lawyers, who are wagging this dog (USPTO) by its tail. Time for reform or reboot, no? █
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06.08.11
Posted in FUD, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 11:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A broken patent system from the United States is being championed and defended by Florian Müller, who lobbies for RAND and Linux tax in Europe where he lives and campaigns for profit (on behalf of unnamed/antisocial companies)
AGENTS of influence (or lobbyists) are at it again. Linux is gaining and Microsoft is running out of ideas, so just like its peon Facebook it is attacking Google with disinformation. It pays lobbyists to muddy the water. We sometimes refer to them as “mobbyists”.
There is an attempt to tax Linux from many directions, using software patents of course. Microsoft Florian has begun making noise about this type of reports:
Oracle sued Google last August, claiming Android infringes on seven of Oracle’s Java patents. Google has denied all wrongdoing.
Details of what Oracle wants in compensation have now emerged in a filing made Monday by Google in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The partially redacted filing targets conclusions made by Iain Cockburn, a Oracle legal expert on damages. Passages that appear to concern specific monetary figures are blacked out, but other sections provide a sense of the scope of royalties Cockburn says Oracle is owed.
If one actually checks the source of these claims, there is room for doubt. Florian is mass-mailing journalists (critical part of his business model) and plays along with this story whilst also smearing the OIN, which happens to have both Oracle and Google as members. It is true that the OIN is not a solution to the software patents problem. However, to think that Florian is against software patents is to ignore almost everything he actually says. To give an example of the OIN’s approach, it goes something like this (from a new announcement):
OIN simultaneously announced that it has acquired the underlying intellectual property, which includes nine patents and patent applications. The Distinguished Inventor Program is focused on entrepreneurial inventors, typically unaffiliated with large corporate entities, who have authored key technology patents.
This is not a solution, but it’s better than nothing. It’s IBM’s style of handling a problem in a way that helps IBM but hardly anybody else. We previously wrote about IBM's damage control and found it baffling that Florian apologises for/sympathises with IBM. It is probably because Microsoft Florian is being briefed by Microsoft PR agents, just like Maureen O'Gara, whom he is in touch with (as well as Enderle). Microsoft basically constructs stories against its competitors and then passes these to its attacks dogs. These so-called ‘IP’ attacks on Linux are coordinated and Twitter makes it a lot easier to see how it works (otherwise, Florian’s mass-mailing operation remains mostly hidden). Anyway, Pamela Jones took it upon herself to return to Groklaw and rebutted the latest nonsense from Microsoft Florian. It is a long and details post which states: “Because the oddest thing just happened. Redmond Magazine reveals that Microsoft sent it the news about a claims construction order from the ITC regarding a Microsoft complaint against Motorola, with some talking points, I gather, on what it thinks it means. And at more or less the same time, but slightly before, Mueller published an article on his blog with the same information about the same claims construction order and giving it the same meaning as Microsoft sent to Redmond Magazine. We know the timing because Redmond Magazine links to Mueller.
“But I can’t make the Redmond-Microsoft/Mueller math — which is highlighted in both articles as being significant — line up with the order itself. And while both articles opine that the order means that Microsoft’s patent claims against Motorola are going swimmingly, and hence Android is in trouble, the picture is a lot more complex, according to my research. It turns out there are several lawsuits between the parties, and in the patent litigation in district court, the most recent event is that Motorola motions to dismiss were granted in part and Microsoft motions to dismiss were denied. I’ll show you my research on all this.”
Watch how it concludes: “The last time there were some scary articles about a claim construction order, with some concluding that Oracle’s scoring points against Google in the number of claim construction terms the judge agreed with was a leg up for Oracle, I suggested that it was too early to tell what it meant and that journalists could save themselves embarrassment by just reading the filings themselves and not relying on Mueller or on any lobbyist for what they allegedly mean.”
People who really want software patents to end take the approach of the FFII or Fred Wilson [1, 2], who was on this panel about rejecting software patents the other day.
Last night during an Internet Week event at General Assembly, investors Fred Wilson, David Lee, and Chris Dixon took the stage to talk about a range of topics related to startups, including one that’s been a source of angst for many a startup: patents.
As a mobbyist, Florian has been effective because he pretends to be against software patents while in fact all he does its boost them and defame those who are truly against software patents. He also pretends to be a lover of Android. That’s what lobbyists tend to do for credibility. “I tried Linux, but…” █
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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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