Bonum Certa Men Certa

MAD Wars: Apple Faces Patent Blowback

Tricky - Blowback



Summary: Via and Samsung launch a defensive assault against the aggressor, Apple, which might have its own phones removed from the market rather than Android phones (although it is merely a deterrence strategy)

THOSE WHO lose the mobile race are trying to transform it into a patent race or a sort of Cold War where each alliance is a form of cartel.



RIM is increasingly being evaluated based on its patents and not its products or loyal customers. It is claimed to be worth just over a couple of billion because there are not many patents in there (RIM is often targeted by patent trolls and using patents against them would not work, not even as a deterrence strategy).

According to this other new article, "Jefferies performed a deep dive on 1,400 patents to determine the firms with essential LTE patents, in consultation with industry experts."

Nokia/Microsoft is meanwhile planning to use a patent trolls to attack Android [1, 2]. Antitrust authorities do pay attention or were at least notified.

“Just remember who started this.”
      --RonB
Google's approach as described in this week's post would not be effective against patent trolls. The Times of India writes about the Oracle-Google talk falling through, so there too problems exist. The best solution to Google's headache would be a blanket removal of all software patents. These monopolies were not supposed to be granted in the first place as these impede thought and expression, not physical creation.

From what we can gather based on the past couple of years, these patents breed trolls, cartels, and embargoes, including some of Apple's that now backfire. Slashdot says that "Via Files Suit Against Apple" after Apple indirectly attacked Via, the company which "owns a number of fundamental technology patents inherited from Centaur..."

"Via also has a vested interest," notes Slashdot, as "CEO Wenchi Chen is married to the head of HTC, which Apple sued for patent infringement last March."

RonB writes (in USENET); "Just remember who started this."

Via is "seeking to ban sales of Apple's iPad and iPhone," says the article he cites, "which it says infringe upon three of its U.S. patents. VIA is also seeking damages and has asked for a trial by jury."

"Death by a million cuts," RonB calls it. "Apple basically took on the whole industry. Let's see how well it plays out."

The more M.A.D. this gets, the less popular the patent system will become.

Meanwhile in Korea, only old companies use patents. Samsung has a whole load of them, even in Europe, so it is likely to try and embargo Apple there, having been attacked by Apple first. Always remember who started it.

The president of the FFII, based in Belgium, writes:

Samsung will try to block iphone with patents, the more mess the better


Indeed.

In Korea, only old iPhones may be sold. The next iPhone might be banned by Samsung. As one author puts it:

Samsung may be planning more aggressive tactics against its number one customer, Apple, after legal setbacks in Germany and The Netherlands. The Korean-based company will move to have Apple's next-generation iPhone banned from sale in Korea following EU-wide injunctions issued against Samsung's tablets and smartphones in those countries.


This was covered here the other day. Apple deserves no sympathy as it started this whole mess.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
 
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October