09.24.11

Gemini version available ♊︎

MAD Wars: Apple Faces Patent Blowback

Posted in Apple, Asia, GNU/Linux, Google, Patents at 4:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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.

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

A Single Comment

  1. Michael said,

    September 24, 2011 at 9:19 am

    Gravatar

    Apple did not start the patent wars. Your claim is an out and out lie.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. Links 01/06/2023: Spleen 2.0.0 Released and Team UPC Celebrates Its Own Corruption

    Links for the day



  2. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 31, 2023

    IRC logs for Wednesday, May 31, 2023



  3. Tux Machines Closing the Door on Twitter Because Twitter is Dead (for a Lot of People)

    Tux Machines recently joined millions of others who had already quit Twitter, including passive posting (fully or partly automated)



  4. Links 31/05/2023: Inkscape’s 1.3 Plans and New ARM Cortex-A55-Based Linux Chip

    Links for the day



  5. Gemini Links 31/05/2023: Personality of Software Engineers

    Links for the day



  6. Links 31/05/2023: Armbian 23.05 Release and Illegal UPC

    Links for the day



  7. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 30, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, May 30, 2023



  8. Gemini Protocol About to Turn 4 and It's Still Growing

    In the month of May we had zero downtime (no updates to the system or outages in the network), which means Lupa did not detect any errors such as timeouts and we’re on top of the list (the page was fixed a day or so after we wrote about it); Gemini continues to grow (chart by Botond) as we’re approaching the 4th anniversary of the protocol



  9. Links 31/05/2023: Librem Server v2, curl 8.1.2, and Kali Linux 2023.2 Release

    Links for the day



  10. Gemini Links 31/05/2023: Bayes Filter and Programming Wordle

    Links for the day



  11. [Meme] Makes No Sense for EPO (Now Connected to the EU) and Staff Pensions to be Tied to the UK After Brexit

    It seems like EPO staff is starting to have doubts about the safety of EPO pensions after Benoît Battistelli sent money to reckless gambling (EPOTIF) — a plot that’s 100% supported by António Campinos and his enablers in the Council, not to mention the European Union



  12. Working Conditions at EPO Deteriorate and Staff Inquires About Pension Rights

    Work is becoming a lot worse (not even compliant with the law!) and promises are constantly being broken, so staff is starting to chase management for answers and assurances pertaining to finances



  13. Links 30/05/2023: Orc 0.4.34 and Another Rust Crisis

    Links for the day



  14. Links 30/05/2023: Nitrux 2.8.1 and HypoPG 1.4.0

    Links for the day



  15. Gemini Links 30/05/2023: Bubble Version 3.0

    Links for the day



  16. Links 30/05/2023: LibreOffice 7.6 in Review and More Digital Restrictions (DRM) From HP

    Links for the day



  17. Gemini Links 30/05/2023: Curl Still Missing the Point?

    Links for the day



  18. IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 29, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, May 29, 2023



  19. MS (Mark Shuttleworth) as a Microsoft Salesperson

    Canonical isn’t working for GNU/Linux or for Ubuntu; it’s working for “business partners” (WSL was all along about promoting Windows)



  20. First Speaker in Event for GNU at 40 Called for Resignation/Removal of GNU's Founder

    It’s good that the FSF prepares an event to celebrate GNU’s 40th anniversary, but readers told us that the speakers list is unsavoury, especially the first one (a key participant in the relentless campaign of defamation against the person who started both GNU and the FSF; the "FSFE" isn't even permitted to use that name)



  21. When Jokes Became 'Rude' (or Disingenuously Misinterpreted by the 'Cancel Mob')

    A new and more detailed explanation of what the wordplay around "pleasure card" actually meant



  22. Site Updates and Plans Ahead

    A quick look at or a roundup of what we've been up to, what we plan to publish in the future, what topics we shall focus on very soon, and progress moving to Alpine Linux



  23. Links 29/05/2023: Snap and PipeWire Plans as Vendor Lock-in

    Links for the day



  24. Gemini Links 29/05/2023: GNU/Linux Pains and More

    Links for the day



  25. Links 29/05/2023: Election in Fedora, Unifont 15.0.04

    Links for the day



  26. Gemini Links 29/05/2023: Rosy Crow 1.1.1 and Smolver 1.2.1 Released

    Links for the day



  27. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 28, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, May 28, 2023



  28. Daniel Stenberg Knows Almost Nothing About Gemini and He's Likely Just Protecting His Turf (HTTP/S)

    The man behind Curl, Daniel Stenberg, criticises Gemini; but it's not clear if he even bothered trying it (except very briefly) or just read some inaccurate, one-sided blurbs about it



  29. Links 29/05/2023: Videos Catchup and Gemini FUD

    Links for the day



  30. Links 28/05/2023: Linux 6.4 RC4 and MX Linux 23 Beta

    Links for the day


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts