12.31.12

Links 31/12/2012: openmandriva.org Emerges, Many New Android Devices

Posted in News Roundup at 11:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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EU Commission Gets It Wrong on Apple, ITC Continues to Serve Apple

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Patents at 4:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Misguided or corruptible Western regulators fail to protect the real victim in patent wars (Android/Linux)

Apple and Microsoft, patent conspirators, pretend to be FRAND victims and this strategy seemingly works. Regulators in Europe are chasing the victims again, discrediting the Commission’s ability to assess the situation. Here is the gist of it:

Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Samsung on potential misuse of mobile phone standard-essential patents

There are some reports about it too. It was actually Samsung that came under attack. How can a regulator not see the chronology here? Erik Josefsson shows yet more patent failure in Europe:

#swpats #genepats Greens/EFA M-CAM report #EPO “Questionable Outputs”. Thousands of EPO business method patents: http://icg.greens-efa.eu/pipermail/hub/attachments/20121228/57a1e0bd/attachment-0001.pdf …

Glyn Moody, a Brit, notes that Apple is now “patenting stuff for the sake of patenting,” based on the report “Apple patents a wind energy storage design”. Moody says it’s “bonkers”, but the purpose is to increase patent counts for the cartel and the imaginary value of one’s company, or perception of “innovation”. Here is new proof that Apple patents are junk:

Samsung has filed with the court a copy of the recent decision by the USPTO that Apple’s ’915 patent, the pinch to zoom patent used against Samsung, is invalidated…

The infamous “fake Steve Jobs” wrote the article “Another Apple Patent Gets Smacked Down, And Its ‘Thermonuclear War’ Becomes Even More Of A Farce”. An article by Joe Mullin, an excellent reporter on the subject of patents, says that this patent was crucial for Apple. Based on additional material from the trial [1, 2, 3, 4], things do not go well for Apple. While “ITC proves it’s out of control again,” as Glyn Moody put it in light of this news, the judge in Apple’s biggest anti-Android case prevents embargoes. Watch what the ITC does, as usual: “On Friday the ITC filed a redacted version of a remedy suggested by ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender, in which he recommended a ban be enforced against Samsung products that were found to infringe upon four Apple patents. The judge also recommended that Samsung post a bond for 88 percent of the value of its infringing mobile phones, as well as 32.5 percent of the value of infringing media players, and 37.6 percent of the value of infringing tablets.”

Well, Apple is still trying to block Samsung devices, even after this decision which we mentioned the other day. As one writer puts it:

In one of the most dramatic, controversial and written about court cases, judge Koh has denied Apple’s motion for an injunction against Samsung devices. According to Groklaw, the judge says Apple has failed to prove Samsung caused any irreparable harm to the iPhone maker.

Apple is out of control and it shows. Except for in countries like the United States, Apple loses its grip. It actively suppresses innovation too, as this one report reveals. To quote: “Edison Junior, the technology and design lab behind the POP portable power station, is returning the full $139,170 in funding it received from Kickstarter backers to develop the device. Unfortunately, Apple has refused to give the project permission to license the Lightning charger in a device that includes multiple charging options.”

Apple is now relying not just on lawsuits but also some other protectionist instruments, including regulators. Apple has become a company of losers. All they do is whine and brag. It follows Microsoft footsteps in the sense that lobbying and patent extortion/lawsuits are the strategy. Microsoft started this in 2006 when it signed the Novell deal, resulting in protests such as Boycott Novell. Now it’s time to boycott Apple and encourage others to do the same. █

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Image from Wikimedia

USPTO is Broken, Evidence is Abundant

Posted in America, Patents at 4:41 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Tired USPTO eagle

USPTOSummary: Some new stories which show what a sordid mess the US patent system became over the decades

In the US, “even lawyers think patent system is broken,” writes Glyn Moody regarding this article from Groklaw. We wrote a lot about the USPTO (headed by a former manager at a software patents booster*) and so did Timothy B. Lee, who identifies more pertinent parts of the problem. To quote:

People have radically different views of the patent system. Critics see it as an unmitigated disaster, while many in the patent bar don’t understand what all the fuss is about. But it’s rare for prominent advocates of these contrasting perspectives to engage each other directly.

But that happened on Wednesday in a teleconference debate hosted by the Federalist Society. Defending the status quo was Judge Paul Michel. Until 2010, Michel was the chief judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, a post that made him the nation’s top patent judge. He debated Judge Richard Posner, a Chicago-area appeals court judge who threw out a patent lawsuit between Apple and Motorola earlier this year, complaining that the patent system had descended into “chaos.”

The other day we wrote about the EFF’s latest endeavour against the US patent system (it worries about innovation) — an important effort that got backing from rich people, as covered in FOSS blogs too:

If you happen to be familiar with billionaire Mark Cuban’s famous blog, then you’ve probably listened to his pontifications about the broken U.S. patent system many times. Now, Cuban, along with game developer Markus “Notch” Persson, is putting his money where his mouth is. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announced a half-million dollar donation from Cuban and Persson to boost the foundation’s efforts to reform the patent system. The donation also creates a newly named position at the foundation: “The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.”

Here is more on that [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Reports were numerous.

Over at Wired, the stacked panel continues this Xmas, this time with an Assistant Professor of Law. The lawyers and career law professors don't offer solutions which make lawyers obsolete. It’s lawsuits like this new one which give them business at the expense of those who have real products. To quote: “Netflix has been hit by a patent infringement lawsuit by Open TV, now a subsidiary of Nagra, the Switzerland-based conditional access company, part of the Kudelski Group. It has not said what the patents are, but the filings at the US District Court for the District of Delaware show that they are all software patents.”

How about this new $1.17 billion patent lawsuit? Guess who the cost is transferred to? This is yet another instrument for passing wealth from the vast majority to the oppressive rich minority.

What “law” people suggest is not enough. It’s not enough to stop patent trolls, either. We need to end all software patents, everywhere. We need to name those who stand in our way. █
___
* IBM typically tries to hide it by keeping rather silent. Bloggers seem surprised by IBM’s position and Pogson writes: “They proceed from begging the question to blatant error in logic. I hope this is just the vomit of one of their lawyers and not the philosophy of the corporation… otherwise, IBM is doomed to sue and be sued forever.” This is not the correct assessment. IBM uses software patents to empower the cartel it leads, allowing it to sell artificially overpriced products. When it comes to patent policy, IBM is our enemy.

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