Bonum Certa Men Certa

American Duopoly (Apple and Microsoft) Fights Korea With Patents

Seoul besieged again

Seoul Plaza



Summary: A look at Apple's and Microsoft's relationship with Samsung (one of the two major Korean companies in this area) and what we can learn from it

SAMSUNG is a hardware giant located at a nation that thrives in production of goods. Samsung is about an order of magnitude larger than Apple, at least in terms of workforce. Not so long ago Samsung surpassed Apple in terms of certain sales and became the largest distributors of Android (even if taxed by Microsoft), amongst other things. It painted a large target on Samsung's behind, so Microsoft wanted more "royalties" and Apple sought embargoes one country at a time (fortunately there is no global patent system, at least not yet). The strategy has not been particularly useful to Apple; ever since it started suing Android companies using patents (starting with HTC) there has been a great deal of blowback, even from US-based carriers. Apple started alienating too many existing and potential partners, which would be harmful in the long term. At the end of last month we saw Apple taking a small step back (withdrawing patent claims) and now it is complaining about Samsung's patents. Apple got a little scared and removed patent allegations, so now it seems to be more afraid of Samsung's own patents. Just remember who started all this confrontation. Apple started it, whereupon pundits said that Apple must have been out of its mind. Some days ago it was reported that Apple significantly reduced its iPad orders; maybe Samsung just won't help make these. By suing its own producers, Apple made a foolish decision. Microsoft took a different approach with its longtime partner Samsung and to cite Muktware, it did not try to get ridiculous trademarks or manufacture fake 'evidence' to block Samsung's products. Instead Microsoft tried turning Android/Samsung devices into its own. Here is an article to be aware of:



Apple has been misuing its deep pockets and abusing the legal system to weaken competition. There is good news for competitors, the USPTO has rejected Apple's trademark claims over 'multi-touch'. Apple applied for the trademark in 2007 when it launched its iPhone. The USPTO rejected the trademark on the basis that the term is too generic or broad. Apple also holds a trademark on AppStore, a term used for app stores. There is an ongoing legal battle between Apple and Amazon over the use of this genetic term.


Apple is not much of a producing company. It's a design, marketing, and branding company. This is why it tries so hard to restrict use of vocabulary, product appearance, etc. Apple even hired Viagra experts for this task. The manufacturers of "Apple"-branded products could just do it equally well themselves, a lot more economically too.

"The scenario makes is rather obvious that software patents are a major danger to coders."Then there is Microsoft, which used to be a monopoly expert (removing choice from the market by crime and underhanded tactics) and has recently become more of a patents aggressor because people fought for choice (more on that in an earlier post). Microsoft is still trying to figure out how to make a profit from other people's work and in the process it resorts to racketeering, collusion, secret deals, and old partners like Samsung (interesting take), which are all just a convenient way to get around having to face Google. This whole situation is fascinating because, assuming Microsoft can turn patents into its major cash cow, the market for software development will just die a little more. It will become a market of patents, just as Microsoft's patent troll once envisioned it. Rather than write software (code) people will write words and then extort everyone who writes code implementing an abstract description of it. The scenario makes is rather obvious that software patents are a major danger to coders.

In a truly bizarre article whose headline resembles old propaganda for software patents ("Software Developers Must Be Properly Rewarded") the case is being made based on the Samsung-Microsoft 'deal'. If this illustrated anything at all, it is that software patents have absolutely zero value to Korea. It is only secret trade agreements that can somehow make Korea fall on its sword and fall for software patents.

Samsung is now paying Microsoft for something it never made, not even in code, passing the cost to customers, who will in turn reward Microsoft rather than Google. How does that encourage software development? The developers are not being paid.

To use the words of one blogger:

Microsoft has a large advantage in its quest to go after and collect royalties from those that it deems necessary as a direct threat. Microsoft has risen up with full force against Android, just after Windows Phone 7 started to appear. Coincidence? I don't think so. Most recently it was announced that Microsoft had an "agreement" with Samsung, yet another manufacturer of Android devices. This agreement? It's been rumoured that Samsung will need to pay close to $5 to Microsoft for each Android phone manufactured and sold. And so this is one side of the blade that Microsoft is swinging all around. Microsoft is using its vast array of patents to frighten phone manufacturers into paying royalties, in order to avoid being sued. Ingenious? Yes, because there's another side of the blade that didn't occur to me until recently. Samsung, being a manufacturer of Android devices, could manufacture devices for other operating systems as well, including Windows. Why not? If Microsoft is going to charge Samsung a set fee for each Android phone, yet allow Samsung to manufacture and sell Windows phones with no fees, what incentive would there be for Samsung to continue manufacturing Android devices? Not too many at the rate things are going. The only thing keeping Samsung interested in Android is the market demand for devices that run the Android OS. So Microsoft has two sides to their blade, they swing it to either side and they win. And Google? They seem to be defenseless at the moment while vendors of its software are being bullied by Microsoft.


This is an observation we made over 4 years ago, just after the signing of the Novell deal. The patent deal between Samsung and Microsoft is also over 4 years ago. This is helping non-practising 'industries', making developers devalued while "Increas[ing] in demand for Trained Patent Professionals" as this new article puts it:

In India, software is protected under the Copyright Act and not the Patent Act (as in many western countries). However, Indian IT companies have filed patent applications for their software in other parts of the world and these companies continue to seek non-software patents in India. Many of them have also filed business method patents in U.S. As Indian IT companies restructure their operations for high value service offerings, they are focused on innovation and intellectual property generation and protection in India and abroad.


The passage of jobs from engineers to lawyers (who serve a protectionist agenda) is a sad reminder of a society where the rich get richer and smart, honest people get thrown aside. The rise of terms like "Intellectual Property" in the news tells us that there is a strong push to indoctrinate the public all across the world to "respect IP". Cablegate is full of examples that demonstrate it (we shall dive into more of that later this year).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
 
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025