Unless you've been away from planet Earth since Monday, you should have almost certainly heard about Google's big announcement on Monday that they are buying Motorola Mobility. You probably also know the reason they felt compelled to spend more than $12 billion dollars was a bundle of patents that came with the deal.
What you may be wondering is why a company like Google, with so many ... [ read the full article ]
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Thank you so much I needed the perfect example of what is wrong with our system of patents and I now have one. I sure hope that it will change and for the better.
Don't hold your breath, Apple was smart and made political contributions. Microsoft had the correct attitude that they shouldn't have to. Look where it got them!
Google makes political contributions by the truck full, they have a better chance. Most of these patents are total garbage designed only to prevent competition unfairly. Personally I think they are total crap, people have been touching monitors for years to show pwopl where to move things.
Fix the politicians and coruption and the rest of the system will fall into place. Oh yeah, you have to get rid of a lot of lawyers too, after almost all politicians are lawyers.
Quote:Apple would prefer not to license this patent to anyone, and why should they? Refusing to license it cripples the competition. Any potential license fees pale in comparison to the money Apple could make by cornering the smartphone and tablet markets.
Actually Apple wants to license the tech to keep competition in the market so they themselves do not become the target of anti-trust/monopoly regulators. Much more profitable then how Microsoft gave Apple cash grants in the 90s to keep them in the PC business.
Quote:Apple would prefer not to license this patent to anyone, and why should they? Refusing to license it cripples the competition. Any potential license fees pale in comparison to the money Apple could make by cornering the smartphone and tablet markets.
Actually Apple wants to license the tech to keep competition in the market so they themselves do not become the target of anti-trust/monopoly regulators. Much more profitable then how Microsoft gave Apple cash grants in the 90s to keep them in the PC business.
I'll agree they should want to do that, but I've seen no signs they actually do. On the other hand there is lots of evidence they want to shut out anyone they see as serious competition.
I thought they were licensing it. Perhaps I'm mistaking what the swipe function is. For example on my WP7 I switch from the start menu to the app list by pushing my finger on the screen to the side. If this is not what swiping is then I retract my previous statement and apologize since it is obvious that sufficient competition exists without having to license the tech.
Originally posted by Azuran: I thought they were licensing it. Perhaps I'm mistaking what the swipe function is. For example on my WP7 I switch from the start menu to the app list by pushing my finger on the screen to the side. If this is not what swiping is then I retract my previous statement and apologize since it is obvious that sufficient competition exists without having to license the tech.
You have to understand the history of all these lawsuits. There has been a patent cold war going on for years in the mobile phone industry. Technically everybody has been infringing on everybody else's patents, but those patents existed as a defensive measure. You won't sue me because I can sue you right back. Apple took the same stance until Android started getting too popular and then they went after all the major Android phone vendors. Samsung is their biggest target right now because their mobile products are the biggest direct competitor to Apple's.
Microsoft is also infringing, but Apple doesn't want to sue them for a few reasons. Like Google, Microsoft has significant cash reserves. Also, a patent war between those companies would be more likely to result in actual patent reform. But most importantly, Windows Phone simply isn't a threat right now, so there's no need to do it.
It's also worth noting this is the difference between Apple's patent lawsuits and Microsoft's. Microsoft knows how bad their position is so they're suing for patent royalties from every Android phones and they're keeping the dollar amount low enough so they won't kill the golden goose. Apple is suing to get the import of Android phones banned.
