Maximum PC Patent Infringement RSS Feed

Nokia Looks to Take Apple Down a Notch by Suing for Patent Infringement

Jason Barry — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:46:20 -0500

Nokia has lost significant mobile domination due to new smartphone players, namely Apple. Well, Nokia isn’t sitting idly by; it is suing Apple for the infringement of 10 patents “fundamental for devices using GSM, UMTS and/or local area network standards” according to Nokia. The patents all pertain to wireless data, speech coding, security, and encryption inherent in all iPhone models.

Without a doubt, this will be a long drawn out battle. Both companies have enormous legal teams and huge amounts of cash. It is also extremely unlikely to affect either bottom-line. According to Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton, “we have a hard time seeing a material risk to either company.”

The frivolous lawsuits are getting a touch out of hand. At the same time, if you stand on the shoulders of technological giants, the least you can do is offer them a cold lemonade. What other choice do these companies have?

Image Credit: Wired

Uniloc Not Finished Fighting Microsoft in Court, Looks to Reclaim $388 Million Verdict

Paul Lilly — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0500

In a surprise ruling earlier this week, a U.S. District Judge for the District of Rhode Island overturned a $388 million patent infringement verdict against Microsoft and awarded to Uniloc. Already six years into litigation, Unilock says it's prepared to keep fighting, and with $388 million at stake, who can blame them?

"We are disappointed by the decisions the trial judge has made to overturn the jury's unanimous verdict in Uniloc's patent infringement case against Microsoft. We believe that the jury's verdict in April was thoughtful, well reasoned, and supported by the evidence presented," Brad Davis, CEO at Uniloc, said in a statement.

Judge William Smith saw it a different way, saying the jury failed to graps the issues properly, but that will be a decision for yet another judge to make. And while it would appear that Uniloc has a tough uphill battle in attempting to reclaim its original $388 million verdict, Davis points out that the patent status on its intellectual property remains unchanged.

image Credit: geekets.com

Texas Judge Says Microsoft Can't Sell Word

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:30:20 -0500

A Texas Judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop "selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX, or .DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML." The injunction is the result of a complaint filed by Toronto-based i4i alleging Microsoft of violating its 1998 patent (No. 5,787,449) on a method for reading XML.

"We are disappointed by the court's ruling," Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a statement. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict."

The Judge also ordered Microsoft pay i4i $240 million in damages plus court costs and interest. All tallied, the fine is estimated to be more than $290 million.

As it currently stands, the ruling, which applies to Word 2003 and Word 2007, takes effect in 60 days.

Linux to Blame - Microsoft & TomTom Settle Patent Dispute

Justin Kerr — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:06:02 -0500

Last week Microsoft and TomTom finally reached a settlement in their ongoing patent dispute. As part of the deal, TomTom will pay Microsoft for patent protection that covers it’s mapping, and file management systems, which as it turns out, are part of the Linux kernel. According to a company spokesperson, TomTom will “remove from its products the functionality related to two file management systems patents over the next two years.” The specific financial terms were not disclosed, but a legal cease fire between the two companies has been agreed upon for a five year period.

"We are pleased TomTom has chosen to resolve the litigation amicably by entering into a patent agreement," Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in a statement. Industry analysts have been following the case very closely, since the Linux Kernel is at the heart of the infringements. This settlement opens the door for Microsoft to go after other firms who use Linux commercially. Microsoft has agreements in place with Linux heavy users such as LG, Samsung, and Xerox, but this victory gives them further ammunition in negotiations that don’t lead to a deal. Though the settlement is a long way from killing Linux commercially, it certainly gives Microsoft a lot more creditability in its ongoing assertions that the Linux kernel violates their intellectual property.

(Image Credit: Flickr)

Samsung Fined $7.3 Million for Patent Infringement

Paul Lilly — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:51:59 -0600

Samsung Electronics has been ordered to pay 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) to Holley Communications over an alleged patent infringement claim, ending an 18-month lawsuit. Filed in April of last year, Holly Communications sued Samsung claiming the handset maker had violated a patent technology allowing mobile phones to operate on both CDMA and GSM networks.

"Samsung has sold more than 700,000 cellphones that contain Holley's patented technologies. The patents are still on sale. The compensation is only part of the sales," Xinhua news agency quoted Ge Chen, Holley's executive director as saying.

According to Xinhua, Holley Communications will seek even more compensation than what has already been awarded. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Samsung said no official decision has yet been handed out, but should that happen, the company may appeal.

Image Credit: Flickr Joe Gratz

Hillcrest Labs Presses for Ban on Wii Import

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:03:48 -0500

Rockville-based B2B firm Hillcrest Labs, which licenses its technologies to major CE companies, has filed a complaint against Nintendo with the U.S. International Trade Commission and a patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland. Hillcrest Labs alleges that the motion-sensitive Wii Remote and the console’s navigational interface display system are in violation of four of its patents. The company is praying for an embargo on the import of Nintendo Wii in the U.S. The Wii is so much fun that it would be a cardinal sin to even consider the possibility of it being banned anywhere. But the possibility exists as the jury is now quite literally out on the veracity of the allegations. Let’s see how this pans out.

Nintendo Tried to Fight Off Patent Troll, Now Faces Injunction

Chris Moody — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:07:43 -0500

Last year a company called Anascape brought a lawsuit against Nintendo and Microsoft, claiming the companies violated several of its patents on game controllers. Microsoft’s deep pockets settled the case for an undisclosed amount. Nintendo decided to continue the fight, but lost. A jury awarded Anascape $21 million in damages.. The judge has refused to give Nintendo a new trial and threatens to halt sales of GameCube controllers, Wavebirds, and Wii Classic controllers until Nintendo puts up the money or posts a bond so it can continue fighting.

With Sony losing a similar suit to Immersion and Microsoft caving in, it doesn’t look good for Nintendo to win its case.

ArsTechnica looked deeper into Anascape and its patents. They found that Anascape doesn't have a web site. All of its patents belong to Brad Armstrong of Carson City, Nevada. Searches for Anascape’s offices haven't turned up anything. Anascape's lawyer Doug Cawley claims that the company wants to enter the game controller business, but Nintendo has "clogged the market”.

ArsTechnica also listed some of Anascape’s patents:

•   Patent 6,135,886, "Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap"
•   Patent 6,208,271 "Remote Controller with Analog Button"
•   Patent 6,222,525 "Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors"
•   Patent 6,343, 991 "Game Control with Analog Pressure Sensor"
•   Patent 6,344,791 "Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback"
•   Patent 6,347,997 "Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays"
•   Patent 6,906,700 "3D Controller with Vibration"

They rightfully point out that these are all pretty broad ideas that could apply to most any type of controller.

Patent trolling is becoming more prevalent, after all why bother making anything when you can sue your way to profits without lifting a finger. This sort of mentality will lead to a decline in innovation, as small companies can’t afford to litigate weak claims and larger companies will seek ways around them.

Patent and copyright law is broken; it is an obscenely long time before technology/music/Mickey Mouse falls into the public domain. Quinn Norton, had a great article in her column in the June or July issue of MPC you should check out on this subject.

We run the risk of patent “gridlock” and it will be small business and consumers that will pay the price. Will you want to pay it?

(Image Credit: Flickr.com yrocq

Patent Suit Shone on Microsoft's Silverlight

Paul Lilly — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:55:26 -0500

The battle between Adobe's Flash format and Microsoft's competing Silverlight software to deliver rich internet applications (RIAs, not to be confused with the RIAA, an entirely different beast in every sense of the word) to your browser may come down to which technology search engines are better able to index. Adobe recently announced a new initiative with Google and Yahoo towards making the Flash file format (SWF) more easily visible to each site's respective spiders, leaving Microsoft noticeably missing from the group pow-wow.

The reason why Microsoft wasn't included in the announcement remains unclear, but perhaps the software giant is banking on Silverlight becoming the dominant format. Or maybe Microsoft simply isn't worried about the Silverlight format's ability to be indexed. But if MS isn't worried, Gotuit Media is. Gotuit Media sells software enabling developers to add text data to video clips making them more searchable, and the company claims Microsoft's Silverlight software infringes on several of its patents. In court filings, Gotuit Media complained that Silverlight gives users the ability to add "metadata tags in order to enable video search and navigation and provide a personalized viewing experience," and is seeking an injunction preventing Microsoft from using the technology. Adding a bit of intrigue to the situation is Microsoft's upcoming on-demand video coverage of the Bejiing 2008 Olympic Games on NBCOlympics.com.

So far neither side has been willing to comment on the suit, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Does Gotuit Media have a leg to stand on?