Submitted by And so, the idiocy in the mobile industry continues. Motorola has just upped the ante in this already ridiculous spider web of lawsuits by suing the pants off Apple. Eighteen patents are involved, most of which seem to be actual hardware patents, but that doesn’t make some of them any less obvious (apparently, you can patent the location of your antenna). Anywho, like Nokia, Motorola claims that Apple is unwilling to license Motorola’s patents, and as such, suing was the only option.
Motorola is utterly fashionable on the lawsuit catwalk, filing several complaints at the US International Trade Commission, accompanied by infringement lawsuits covering a total of eighteen patents. Most of them appear to be hardware patents, which makes it slightly more palatable than, say, Microsoft’s and Apple’s suits which focus solely on software patents.
The patents cover wireless communication technologies like WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, as well as smartphone technologies like wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services, and multi-device synchronization.
“Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola’s invention of the cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products. We have extensively licensed our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio, consisting of tens of thousands of patents in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility, “After Apple’s late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple’s continued infringement. Motorola will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its R&D and intellectual property, which are critical to the company’s business.”
I am slightly milder towards companies like Nokia and Motorola (compared to, say, Microsoft and Apple), because these two have genuinely helped develop and create the hardware backbone of mobile telephony, a true gift to the world that has made the lives of many people easier and safer – it’s an invention that truly changed the world, contrary to, say, coming up with slide to unlock or some other idiotic software patent.
Like with Nokia, it would seem that Apple was unwilling to pay for licensing Motorola’s patents. Still, it is important to note that in the Nokia case, it is said that Nokia wanted access to Apple’s patent portfolio in return – it could be that Motorola was asking for the same thing. I guess both of them are coming from a world where licensing each other’s patents is perfectly normal, while Apple comes from its own world where nobody gets access to its patents – but it does want access to everyone else’s, and if it doesn’t get it and gets sued accordingly, it always has its army of followers to claim that it’s okay for Apple to disregard the broken patent system, but not for anybody else.
The bad thing for Apple is that both the Nokia and Motorola patents are part of numerous patent licensing deals all over the globe, and as such, most likely have a far stronger initial position than a bunch of relatively new software patents. Then again, the US patent system is about as effective and fair as Zapp Brannigan, so this stuff could go either way.
So, what does the mobile legal landscape look like? Well… It ain’t pretty.
As you can clearly see, the patent system is totally working.
I like when Apple gets blasted. They love abusing patents, like for example patenting LLVM and Clang so they can sue unsuspecting users when they see fit.
http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.#Patenting_LLVM.3F
More slaps like this (and that patent troll that robbed them for $200m the other day) are only things that could beat some sense into them.
Wow, is there no end to the insanity? From the link:
The part in bold means it is so general it covers nearly all JIT compilers. Completely rediculous.
http://www.bpmlegal.com/howtopat5.html
Everyone who thinks they can read patent claims should read the above. Its not easy. It takes more than five minutes, but basically you can’t just cherry pick a claim out of a patent and think that anything that the claim covers (by itself without the other claims) is automatically infringing.
Lets hope they all realise they can sue the pants off each other and voluntarily petition Government to fix it up.
The graphic doesn’t include the lawsuit that the article is about. No arrow from Motorolla to Apple.
Edit: the graphic in the link does though.
Edited 2010-10-07 10:24 UTC
I know… The original in the source link is broken – it’s 700kb in size, and for some reason, it can’t be converted into a sane format (png), since the converted file always ends up corrupted. As such, I found a small size version of the original, non-Motorola-vs-Apple variant.
Just put the image in full screen, take a screenshot, and save it in PNG
It’s ugly, but who cares ? It works !
Edited 2010-10-07 10:42 UTC
Not too sure why the LCD price fixing lawsuits are included, makes one company a whole lot more aggressive than they actually are – Nokia ‘lost’ plenty over the years when the screen producers were acting as a cartel.
Nice graphic though, much better than a few i’ve seen around, which were just dots randomally positioned with lines between.
From the picture at the end, you can see that Nokia is involved in a shitload of legal battles.
It should be mentioned that most of these are not patent cases, but complaints about LCD price fixing. Just wanted to mention that before you guys name Nokia the mother of all Evil
Yeah, it would be interesting if the graphic could show e.g. with solid vs dotted lines which ones are patent suits over hardware and which one are about ‘soft’ patents.
“I am slightly milder towards companies like Nokia and Motorola (compared to, say, Microsoft and Apple), because these two have genuinely helped develop and create the hardware backbone of mobile telephony, a true gift to the world that has made the lives of many people easier and safer…”
I don’t know, all the idiots I see driving around with a cell phone held firmly to their head make me believe otherwise. As far as I’m concerned, they’re as potentially dangerous as a drunk driver, and there are probably many times more of them than drunk drivers. At least drunk drivers often have a valid excuse: they were already f’ed up out of their minds and didn’t know what the hell they were before they even got in the vehicle. Cell phone drivers? Not at all, they’re just naturally plain stupid.
Edited 2010-10-07 10:58 UTC
Here in Washington State it’s a ticket and an open door for law enforcement to search your vehicle for being so stupid as not to use a bluetooth headset or other hands free device.
The fine is $124.
I don’t think hands free shouldn’t get anyone out of trouble. They still have to reach for the phone, wherever they have it sitting, to begin or end a call. And getting too focused on a conversation, especially when trying extra hard just to hear the person on the other side of the line with an earpiece and road noises outside, can be downright dangerous. “Hands-free” is a little bit better than holding the phone (you have two hands while talking at least), but still not good enough. IMO, cell phones should just not be used in cars, especially by the driver, when the car is not in park. Any law against it, I won’t argue: I’ll never be seen driving with a phone in my hand.
Interestingly, as broken as the patent system is. It is getting the CSIRO a boatload of money for wireless patents now that the Australian Government has started suing all the major tech companies for violating its patents. My tax dollars at work, bringing more tax dollars back to Australian researchers where it belongs.
Hahaha I loved the LALALALALALLALALALALA bit =)
Here’s hoping they sue the hell out of each other and rid the tech landscape of their vile legal presences!
I would have written ‘…Circle of Mania’
Just one more arrow to add to these graphs:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/04/microsoft-motorola…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pconigs/5055027363/
Apple goes for the gold, and Nokia tells it to start digging. Microsoft comes in from the sideline, throwing Apple a shovel, pointing a gun at Motorola. Motorola claims that if he dies, the others will get nothing: he’s pals with Google, the only one who knows where the treasure is buried. Oracle, who’s been hiding under a bridge the whole time, throws a grenade in the direction of Google.
Nearby, a horse whispers ‘neeeigh!.
Motorola shouts ‘neeeigh’, and points its gun at Apple. Nokia points its gun to everyone who’s packing hardware. Kodak does the same, but is ignored.
They all agree to deal with it like gentlemen, stepping away from each other and holstering their guns. A long stand-off ensues, but finally Microsoft makes a move for its gun, then reconsiders after being strongly frowned upon by the EU. Nokia tries to shoot from his holster, but due to poor communication between his twitchy nerves, he ends up shooting himself in the foot.
In the chaos, Apple tries to take a quick shot at Motorola: click! Again: click! And again: click! click! click! click! Motorola quietly walks over: “There’s two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig.” Google points out the location of the treasure, Apple unearths it, and Motorola and Google walk away with as much as they can carry.
Nokia limps across the stage, not quite mortally wounded yet, and still with five rounds in his pistol.
Just as THE END is spelt out across the screen, you see Motorola and Google walking out to freedom — they only have to cross this rickety bridge …
The Bad News:
———————–
1. Millions of dollars that could be spent on developing products is being wasted on lawsuits.
2. New companies have very little chance of entering the market (unless they are already big in some other area).
3. Ours courts are tied up with frivolous lawsuits.
4. The world is laughing at the broken U.S. patent system.
5. A system designed to foster innovation is being used to crush innovation.
The Good News:
———————–
“The Good News:
———————–”
Well, actually the good news is that patent Armageddon is actually upon us, and all the major players are losing – losing millions in litigation.
That, hopefully, signals the beginning of the end of our broken patent system, since all of this patent litigation is costing the major players too much money, and at the same time holding back their own product development. So now they have the incentive to stand back, call truce, and start collectively lobbying Congress to pass true patent reform.
Well, that’s my sunshine, puppy dogs running through fields of wildflowers, hopeful, best case scenario.
The cynic in me says it’s only going to get worse, because these yahoos running these companies are too blinded by their own egos and greed to see the light.
Sign
Actually, the way it currently works is they all settle up with each other, cross-license their patents and ensure no one else can enter the game. It is similar to the Nuclear club. And, as with Nukes, the people lose.
Very likely.
But I’m also hoping that these guys are going start thinking that this is all a huge waste of their time and money.
You infringe my IP !!! I made that nuke comparison just yesterday !
It’s funny how much horrible concepts you can find quickly when thinking about patent abuse : terrorists, nukes, bacteriological weapon…
And dinosaurs ruling the earth and crushing young and smarter mammals, in absolute violation of a natural history which occurred under a climate of fair competition.
Edited 2010-10-07 21:39 UTC
Go motorola go!!! go!!! Beat the axx of Apple and if possible Microsoft & Oracle too!
They’ll lose and I suspect Motorola will then go on the chopping block as a buyout candidate.
What makes you think they’ll lose?
These are old, established, already licensed (to several other companies), patents that Motorola is suing over.
Both Nokia and Motorola are suing Apple over their long established patents which they have licensed to everyone else in the market, and they both long negotiated with Apple, and Apple refused to license what everyone else has had to license.
Knowing this, it’s hard to see how Apple will stand a chance.
I don’t know, maybe their strategy is to blatantly violate the patents, then in the ensuing lawsuits, try to stretch it out in court for as long as possible (Apple has very deep pockets), until they somehow get the patents invalidated, or just hope that Nokia and Motorola lose the wherewithal to continue.
But of course they could get reamed as well. It’s a game of brinkmanship.
Edited 2010-10-07 22:41 UTC