Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 30th Jun 2012 19:34 UTC
Yesterday, we were treated to another preliminary injunction on a product due to patent trolling. Over the past few years, some companies have resorted to patent trolling instead of competing on merit, using frivolous and obvious software and design patents to block competitors - even though this obviously shouldn't be legal. The fact that this is, in fact, legal, is baffling, and up until a few months ago, a regular topic here on OSNews. At some point - I stopped reporting on the matter. The reason for this is simple: I realised that intellectual property law exists outside of regular democratic processes and is, in fact, wholly and utterly totalitarian. What's the point in reporting on something we can't change via legal means?
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RE[2]: not a ptatent troll
by darcysmith on Sat 30th Jun 2012 23:47
in reply to "RE: not a ptatent troll"
Member since:2006-04-12
A patent troll is one who protected their patent with no intention of implementing it... Apple clearly doesn't meet that.
I am not saying I agree with Apple, or with Samsung. Personally I think Samsung never have slavishly copied the iPhone to begin with. On the other side I'd say that Apple seems to be grasping at straws with a number of their lawsuits.
The whole patent system needs a massive overhaul. Apple should never have been granted many of the patents they hold. However, it is hard to fault them for playing by the rules they have been given. Samsung could have (probably) easily avoided the lawsuits as well.
Out of all of it, I just object to Apple being called a Patent Troll since they don't meet the definition of it. At the very least, they are trying (rightly or wrongly) to protect things that they have actually implemented.
RE[2]: not a ptatent troll
by Soulbender on Sun 1st Jul 2012 03:49
in reply to "RE: not a ptatent troll"
Member since:2005-08-18
My opinion is that apple are behaving as patent trolls since it's clear that a key part of their strategy is resorting to litigation to harass competitors instead of just offering the best product value for customers on the market.
Sure, they are abusing the patent system but that's not the same as being a patent troll. A patent troll has no products, only (questionable) patents.
Apple, for all their faults and bad behavior, do create real products.
RE[3]: not a ptatent troll
by Alfman on Sun 1st Jul 2012 04:49
in reply to "RE[2]: not a ptatent troll"
Member since:2011-01-28
Soulbender,
I see it as being overly pedantic. I'm still comfortable calling apple patent trolls on account of their courtroom behaviour. I don't think it makes sense to say the status as a patent troll ought to be dependent upon factors completely external to the case. If my product is banned by apple or an IP corp, it's the same to me. Maybe one is more vulnerable to counter attacks, but I see patent trolling as patent trolling regardless of who does it. And I certainly hope a distinction isn't incorporated into law because that opens up a loophole that's a mile wide. Apple doesn't manufacture their own hardware, likewise IP corporations could just contract out manufacturing and sell insanely expensive implementations with no intention of getting real customers...it wouldn't even matter to them if their products are banned.
RE[3]: not a ptatent troll
by Thom_Holwerda on Sun 1st Jul 2012 05:22
in reply to "RE[2]: not a ptatent troll"
Member since:2005-06-29
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/25/13 0:45 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 23:59 UTC
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 22:33 UTC
Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Linked by Howard Fosdick on 05/24/13 21:41 UTC
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 14:44 UTC
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.More News »
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Member since:
2011-01-28
darcysmith,
I voted you up by accident.. haha.
My opinion is that apple are behaving as patent trolls since it's clear that a key part of their strategy is resorting to litigation to harass competitors instead of just offering the best product value for customers on the market.
It's a shame because I think apple can do pretty well on merit alone, why are they tarnishing their image with patent trolling tactics? I really have to wonder if they internally believe their value proposition is getting worse in the face of new competitive threats.