Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 24th Aug 2012 23:54 UTC
And just like that, within a matter of days, the jury has reached a verdict in Apple vs. Samsung. The basic gist is simple: Apple's software patents are valid, and many Samsung devices infringe upon them. Apple's iPhone 3G trade dress is valid, and Samsung's Galaxy S line infringes, but other devices did not. Samsung did not infringe Apple's iPad design patent. Apple did not infringe any of Samsung's patents. Apple is awarded a little over $1 billion in damages. Competition lost today, and developers in the United States should really start to get worried - software patents got validated big time today.
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Member since:2010-10-05
Not sure where you read that. Apple quite famously lost that case, though the ruling relied in part on Microsoft having a contract.
I agree it's upsetting to see the same company in the same court bringing almost the same claims and seeing the law changing enough to let them win.
Member since:2007-03-26
Not sure where you read that.
It was my recollection at the time. (I'm an old bastard - I was using computers even back then :p )
I agree it's upsetting to see the same company in the same court bringing almost the same claims and seeing the law changing enough to let them win.
The ironic thing is, I can see more merit in Apple being granted a patent for their GUI back then, than I can for most of the things they patent now.
But as has been said already, Apple don't want to see history repeat.
Member since:2006-07-04
Not sure where you read that. Apple quite famously lost that case, though the ruling relied in part on Microsoft having a contract.
I agree it's upsetting to see the same company in the same court bringing almost the same claims and seeing the law changing enough to let them win.
I agree it's upsetting to see the same company in the same court bringing almost the same claims and seeing the law changing enough to let them win.
The law didn't change that much.
First, as you said, Microsoft had a deal with Apple by which they licensed Apple's GUI constructs (menus and icons), but didn't license Apple's "look and feel", which is what Apple sued about. And lost because Windows, despite having icons, windows, and menus (all of which Microsoft had a license for), didn't have the Mac "look and feel", nor did Microsoft try to emulate the Mac "look and feel".
Samsung, on the other hand, had no license deal with Apple, and they willfully and deliberately copied Apple's look and feel, and practically pretended to be a rebranded iPhone. Deliberately. "Let's make a device that looks as close to the iPhone as possible (maybe even close enough to fool a few low-information consumers!), and we'll reel in the dough!" Microsoft never tried to make Windows a carbon copy of the Mac. Samsung did intentionally try to make a near-carbon copy of the iPhone. They lost, and rightfully so.
The technology patents are a different matter. The rulings there don't bode well for Android.
Last thing I'll say is that this trial revealed that Apple and Micrsoft have a long standing cross-licensing agreement where they cross-license all of each other's tech, as long as neither tries to clone the other's products. That kind of deal sounds like the ideal situation to me, good for Apple, Microsoft, and consumers. Google and Samsung are too immature to reach such deals. Particularly Google. Being relatively young, they are still brash and think that the rules don't apply to them.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/25/13 0:45 UTC
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
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
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
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
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
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:
2007-03-26
Hmm weird. I'm sure I remember reading that Apple had won at the time. In any case it was still Xerox's innovation to begin with so Apple's claim to it is tenuous at best.
It's funny how things have since done a U-turn now though - GUI designs were dismissed back then, where as now even more tediously obvious ideas like rounded corners are upheld. Like sharp corners on a device that you're going to poke next to your head and stuff down the tight pockets of your jeans are a great idea....
Edited 2012-08-25 20:14 UTC