Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 20:04 UTC
"As was widely expected, the Federal Trade Commission announced this morning that it has reached a settlement agreement with Google, bringing the commission's antitrust investigations into the search giant to a close. Two different areas of Google's business were being explored: the way it prioritized search results, and the way that Google had sought injunctions against devices that were thought to have infringed upon standards-essential patents from Motorola." Would have loved to see the FRAND system crumble, though. Let the patent mess explode - to change the system, we need disruption, not appeasement.
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RE[3]: I think you got your wish
by Thom_Holwerda on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 23:31
in reply to "RE[2]: I think you got your wish"
Member since:2005-06-29
you cannot prevent any one company from using a standard (a good thing) but, through the legal system, you can receive equitable remuneration for your contributions to that standard if someone refuses to pay a privately negotiated rate.
Eh, you seem to be missing something here. The FTC has just made it abundantly clear that it does not want companies to sue for infringement of FRAND patents after the infringing party refuses to pay up. Something similar is happening in Europe with Apple and Samsung. This essentially makes them meaningless, since if a FRAND patent holder can't sue for infringement, what else is he going to do when an infringer refuses to pay up? Stomp his feet?
Edited 2013-01-03 23:33 UTC
RE[4]: I think you got your wish
by jared_wilkes on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 23:49
in reply to "RE[3]: I think you got your wish"
Member since:2011-04-25
Eh, you seem to be missing something here.
I am missing something, but it's not in the FTC agreement or recent EC action. It's here and places like groklaw that are delusionally pro-Google, anti-Apple, or anti-patents (but somehow SEP patents are important for them, can't make sense of it.)
The FTC has just made it abundantly clear that it does not want companies to sue for infringement of FRAND patents after the infringing party refuses to pay up. Something similar is happening in Europe with Apple and Samsung.
Complete and utter nonsense. There's nothing in the US or in the EC that remotely suggest that there should not be remuneration, or litigation to be remunerated, for SEPs. You are conflating injunctions with getting paid for patents and/or suing. This is complete, utter hogwash. Not being able to ban a product is not equivalent with not being able to sue to get paid for patents.
Again, simply consider the situation Apple is in with non-SEPs. They actually have jury verdicts for infringements but have lacked success getting injunctions. Does their lack of success getting injunctions imply their patents aren't legally enforceable (even after they have been legally validated and awarded)? Merely suggesting that preventing injunctions for SEPs is equivalent to dissuading any lawsuit for SEP patents implies complete idiocy -- either on the part of the suggester or the audience he/she's attempting to dump it on.
This essentially makes them meaningless, since if a FRAND patent holder can't sue for infringement, what else is he going to do when an infringer refuses to pay up? Stomp his feet?
Please show me a single action, document, or ruling that even suggests there is a movement to prevent any litigation or remuneration for SEP patents. You can't. The only thing affected is injunctive relief (which has become difficult to get whether or not the patent is standard essential anyway).
Edited 2013-01-03 23:52 UTC
RE[4]: I think you got your wish
by Nelson on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 23:51
in reply to "RE[3]: I think you got your wish"
Member since:2005-11-29
Uh, no. The FTC stated that you cannot seek injunctive relief for SEPs if the defendant has agreed to take a license but you just disagree on the terms, then it will go to arbitration.
They didn't make SEPs useless for persuit of unwilling parties, they just made it harder to abuse SEPs as Moto and Samsung have been doing.
Features
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/15/13 22:44 UTC
Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/14/13 18:22 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
You can say what you will about Windows Phone and Windows 8's Metro interface (I refuse to drop that name) - it's inefficient, unpopular, cumbersome, beautiful, ugly, organised, clean, limiting - but there's one thing we can all agree on: it's unique and distinctive. CNet has published a profile of Microsoft's Albert Shum, the man behind Metro, and he highlights what I think is at the very core of Microsoft's problems in mobile right now.More Features »
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Member since:
2011-04-25
"Now tell me - who is going to hand over their patents to a standards body under a FRAND scheme when that means everybody can just take their patents at will?"
This is either willful ignorance or blatant lying. No one can "just take a patent" because of today's agreement. Hell, it's become enormously difficult to get an injunction on a non-standard patent.
What we are moving towards is: you cannot prevent any one company from using a standard (a good thing) but, through the legal system, you can receive equitable remuneration for your contributions to that standard if someone refuses to pay a privately negotiated rate.
Edited 2013-01-03 22:57 UTC