Microsoft all but buys Netscape with AOL patent acqusition
It's truly the final curtain call for Netscape. A portion the company's technologies are part of a massive $1 billion patent sale between AOL and Microsoft, announced Monday morning. Microsoft was the top bidder in an auction to sell off non-essential technologies that include about 800 patents.
Microsoft is also acquiring a subsidiary of AOL. While AOL did not specify the subsidiary by name, sources tell All Things Digital that it is Netscape. AOL still retains the right to the brand and related businesses, but all the technologies behind it are now owned by the Redmond, Wash. company.
Apple looks like an angel after Motorola's outrageous patent demands
Apple and Motorola held talks late last year to settle the patent row between the two companies but Motorola's demands blew up the deal, legal filings now indicate. The revelations are part of documents from the European Union's review of the merger between Google and Motorola, and essentially flips the argument that Apple is the patent bully in this mess.
Motorola gets a pass in the patent row that has become a crippling plague in the technology sector, while Apple is continuously beat up by pundits with an ax to grind. But Motorola's demands are so out of line it's almost comical: for Apple to gain access to Moto's standards-essential patents, it has to license all of its own porfolio.
Microsoft: Google and Motorola are losers
Technology is becoming something of a fight club, as competitors (and some partners) beat up one another over intellectual property rights. Apple sues seemingly everyone, while Microsoft collects royalties from most Android licensees. Motorola, holder of 17,000 patents with about 7,000 more pending, joins the foray, too, and Microsoft is big-time pushing back.
In a week where Microsoft accused Google of circumventing Internet Explorer privacy settings and posted the demeaning "Googlighting" video comes another slap down: The software giant filed antitrust complaints in Europe against Motorola and new owner Google.
Apple patent bullying reaches new low
People whining about human rights violations at Apple manufacturing facilities in China should look at business behavior, too, for it reveals much. Companies tend to act fairly consistently, reflecting the personalities of the people running them. If Apple shows disregard for workers making its products, then so should insensitive behavior crop up elsewhere. I see it in the callous patent attacks, which reached a new low yesterday. The company wants to sue bankrupt Kodak.
Apple's asking a bankruptcy court to sue for the patents is like demanding a judge turn over a portion of granddad's estate while he is still on life support. Kodak was the Apple of its day, bringing portable photography to the mass market in ways quite similar to iPod, iPhone and iPad today. Apple and Kodak are two of the greatest innovative American consumer technology companies of the last century, and they share similar attributes about creating compact, trendy and attractive products. On the design front, Apple owes much to Kodak and borrowed much from it. What a helluva way to show gratitude.
Motorola fends off Apple's patent attack, Microsoft next
Is Apple a victim of its own success? After a considerable string of patent wins in the courts against Android through much of 2011, the tide has turned. The International Trade Commission ruled that Motorola Mobility does not infringe on three patents that Apple sued over in October 2010.
Motorola filed an ITC complaint at that time targeting the Macbook, iPad, and iPhone. Apple retaliated by filing a suit of its own, accusing the Libertyville, Ill. phone manufacturer of infringing on its own patents, two of which deal with touchscreen technology.
Microsoft signs patent deal with LG over Android, boasts on Twitter
Microsoft now has licensing agreements with Android manufacturers covering 70 percent of all phones on the market following an agreement with LG over Android and Chrome OS announced Thursday. The Redmond, Wash.-based company has long maintained that "Android isn't free", and aggressively pursues licensing deals with manufacturers.
For the most part it has been successful, and already has deals with HTC, Samsung, Suanta, Copal Electronics and Wistron. Motorola resists Microsoft's efforts, but an International Trade Commission ruling finds the company is infringing on at least one Microsoft-owned patent, making an eventual deal more likely.
Microsoft extracts Android tax from Samsung
What's that saying about my enemy being my ally?
Samsung has finally agreed to pay licensing fees to Microsoft for patents allegedly infringed by Android. I say, allegedly, since Microsoft accomplished this feat without firing one legal shot. It's a diplomatic agreement, of sorts, although the threat of patent warfare was always there. Perhaps Samsung has had enough fighting Apple patent and other intellectual property violation claims and didn't want to open yet another front on the battlefield. Or perhaps Samsung saw how many other phone manufacturers were cutting similar deals with Microsoft. Bottom line: Samsung will now essentially pay a licensing fee for Android, not to Google, but to Microsoft.
President Obama signs 'America Invents' patent reform act into law
The America Invents Act, which passed through the final stages of Congressional approval one week ago was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday morning.
The Act represents the largest single overhaul to the U.S. patent system in almost 60 years, and is the result of more than a decade of legislation.
Colossal change to U.S. Patent system nears with today's 'America Invents' vote
The United States Senate is scheduled to vote on House Resolution 1249 at 4:00pm today; the bill also known as the "America Invents Act," which will begin a major overhaul to the US Patent System.
In a Senatorial debate last night, a bipartisan majority voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, or in other words, to summarily end the debate and move along to the voting stage.
'Patent Pledge' companies promise not to sue startups into oblivion
In response to the current state of the United States' patent system (and its parasitic twin, the industry of patent litigation), Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham has launched what he calls "The Patent Pledge," a brief, thirteen word long statement for technology companies to sign to affirm that they have no interest in suing startups over software.
The Pledge itself is quick, and to the point:
How much is a patent worth? By Google math $510,204.08
It appears as if Google is attempting to set a baseline for the value of a patent, according to some analysts who took a closer look of its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Industry watchers widely believe that the Mountain View, Calif. search giant's primary interest in the acquisition was the massive portfolio of patents that could be used in defending Android.
Motorola holds about 24,500 patents, and it gives Google a huge shot in the arm when it comes to intellectual property. It paid $12.5 billion for the phone manufacturer, but it appears that the hardware business had little to do with the company's perceived value.
Can Google-Motorola Mobility bring stability to the Force?
"We will be looking with interest as further details of the proposed transaction become clear. But, at first glance, to the extent that this deal might bring some stability to the ongoing smartphone patent disputes, that would be a welcome development" -- John Thorne, Verizon deputy general counsel, speaking about Google's $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility acquisition.
The statement, as reported today by the Wall Street Journal, is refreshing for perspective -- that sanity might return after an increasing number of mobile patent lawsuits, among which Apple is point of axis (mostly as protagonist, but also defendant). Armed with a large stash of newly acquired Moto Mobility patents -- more than 24,000, and, of course, not all about mobile devices -- Google's position to defend Android licensees is stronger. Hell, Motorola invented the cell phone. Surely there is something Google can use as a club to beat back Apple lawyers.
HTC says everything Apple makes infringes on three of its patents
Tuesday evening, Taiwanese smartphone maker and long-time Android supporter HTC announced it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court of Delaware and also a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).
HTC alleges infringement of three patents by Apple's Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod product lines in the areas of Wi-Fi profiling, and PDA/Cellular functionality in a handheld device.
Real people react to Google's Motorola Mobility acquisition
Some of the best commentary about the pending Moto merger is taking place on Google+. So I've collected some of the more insightful opinions so that you don't have to search the social network for them.
The responses are about as "real people" as the geekfest of commentary going at Google+ today can be. I've randomly pulled reaction from journalists, IT admins, Android enthusiasts and mobile gearheads; surprisingly, or perhaps not because of the social venue, they're enthused. I actually expected more criticism, but maybe I'm in the wrong Plus Circles for that.
Larry Page has got some kind of balls to buy Motorola Mobility
Google's CEO proved his mettle today, just four months after assuming the role from Chairman Eric Schmidt. Google's $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility acquisition is bold for its risks, which are no less great than the benefits.
There's something fitting about the merger. Motorola Droid, backed by $100-million Verizon ad blitz, made Android. Google launched Android on a single handset (the G1) from a single carrier (T-Mobile) in autumn 2008. Moto Droid launch came about a year later. The operating system really took off -- really started wooing consumers, developers and handset makers -- following the Droid line's stunning success. In 2010, Android sales grew 888.8 percent according to Gartner. Android shipped on 48 percent of smartphones in second quarter 2011, according to Canalys.
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