Tag Archives: software patents

One in Six Active U.S. Patents Pertain to the Smartphone

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If anything illustrates the absurdity of the current state of affairs in the patent system, it is that the smartphone handset market — although booming — accounts for less than 1% of the U.S. annual GDP (by U.S. sales) but encompasses 16% of all active U.S. patents.***

via One in Six Active U.S. Patents Pertain to the Smartphone.

To put the absurdity of the current system into perspective, scholars Christina Mulligan and Timothy B. Lee estimated that it would take roughly 2,000,000 patent attorneys working full-time to compare every software-producing firm’s products with every software patent issued in a given year.

Samsung’s Claims of Juror Misconduct Revealed in Unredacted Filings

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Were you wondering how Samsung found out about the lawsuit that Hogan failed to mention in voir dire, the litigation between Seagate and Hogan that Samsung dug up? Apple was, as I’ll show you. You wouldn’t believe it if it was in a movie script. The lawyer who sued Mr. Hogan on behalf of Seagate back in 1993 is now married to a partner at Quinn Emanuel, the lawyers for Samsung.

What are the odds?

via Groklaw – Samsung’s Claims of Juror Misconduct Revealed in Unredacted Filings ~pj Updated.

The issue, then, is juror misconduct, not that they just didn’t know what they were doing during deliberations. Hogan did not mention the case brought against him by Seagate in voir dire, significantly enough, even though he was specifically asked by the judge, as were all the prospective jurors, to list all cases any of them was ever involved in as a witness or a party. Hogan told Reuters (see 2012 [PDF]) that he wasn’t asked about all cases. But he was, as you can see for yourself in the transcript [PDF] of the voir dire.

The software patent solution has been right here all along

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Lemley’s thesis is radically simple: “Most software patents today are written in functional terms,” he writes. “If courts would faithfully apply the 1952 Act, limiting those claims to the actual algorithms the patentees disclosed and their equivalents, they could prevent overclaiming by software patentees and solve much of the patent thicket problem that besets software innovation.”

via The software patent solution has been right here all along | Open Source Software – InfoWorld.

Samsung expected to sue Apple over iPhone 5 tomorrow

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The courtroom battle between Apple and Samsung seems to be far from over, and come tomorrow Apple is in for a major headache as soon as it makes the iPhone 5 official. That’s because Samsung is poised to sue the company over patents it owns relating to the LTE connectivity the new smartphone is expected to use.

via Samsung expected to sue Apple over iPhone 5 tomorrow – Cell Phones & Mobile Device Technology News & Updates | Geek.com.

Facing Samsung in court again may not phase Apple even though the shoe will firmly be on the other foot this time. However, there’s two other companies set to try and block sales of the new iPhone. The first is the company behind the GooPhone i5, which successfully managed to patent the design of its phone in China that just happens to look like the leaked shots we have seen of the iPhone 5. If the two phones do indeed look the same, expect a lawsuit.

Google’s Motorola Files New Patent Case Against Apple

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The complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission claims infringement of seven Motorola Mobility patents on features including location reminders, e-mail notification and phone/video players, Motorola Mobility said yesterday. The case seeks a ban on U.S. imports of devices including the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. Apple’s products are made in Asia.

via Google’s Motorola Files New Patent Case Against Apple – Bloomberg.

Microsoft inks patent deal with service provider using Linux servers

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For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been on a tear of signing up Android and Chome OS device makers to license publicly unspecified Microsoft patents that Microsoft claims are infringed upon by Google’s operating systems.

via Microsoft inks patent deal with service provider using Linux servers | ZDNet.

In 2010, Amazon.com signed a patent-licensing deal with Microsoft involving Linux (upon which the Kindle e-reader is based). Novell, TomTom, Fuji Xerox and Samsung also have signed Linux-focused patent deals with Microsoft. But Amdocs isn’t selling Linux-based hardware; it is just running Linux on servers in its own datacenters (best I can tell).