Apple Claims Samsung and Motorola Patent Monopoly 381
esocid writes with a bit in Daily Tech about the ongoing spat between Apple and the rest of the mobile world. From the article: "Apple lawyers are crying foul about Samsung, and ... Motorola's allegedly 'anticompetitive,' use of patents. ... Apparently Apple is irate about these companies' countersuits, which rely largely on patents covering wireless communications, many of which are governed by the 'fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory' (F/RAND) principle, as they were developed as part of industry standards. ... Apple takes issue with the fact that Motorola in its countersuit declines to differentiate the 7 F/RAND patents in its 18 patent collection. ... Regardless of what Florian Mueller says, it's hard to dispute that the 'rules' of F/RAND are largely community dictated and ambiguous."
Didn't you learn anything as a kid, Apple? (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple is irate about these companies' countersuits, which rely largely on patents covering wireless communications, many of which are governed by the 'fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory' (F/RAND) principle, as they were developed as part of industry standards
And yours are all artistic and nothing else, eh? The industry shouldn't use any of your mechanisms for compatibility or interchange, right?
Grow up. You started the sh**, now deal with it.
Re:What's good for the goose is good for the gande (Score:2, Interesting)
We could have had the next iPad killer by now if they weren't wasting time and money on lawsuits!
This is precisely what Apple doesn't want.
Re:For Chrissakes (Score:2, Interesting)
The expectation of backlash suits was likely expected as less innovative companies scan their patent portfolios in a desperate attempt to limit the innovation gap between their company and Apple. You can only lose a patent argument a few times before the patent becomes toothless against precedent.The current end game from litigation is that Apple will likely win more battles than they lose and Apple will stay 1-2 years ahead of competing product offerings. The current end game for the industry overall isn't yet known -- either other companies will replicate Apple's mix of innovation and supply chain control and compete against Apple, or they'll settle to be 2nd tier technology companies.
You're "real manufacturer" comment is off the mark. Apple uses it's war chest of cash to finance the build out of supply chain fab plants in return for first choice / monopoly supply. the "real manufacturers" you're referring to (I assume Taiwanese ODMs) can't get the parts to replicate.
Either way, geeks who love new toys win -- so long as you're not an apple hater.
Re:How dare they sue us! (Score:4, Interesting)
http://techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/ [techcrunch.com]
Re:How dare they sue us! (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't remember where I first heard this - possibly from a teacher in junior high school. "If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem." I'm another person who is sick of these patent wars. One day, you want to cheer this side, or the other side, the next day you want to cheer the interlopers who file those "friend of the court" briefs, then a week later, you want to see the real low-life trolls burnt at the stake. It's an endless drama among the lawyers trying to milk the techworld.
And, I'm just sick of it. Apple hasn't been part of the solution, nor has Microsoft, or Samsung, or Motorola, or IBM, or - well, I could go on. Everyone who has ever filed a software and/or frivolous design patent like basic description of the Apple iPad is part of the problem. Most patents need to be done away with. I can't remember now what the numbers were, but apparently more patents have been granted in the past ten years, than were granted in all of patent history. It's ridiculous. Worse, it's insane.
Idiots sitting at a corporate conference mull the need to patent a shape, because they might use that shape sometime in the unforseeable future. Preposterous.