Monday, July 30, 2012

Apple Sued In Asia

Apple is in a glass house. It should not be throwing stones. Instead it should team up with companies like Google to bring forth global patent reform. Call a truce and get to work.

Taiwan university sues Apple over speech recognition patents
over the iPhone maker's Siri speech recognition system ..... Earlier this month, Apple paid $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China. ..... two U.S. patents it was granted in 2007 and 2010 that relate to voice-to-text technology. ..... Two small Chinese companies have filed suits against Apple in China, with Jiangsu Xuebao charging trademark violations for the use of Snow Leopard as the name of its computer operating system and Zhi Zhen Internet Technology targeting the voice assistant functions used in Siri
Apple earns a place on Chinese blacklist


Enhanced by Zemanta

Apple Samsung Trial: Big Implications

Common sense has to prevail. Common sense is that Apple needs to go back to the lab if it wishes to win the innovation war.

Apple v. Samsung: The patent trial of the century starts today
The highly-technical confrontation pits the world's most valuable company, whose iPhone once dominated the touchscreen smartphone market and whose iPad still has the largest share of tablet computers, against South Korea's largest manufacturer, which makes tablets and phones that run Google's Android operating system and whose smartphones are now outselling Apple's. ..... Samsung's brief: "In this lawsuit, Apple seeks to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits." ...... Dozens more pretrial motions were unsealed last Thursday in a legal data dump almost too large to digest. ..... For its part, Samsung is reportedly demanding 2.4% of Apple's sales for use of its mobile communications technology. ...... Samsung's version of the chart will show at least 10 iPhone-like designs created in Samsung's labs before the iPhone was unveiled ..... Samsung will claim the iPhone's design changed after Apple hired a designer from Sony and got wind of their plans. Apple fought hard to keep the jury from seeing that evidence. ..... Samsung tried to prevent Apple from showing the jury five slides in its opening presentation because the images of Steve Jobs they contained might prejudice the jury. ..... Apple, on the other hand, has so far been able to keep Jobs' remarks about "thermonuclear war" out of the record, despite Samsung's objections.

Enhanced by Zemanta

The Real Reason Apple Is Suing



Apple is a closed system, kind of like the Soviet Union was. And closed systems have huge disadvantages compared to open systems when it comes to innovation. Closed systems are destined to lose.

Apple is not going to become open. And so it is going to lose. It already has lost the smartphone war.

And so it has resorted to the tactic used by non innovators. You go to court. You sue.
Enhanced by Zemanta

The Smartphone Is A Frying Pan


You should not be able to patent a frying pan. Like farms are a category. Hand looms are a category. The PC is a category.

The PC Was A Category And Could Not Have Been Patented

There were music players before the iPod. How come Apple did not get sued?

And if it is about "look and feel" like Apple claims, rumor has it the next iPhone is going to have a larger screen and it is going to look like the large Samsung phones. Talk about look and feel.

Key Witness No Longer Works at Apple, Doesn’t Want to Testify at Samsung Trial
Shin Nishibori, the Apple designer whose Sony-infused iPhone designs have become a central issue in the Samsung patent case, apparently has no plans to testify in the upcoming trial. ..... The lawyer said Nishibori no longer works at Apple, and is in Hawaii, “trying to recover from several health issues.” ..... It was Nishibori who created a series of designs in 2006 that show what a Sony-like iPhone might look like, allegedly at the direction of Apple design chief Jony Ive. ..... Nishibori’s designs show that Sony influenced the iPhone design that Samsung is accused of copying. ...... Apple would not make Nishibori available for months, noting that he was on a leave of absence. ..... Samsung submitted Twitter postings from Nishibori, in which he talked of world travel and running 10K races. Samsung eventually took his deposition in May 2012
Samsung Makes Another Case to Have Apple’s “Sony Style” Put Before Jury
Apple’s iPhone was heavily influenced by Sony. ..... the iPhone project changed direction based on things that Apple learned from news articles about where Sony was headed ..... Samsung claims Apple tried to delay Samsung learning about the extent of the Sony influence on the iPhone, and says the California company shouldn’t be rewarded for its tactics. ..... “Apple’s ‘iconic’ iPhone was conceived as part of a study of Sony designs that was ordered by Apple executives,” Samsung said in the filing. “It took Samsung four separate court orders — three from this Court and one from the International Trade Commission — compelling Apple to produce the testimony and documents that are the subject of Apple’s motion before Apple finally disclosed it. ...... Samsung argues that it tried for months to take the deposition of Apple designer Shin Nishibori, but Apple said he was on a leave of absence and unavailable. ..... Prior to the work by the Apple designer, the company was pursuing a separate design approach, known as “extrudo,” while its later work (and the eventual iPhone) more closely resembles the “Sony style” design. ..... Apple hopes to avoid public disclosure of the full, detailed story of how the iPhone in its present form came to be.”

Enhanced by Zemanta

It Is About Google As Much As Samsung

Image representing Android as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase
And Google has to beat Apple like it beat Oracle. Common sense makes for justice.

Samsung Case Is a Proxy for Google
Dispute Between Apple and Samsung Is Proxy for Broader Mobile Operating-System War ..... elephant in the room: Google ..... a global attack on Samsung and other handset makers that use Google's Android software. ..... Android the No. 1 smartphone operating system ..... Apple's approach also opens up the possibility of getting the International Trade Commission—which often rules more quickly than federal courts—to halt sales of devices found to infringe Apple's patents. ..... alleging that Apple is violating Samsung's own patents related to how phones communicate and three patents concerning how phones handle pictures and music. ..... a pivotal moment in the smartphone market, with Samsung extending its lead in the lucrative business. .... The Samsung devices that are at issue in the trial are being, or have already been, phased out. ..... Apple is asserting that Samsung devices violate a greater number of features related to Android, including swiping to unlock the device, auto-correcting text and searching from a unified search box. Samsung is countering with claims that Apple infringed on its wireless telecommunications technology and other features. ..... Judge Koh this summer granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Nexus phone in the case, though an appeals court later stayed the order. Google said that it has a workaround for the search-related patent Apple cited in the case. ...... Motorola is asserting that Apple violated several patents related to wireless standards, the same type of patents that Samsung is using in its defense against Apple.
Android was conceived before the iOS. How about that?

Apple does not do hardware. FoxConn does that for them. Maybe Apple should consider going back into manufacturing if it really wants to compete with Samsung.

This is Apple acting Soviet.

Is The Latest Apple-Samsung Court Case Really All About Google?
legal representatives from Google will be dotted around the court room when things kick off later this morning
Oracle's Larry Ellison also asked for two billion in damages. What is it about Android?


Enhanced by Zemanta