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Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

arstechnica.com

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Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#181

Post by Ygg2 »

mythz wrote: post #120
pinaceae wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google threw the gauntlet when it took a billion dollar investment into a mobile OS and gave it away for free. these dumping tactics ruined the market for licensed OS like Windows. did anybody truly believe the rest of the software industry would take it up the ass from google without fighting back? bing, apple maps, patents, etc - all part of the war. how much money does MS already make off android due to lost paten…

Exactly which part of investing billions of dollars acquiring and developing a technology and giving it away for free, lowering the price of consumer devices, needs to be prevented? If they've discovered a business model that enables them to invest, develop and freely distribute their own tech to end-users benefits, they should encouraged, not a victim of established cartels using their cash war-chest to buy B.S. pat…

ALL OF IT!

Seriously, who wants cheap superior products? Not me, that's who.

On a serious note, I hope those patents, get downturned and that 4.5 billion investment goes sour for all involved.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#182

Post by ac29 »

ulfw wrote: post #30
aspensmonster wrote: post #12

Please, make it stop. Make it stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP. How many billions of dollars are these companies going to flush down the drain on legal fees that could be better spent doing just about anything else? >When Wired visited Rockstar's Ontario headquarters, it found 10 reverse-engineering experts, working daily to take apart products and find patent infringement. >With just a few dozen employee…

It's how America runs. Have you asked a doctor how much he pays for legal fees/malpractise insurance? It's the laywers who run this place

Malpractice insurance is probably way cheaper than you think: http://truecostofhealthcare.org/malpractice

A few thousand a year. Its a common misconception that its expensive, or plays more than a tiny role in the cost of health care.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#183

Post by hetman »

__david__ wrote: post #94
pg wrote: post #61

It's a little early to say for sure, but I predict this will do more to hurt Apple's reputation in the tech community than anything they've done before. And that is not a good community to alienate. I would not be surprised if they look back on this move one day and feel that they ended up net worse off as a result. Apple used to be careful not to alienate hackers. And Microsoft has been gradually digging itself out…

That may be true, but it would be misplaced. I think we should channel our outrage into changing the screwy US patent system so this kind of stuff would become moot.

Because until the entities, likely to exert huge lobbying pressure on legislation, are brought to heel, changing those laws will prove very difficult indeed.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#184

Post by BrandonY »

linuxhansl wrote: post #131

Somebody please show me a single patent on software or a so called business-process that is worth anything (i.e. not obvious to somebody skilled in the art). Just one... I'll shut up then. Patents were supposed to encourage innovation, now they are doing the opposite (at least for software and business processes) and causing billions of wasted dollars and fat bonuses for patent lawyers. This move seems a bit desperat…

The RSA patent, 4,405,829, was pretty innovative and also quite useful, although even it had been invented in secret a year earlier by the British.

That said, I don't think there's any evidence that the existence of the patent system prompted its invention, and so I wouldn't call this an argument in favor of patents.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#185

Post by Ygg2 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #143
serge2k wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because they can see what happened with PCs happening again. If they don't fight android with everything they have now then in 5 or 10 years they might not have the chance.

All of this assumes that Android is Windows and that another open source platform, such as Firefox OS or Ubuntu Touch, wouldn't be available to pose any challenge to Android. The mobile sphere is probably dynamic enough to support such changes. If the FOSS projects in mobile work hard enough now, they can eat into Android's market share, at least in the developing world. We shouldn't consider Android's position to be…

Which is harder to nuke - a behemot of several billions dollars or a small non-profit company making browsers.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#186

Post by Goronmon »

bsdetector wrote: post #105
mythz wrote: post #37

What really sucks is how established multi-billion dollar companies are able to oppress smaller innovative ones from competing by simply using their cash war-chest to buy-up broad patent mine-fields around them. It especially sucks this is being done to stifle the momentum of one of the highest-growth markets the world has ever seen. Patents were meant to protect the innovator, instead software patents are being used…

Small companies that have done something new aren't buried six feet under a lawsuit, they are bought out and become Google YouTube, or Google Maps, or Google Blogger. Yes they may be forced to sell or sell for less to avoid patent lawsuits against them, but they sell for more than if they didn't have any patents themselves. It isn't an idea situation, but patents still generate a ton of income for small inventors.

It isn't an idea situation, but patents still generate a ton of income for small inventors.

But is this income generated for a good reason or just because ..."patents"? Are these small companies getting paid because of the good work they've done or because they've managed to fake enough to get some patents useful in a war-chest of patents for a larger company down the road?

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#187

Post by [deleted] »

smsm42 wrote: post #119
pinaceae wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google threw the gauntlet when it took a billion dollar investment into a mobile OS and gave it away for free. these dumping tactics ruined the market for licensed OS like Windows. did anybody truly believe the rest of the software industry would take it up the ass from google without fighting back? bing, apple maps, patents, etc - all part of the war. how much money does MS already make off android due to lost paten…

They are really evil people. Probably as evil as those who created OSes, languages, browsers, protocols, libraries, compilers, IDEs - and gave them away for free. If not for the "rest of the software industry", everything would be in ruins now due to evil commies that dare to give away software.

[deleted]

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#188

Post by WaterSponge »

x0x0 wrote: post #178
pg wrote: post #61

It's a little early to say for sure, but I predict this will do more to hurt Apple's reputation in the tech community than anything they've done before. And that is not a good community to alienate. I would not be surprised if they look back on this move one day and feel that they ended up net worse off as a result. Apple used to be careful not to alienate hackers. And Microsoft has been gradually digging itself out…

but say I want a smartphone, what is my alternative? google, who works harder and harder to sell everything I do to advertisers (now you can't even rate apps w/o a google+ account), and who just shut off transmitting search data so they can screw site owners for more $? microsoft, who is a party to this and actively worked to make the internet worse (and succeeded!) for the better part of a decade? or apple, who at l…

Marketing is a natural occurrence. All companies/people/groups market themselves in one way or another. Your not exactly forced to buy into whats being sold. Why is everyone so stuck on google core being a marketing company?

I think its the least of evil profit motivations since hell I might actually be interested in what google has figured out I may want... Vs being locked out without any options and force into dealing with a certain player.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#189

Post by rednukleus »

x0x0 wrote: post #178
pg wrote: post #61

It's a little early to say for sure, but I predict this will do more to hurt Apple's reputation in the tech community than anything they've done before. And that is not a good community to alienate. I would not be surprised if they look back on this move one day and feel that they ended up net worse off as a result. Apple used to be careful not to alienate hackers. And Microsoft has been gradually digging itself out…

but say I want a smartphone, what is my alternative? google, who works harder and harder to sell everything I do to advertisers (now you can't even rate apps w/o a google+ account), and who just shut off transmitting search data so they can screw site owners for more $? microsoft, who is a party to this and actively worked to make the internet worse (and succeeded!) for the better part of a decade? or apple, who at l…

Buy an Android, and if you are worried about Google's targeted ads, then don't link it to a Google account. Or put Ubuntu or FirefoxOS on there.

There may not be a perfect option out there with no tradeoffs, but there are options that are far far worse for the industry than others.

Re: Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google

#190

Post by sbuk »

cromwellian wrote: post #117
threeseed wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's continued abuse of the FRAND process has done nothing to hurt their image in the eyes of most. And likewise this suit won't affect Apple or Microsoft's reputation one iota.

That's because most hackers perceive Google's FRAND suits as a justified defensive counter-attack brought on by Microsoft and Apple's patent abuse, so they are given slack.

The truth is actually cognitive dissonance. No matter what you say none of the parties deserve slack of any kind.
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