Google and Microsoft make patent peace • Hacker News Board

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#11

Post by rhino369 » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 12:55 AM UTC

bsimpson wrote: post #3

proksoup wrote: post #2

"What we do know is that Microsoft makes approximately $3.4-billion a year from its Android patent licening deals. " [sic] I guess this might be good news for Google? From my perspective, patents are a toxic drain on morale/intelligence/innovation that we have no hope of curtailing in my lifetime.

Seriously. It sounds a lot like a "we were here first" shakedown.

That's sorta the purpose of patents. Incumbent companies create a ton of valuable technology that new competitors would otherwise get access to only because the incumbents invested in them.

You can disagree with rewarding it, but it's not totally insane.

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#12

Post by doubt_me » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 12:58 AM UTC

proksoup wrote: post #2

"What we do know is that Microsoft makes approximately $3.4-billion a year from its Android patent licening deals. " [sic] I guess this might be good news for Google? From my perspective, patents are a toxic drain on morale/intelligence/innovation that we have no hope of curtailing in my lifetime.

I have always had this feeling that patent wars are only around to make the lawyers more money.

Imagine how many firms would lose millions if the major tech companies worked together

EDIT: (nothing against lawyers in general since they are obviously just doing their jobs)

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#13

Post by lern_too_spel » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 1:15 AM UTC

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #5

TFA (perhaps unsurprisingly) does not mention this particular Microsoft-Google case: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/appeals-court-uph... Of all the patent lawsuits that happened in all the smartphone wars that nobody won, this was the only case where a company was actually sanctioned for, essentially, abusing patents. And this happened on Google's watch. For all the rhetoric Google spewed about how their…

TFA mentions that exact case.

"In return fire, Motorola Mobilty demanded Xbox patent royalties. In particular Motorola Mobility demanded higher payments for its s H.264 video and networking 'essential' patents."

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#14

Post by znemz » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 1:55 AM UTC

So does this mean the next nexus will get an micro-sd card slot? Cause this is has kept me away from one due to this meaningless feud.

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#15

Post by throwawaykf05 » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 1:56 AM UTC

nemothekid wrote: post #8

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #5

TFA (perhaps unsurprisingly) does not mention this particular Microsoft-Google case: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/appeals-court-uph... Of all the patent lawsuits that happened in all the smartphone wars that nobody won, this was the only case where a company was actually sanctioned for, essentially, abusing patents. And this happened on Google's watch. For all the rhetoric Google spewed about how their…

Did you link the right article - the referenced article references a court case between Motorola and Microsoft - one that started before Google's acquisition of Moto. It seems the patent battle was Microsoft abuse of its own patents to take a percentage of all Android sales (and Moto's revenue). Edit: Motorola vs Microsoft, not Google

It started a couple months before the acquisition but largely went through and ended (I.e. with the 14M verify against) while Google owned Motorola.

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#16

Post by doubt_me » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 1:59 AM UTC

znemz wrote: post #14

So does this mean the next nexus will get an micro-sd card slot? Cause this is has kept me away from one due to this meaningless feud.

They completely avoided this question in their reddit AMA

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3mzrl9/hi_im_hiroshi_...

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#17

Post by ycitera » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 2:07 AM UTC

They make patent peace with themselves but not with the small guys?

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#18

Post by throwawaykf05 » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 2:21 AM UTC

lern_too_spel wrote: post #13

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #5

TFA (perhaps unsurprisingly) does not mention this particular Microsoft-Google case: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/appeals-court-uph... Of all the patent lawsuits that happened in all the smartphone wars that nobody won, this was the only case where a company was actually sanctioned for, essentially, abusing patents. And this happened on Google's watch. For all the rhetoric Google spewed about how their…

TFA mentions that exact case. "In return fire, Motorola Mobilty demanded Xbox patent royalties. In particular Motorola Mobility demanded higher payments for its s H.264 video and networking 'essential' patents."

My bad, was not very clear, I meant TFA does not mention the 14M judgement that Google was slapped with, marking it as the only company legally proven to be abusing patents.

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#19

Post by throwawaykf05 » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 2:29 AM UTC

doubt_me wrote: post #12

proksoup wrote: post #2

"What we do know is that Microsoft makes approximately $3.4-billion a year from its Android patent licening deals. " [sic] I guess this might be good news for Google? From my perspective, patents are a toxic drain on morale/intelligence/innovation that we have no hope of curtailing in my lifetime.

I have always had this feeling that patent wars are only around to make the lawyers more money. Imagine how many firms would lose millions if the major tech companies worked together EDIT: (nothing against lawyers in general since they are obviously just doing their jobs)

Not a big fan of lawyers (personally seen people screwed by them twice) but there's this weird meme that lawyers can make lawsuits happen as they please. The cases where this can happen are very rare as far as I can see, yet the meme persists.

Re: Google and Microsoft make patent peace

#20

Post by lern_too_spel » Thu, Oct 01, 2015, 2:45 AM UTC

throwawaykf05 wrote: post #18

lern_too_spel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA mentions that exact case. "In return fire, Motorola Mobilty demanded Xbox patent royalties. In particular Motorola Mobility demanded higher payments for its s H.264 video and networking 'essential' patents."

My bad, was not very clear, I meant TFA does not mention the 14M judgement that Google was slapped with, marking it as the only company legally proven to be abusing patents.

Litigation is a crap-shoot. Microsoft could have just as easily been slapped with such a judgement on its FAT patent that provoked that countersuit. Instead, it went the other way.

The only thing that's clear is that Microsoft was the aggressor. Without the FAT litigation, there would have been no h.264 litigation.