What I don't understand is why this is strictly against Motorola. What does the Droid line do that others do not to warrant this?
Microsoft already got an agreement with HTC, looks like Motorola is next.
Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
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Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#12What I don't understand is why this is strictly against Motorola. What does the Droid line do that others do not to warrant this?
You could sue GOOG (market cap: 167.66B); or, you could sue MOT (19.91B). Which one's a softer target?
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#13Didn't MS pledge not to use their patents offensively? EDIT: http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/osspatentpledge....
That's not too accurately summarized. In the linked text they promise to not sue individuals participating noncommercial open source development related to certain covered techologies, which are protocols, languages, file formats and standards. A huge amount of stuff, both technologies and contexts, is left outside the pledge.
Thanks for linking, though; I never bothered to familiarize myself with this before.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#14Didn't MS pledge not to use their patents offensively? EDIT: http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/osspatentpledge....
They'll only sue you if you try to make money of it: "If You engage in the commercial distribution or importation of software derived from an open source project or if You make or use such software outside the scope of creating such software code, You do not benefit from this promise for such distribution or for these other activities... Software is deemed to be commercially distributed within the meaning of this pro…
Oh so the pledge was always worthless. You are right.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#15What I don't understand is why this is strictly against Motorola. What does the Droid line do that others do not to warrant this?
Microsoft already got an agreement with HTC, looks like Motorola is next.
Don't think so, if they decided to sue it's because Motorola refused such agreement and because they believe they have a pretty strong case against MS patents.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#16So much for the "Microsoft doesn't have a history of patent lawsuit trolling. [...] At the end of the day MS is a developer centric company, they pride themselves on the ability to make things, and patents are an annoying side show to that." argument found here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1745932
Patents are a big deal at Microsoft. They are highly encouraged. Employees who succeed in securing a patent receive a plaque that is proudly displayed in their office as well as a nice bonus.
That's true at just about every company, even Google.
The question is are the patents used for offense or defense.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#17It is absolutely imperative that we all formulate our opinions in ignorance of the patents themselves. Pay no attention to the following words and numbers.
Common Name Space for Long and Short File Names: 5,579,517
Common Name Space for Long and Short File Names: 5,758,352
Monitoring Entropic Conditions of a Flash Memory Device as an Indicator for Invoking Erasure Operations: 6,621,746
Radio Interface Layer in a Cell Phone with a Set of APIs Having a
Hardware-Independent Proxy Layer and a Hardware-Specific Driver Layer: 6,826,762
Method and System for Managing Changes to a Contact Database: 6,909,910
Flexible Architecture for Notifying Applications of State Changes: 7,644,376
Context Sensitive Menu System/Menu Behavior: 5,664,133
Method and System for Supporting Off-line Mode of Operation and Synchronization Using Resource State Information: 6,578,054
Generating Meeting Requests and Group Scheduling from a Mobile Device: 6,370,566Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#18What I don't understand is why this is strictly against Motorola. What does the Droid line do that others do not to warrant this?
You could sue GOOG (market cap: 167.66B); or, you could sue MOT (19.91B). Which one's a softer target?
Meh, all those billions still buys a gaggle of lawyers.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#19What I don't understand is why this is strictly against Motorola. What does the Droid line do that others do not to warrant this?
I gather from the other thread that Motorola used to run WinMo. When your customers don't want to buy your shit, sue them so they have to.
Motorola still ships WinMo devices, but the only market that still needs them is industry. In NYC, traffic cops carry them, and I know that several food delivery companies use them. Between this patent suit and the late to the party Windows Phone 7, I hope Microsoft finally dies in the mobile phone space.
Re: Microsoft sues Motorola over Android patent infringements
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft already got an agreement with HTC, looks like Motorola is next.
Don't think so, if they decided to sue it's because Motorola refused such agreement and because they believe they have a pretty strong case against MS patents.
While I'm sure there have been overtures, these lawsuits are often just juice to try and force the settlement.