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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

#431

Post by maerF0x0 »

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…

It was enough to seal my intentions to never buy an apple product again. And FTR I have a mac book air, and 2 ipods (touch, music) ... Never again.

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

#432

Post by paulsilver »

keypusher wrote: post #315
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…

Just like Apple's ridiculous $1 billion patent lawsuit against Samsung hurt their reputation? Oh wait, it didn't hurt them at all and it's already forgotten. You are giving the tech community way too much credit if you think they really care about this, and the average person won't even notice.

I know two non-techies who bought Samsung Android phones when they upgraded rather than iPhones because of that trial. Not a huge effect and obviously anecdotal, but these things do have an effect.

However, I think developers are likely to stay with Apple as they have solidly adopted their products over the last 7-8 years, and weirdly many people seem willing to forgive a large company anything, just because they happen to have purchased some of their product range.

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

#433

Post by alexeisadeski3 »

adventured wrote: post #266
alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no mutually assured destruction here. Google is helpless.

$56 billion in cash. They're anything but helpless. A $6 billion bid for RIM would solve the problem. They also have Motorola's massive patent hoard, with thousands of patents available to assault both Microsoft and Apple. So far Google has mostly played nice on patents.

$145B for Apple

$50B for MS

Google's outgunned - but you're right, not helpless.

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

#434

Post by gamblor956 »

dd36 wrote: post #391
jasonlotito wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Companies are required to maximize their profits, This meme needs to die. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/09/h... "There are no statutes that put the shareholder at the top of the corporate priority list." "Nor does the law require, as many believe, that executives and directors owe a special fiduciary duty to shareholders." It needs to die. Edit: And there are many, many other places you ca…

There may not be statutes but there absolutely is case law. In fact, I'm sure there are indirect statutes. There's just no way that the purpose of a for profit company is not to maximize profits to the owners of that company. There may be reasonable debate about where best to deploy capital but those decisions should be justified.

The company's duty is to maximize the value of its shareholder's holdings in the company (i.e., stock). This can be done by maximizing profitability (see, e.g., Caterpillar, most publicly traded companies), but it can also be done through growth (i.e., Amazon, most startups) at the expense of maximized profitability.

It's easier to maximize profitability than it is to maximize growth. This is why more companies pursue the first path.

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

#435

Post by kbenson »

throwawaykf wrote: post #418

Allow me to inject some perspective. 1) For all the talk of Microsoft and Apple "abusing patents", it was actually Google that had to pay 14 million in damages for actually doing just that. Let's just not forget that before deciding who should be "alienating the tech community". However, Google's PR really is very good, and unfortunately, most people here accept it without critical thought because it confirms their b…

I don't know how you can expect to keep a neutral tone when equating this to war. That is striking an incendiary tone from the beginning.

Releasing Android was not an "attack". It was entering a market with a competitive product. The fact that Google was able to leverage new methods and resources (open source and the continued evolving of the Linux kernel) to reduce the cost of their offering (to the point of changing where revenue is generated in the product) is a normal market behavior. Pooling monopolistic grants and abusing the legal system to thwart market behavior is not something I think we should condone, regardless of how much the other companies felt under attack.

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

#437

Post by kumarm »

throwawaykf wrote: post #418

Allow me to inject some perspective. 1) For all the talk of Microsoft and Apple "abusing patents", it was actually Google that had to pay 14 million in damages for actually doing just that. Let's just not forget that before deciding who should be "alienating the tech community". However, Google's PR really is very good, and unfortunately, most people here accept it without critical thought because it confirms their b…

[ Giving away Android for free was a direct attack on Microsoft's and Apple's business model. They are simply responding in kind.]

So Google Entered a new Market with good product and different business model, MSFT and AAPL responded with litigation. Thanks for making it obvious.

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

#438

Post by 6thSigma »

37prime wrote: post #202
6thSigma wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they were still seeking regulatory approval of the acquisition when the lawsuit was filed. Either way, Apple sued Motorola first in 2011.

Any quotes on that? Apple sued Motorola (2012) http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/10/apple-sues-motorola-over-... Motorola Sued Apple (2011) http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/12/motorola-wins-injunctio...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20090552-17/apple-sues-mot...

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

#439

Post by pg »

cs702 wrote: post #346
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…

I'm unhappy with Apple and Microsoft too, but the real enemy is a broken patent system that creates the perverse incentives that motivate companies to launch lawsuits like this one, to the detriment of society. Regardless of who wins, we have already lost, because we have a patent system that discourages innovation and competition in software! Maybe the prospect of patent Armageddon will finally force lawmakers to ad…

It's certainly true that the patent system is broken. But the fact you can get away with doing something due to broken laws doesn't make it ok to do it.

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

#440

Post by lttlrck »

paulsilver wrote: post #432
keypusher wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like Apple's ridiculous $1 billion patent lawsuit against Samsung hurt their reputation? Oh wait, it didn't hurt them at all and it's already forgotten. You are giving the tech community way too much credit if you think they really care about this, and the average person won't even notice.

I know two non-techies who bought Samsung Android phones when they upgraded rather than iPhones because of that trial. Not a huge effect and obviously anecdotal, but these things do have an effect. However, I think developers are likely to stay with Apple as they have solidly adopted their products over the last 7-8 years, and weirdly many people seem willing to forgive a large company anything, just because they hap…

Well I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to find people that won't buy anything from Samsung after that trial either...

"weirdly many people seem willing to forgive a large company anything, just because they happen to have purchased some of their product range."

Applies equally to Apple and Samsung... welcome to fanboydom.

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