Why Would Google Pay $12.5 Billion For Motorola Mobility? Four Possibilities!

Why Will Google Pay $12.5 Billion For Motorola Mobile? Four Possibilities! http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
We all were surprised when we heard that Google is willing to pay $12.5 Billion for Motorola Mobility (MMI) to get the company and it's assets into Google's (GOOG) fold. No one really know the answer yet but FOSS Patents have brought together four possible scenarios;

1. MMI would have taken a royalty-bearing patent license from Microsoft (MSFT), and possibly also settled with Apple (AAPL).
2. MMI would have revisited its exclusive focus on Android and possibly adopted Windows Phone.
3. MMI would have attacked other Android device makers with its patents to make their products more expensive.
4. MMI would have conducted a public or private auction of the entire company or large parts of its patent portfolio.

To fathom the reasons behind the thinking, please visit FOSS Patents and read Post "These four threats against Android secured Motorola Mobility a $12.5 billion offer from Google"

Apple Blocks Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales in Europe

Apple Blocks Samsung Galaxy Tab http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
A German court has sided with Apple and blocked sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe except in the Netherlands. (It is also said that Apple will seek a similar injunction in The Netherlands as well.)
We warned you and asked to get all your Samsung products as soon as possible when we heard Apple is seeking the injunction, in a court, a German equivalent of the Eastern District of Texas in terms, in regards to IP matters.
The German injunction was granted based on the grounds of an alleged infringement of Apple's iPad-related [European] Community design no. 000181607-0001.
You can read all about it and related documents at FOSS Patents. And Apple sucks.

LodSys Patents, All Four Of Them, Unde Invalidation Lawsuit/Attack In Illinois.

LodSys Gets An Invalidation Attack http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
ForeSee Results Inc. a A Michigan company  has filed a declaratory judgment suit against Lodsys's four patents with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in behalf of it's clients, which include Adidas, Bestbuy and WE Energie.
The reason and the idea of filing the case in Illinois seem to be wise, according to experts on the matter. One of the reasons given was

"Upon information and belief, this Court has personal jurisdiction over Lodsys because Lodsys' Chief Executive Officer and sole employee resides in, and conducts business from, this Judicial District."

Any which way I hope this will work out for the better. If this works out in time, perhaps those little app developers could ask for a stay pending these lawsuits. You can read more about this case and other counter cases against LodSys at FOSS Patents.

MacroSlove Is On The Patent Lawsuit March And Sues 20 More Companies.

MacroSlove Is On The Patent Lawsuit March http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
I really do not like patents, even the well formed and better and acceptable ones.  But Patent sharks or trolls like MacroSlove, LodSys, I really do not like.
MacroSolve  sued ten companies, for violating / infringing their electronic questionnaire (i.e., forms) patent, in two separate instances.
This time Macrosolve has selected another 20 companies to sue and done so in Troll friendly Eastern District of Texas.
FOSS Patents cover the report very well and I invite you to visit the blog to read the article. But I found the following to be nice. So if you know your patents, here is an opportunity to prove yourself and bag $5000.

Article One Partners (a patent-related crowd sourcing company) announced a bounty of $5,000 for invalidating MacroSolve's patent-in-suit. I think Article One Partners does some good stuff, and I really hope MacroSolve's patent will be invalidated.

FOSS Patents

Lodsys Sues Seven App Developers In East Texas, Includes Android App

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
My last post about Lodsys was "Will Apple's Letter To Lodsys Save App Deelopers?" based on information gathered at Foss Patents blog. And again through the same blog, I learn that at least it did not save seven developers who are being sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the troll-friendly venue.
Lodsys also says that it disagrees with Apple has responded to Apple via a letter about ""a detailed legal position on the license interpretation issue"". Lodsys invites Apple to publish the letter. Lodsys also says that it will pay $1000 to all the developers whom it sent letters of infringement, if it turns out that the scope of Apple's existing license rights apply to fully license developers who develop for iOS
The seven app developers being sued, includes at least one app is from the Android camp, one MAC app (Twitterfic) and two of the seven developers are from outside of the USA.
The Seven developers are;

• Combay, Inc. of Roanoke, Texas; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Mega Poker Online Texas Holdem for iPhone
• Iconfactory, Inc. of Greensboro, North Carolina; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Twitterrific for iPhone, Twitterriffic for iPad, and Twitterriffic for Mac
• Illusion Labs AB of Malmö, Sweden; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Labyrinth for iPhone and Labyrinth for Android
• Michael G. Karr [doing business as] Shovelmate of Las Vegas, Nevada; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) 69 Positions for iPhone
• Quickoffice, Inc. of Austin Texas; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Quickoffice Connect for iPhone
• Richard Shinderman of Brooklyn, New York; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Hearts and Daggers for iPhone
• Wulven Games of Hanoi, Vietnam; accused of infringement of Lodsys's '565 and '078 patents with (at least) Shadow Era for iPhone

There is too much legal mambo jumbo surrounding this issues and if you are really interested, visit FOSS Patents to read a more legalistic view of the matter. You will also find the links to Lodsys blogs etc.
FOSS Patents

Will Apple's Letter To Lodsys Save App Deelopers?

Apple's letter to Lodsys http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
After being elated by Apple's letter to Lodsys yesterday, I feel I am back to square one again. One thing is, this is not something that Apple is fighting the patent (they already licensed it)and telling Lodsys that it does not understand the agreement or there is a misunderstanding.
Even if Apple stand behind the app developers, what if the same app developer makes Android version of it? Will Google depend the developer like Apple? Answers to all these are in the air.
So I went looking for answers and I landed on FOSS Patents blog that does a very good analysis of the situation. After reading the article, the confidence that the developers will prevail, need to be weighted. The developer reactions like TLA Systems' developer James Thomson, one who got a letter from Lodsys who told Macworld;
"“I am extremely relieved that Apple has stood up for its developers against these patently unfair claims by Lodsys, I always believed they would, but it’s a huge weight off my shoulders to see it written in black and white. The last ten days have been some of the most stressful of my professional career, and I’d just like to say thanks to Apple and all our customers and friends who have been highly supportive of us during this time.”"  need to be rethinked. Now what about MacroSolve?.
Yes I think everyone should at least read the article on FOSS Patents.

Microsoft Sues Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec for Patent Infringement by Android Devices

Microsoft Sues Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Microsoft filed a complaint with the US District Court for the District of Western Washington,  and one with the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Microsoft earlier lodged complaints against Motorola with the same organization and asserted the same patents in both of them.

“The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights. To facilitate that we have established an industry-wide patent licensing program for Android device manufacturers, HTC, a market leader in Android smartphones, has taken a license under this program. We have tried for over a year to reach licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec. Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations and fulfill our responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year to bring great software products and services to market,”  said Horacio Gutierrez, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property & Licensing.

The patents-in-suit are:

• US Patent No. 5,778,372 on "remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images"
• US Patent No. 6,339,780 on "Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area" (this is the one that was previously also asserted against Motorola)
• US Patent No. 5,889,522 on "system provided child window controls"
• US Patent No. 6,891,551 on "selection handles in editing electronic documents"
• US Patent No. 6,957,233 on "Method and apparatus for capturing and rendering annotations for non-modifiable electronic content"

 Microsoft via FOSS Patents

Judge Denies A Summery Judgment In Oracle - Google Copyright Infringement Case

Oracle - Google Case http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Google was denied in it's request for summery judgment in the  Oracle Google Android case, according to a post on Foss Patents blog
The District Court for the Northern District of California took Oracle's side, in Google's motion for summary judgment against Oracle's copyright infringement allegations.

"Having considered both parties' submissions, this order finds that good cause has not been shown to engage in a summary judgment battle at this time."

But all is not bad news, as this does not mean Oracle will prevail. It is just that Google failed prove that that Oracle claims are bogus and should be dismissed without further scrutiny.

"Google's request is DENIED without prejudice to renewal after a more complete evidentiary record has been developed through discovery."

This according to Foss patent blog means, Google gets another chance to go at it once all the evidence on the table, at the end of discovery. Oracle's answer to the motion seem to have helped a lot in this decision.
Perhaps Google was bidding time for cleaning up and modifying the Java engine so the disruption to Android is minimal.
But the article and related stuff on the FOSS Patents are pretty interesting. But I am sure Android will go on!