New Technology Reviews!.: patents

Droplets, Inc sues Apple over iTunes, movie trailer site

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The lawsuits from and to Apple keep flying around, and today is no exception. Texas based Droplets Inc., is suing Apple for patent violations in the Apple website, iTunes, and the Apple movie trailers page.</div>
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The suit, according to the Patently Apple website contends that the Droplets patent covers delivering interactive clickable links using object oriented methods. The patent was granted in 2000.</div>
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Droplets is also suing Google, Facebook and Yahoo. The suit was filed in Texas Eastern District Court, generally considered to be a patent lawsuit friendly venue.</div>
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Droplets, Inc sues Apple over iTunes, movie trailer site

The lawsuits from and to Apple keep flying around, and today is no exception. Texas based Droplets Inc., is suing Apple for patent vio...

Microsoft makes three times more off patent licensing than its own mobile OS

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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="227" mce_src="http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/5997/ballmerangry540x378.jpg" src="http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/5997/ballmerangry540x378.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="324" />Microsoft is really putting the screws to many companies in the Android realm with patent licensing deals that have turned out to b every lucrative. Microsoft holds several key patents and most of the key Android players are now paying Microsoft to license those patents. With the popularity of Android and the lack of popularity of Windows Phone 7, this may come as no surprise.</div>
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Microsoft makes more money off licensing its patents than it does off WP7. Not just a little more money either, Microsoft reportedly makes three times as much off licensing patents as it does WP7. Analyst Horace Dediu from ASymco claims that Microsoft makes about $15 per license for WP7 to HTC.</div>
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At the same time, it licenses the patents for Android to HTC for $5 per device and that is only one carrier. Microsoft has landed a gaggle of phone makers that are all licensing those patents and some may be paying more than HTC. For Q2 2011 Microsoft made $21 million off WP7 licensing and about $60 million from patent licensing.</div>
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Microsoft makes three times more off patent licensing than its own mobile OS

Microsoft is really putting the screws to many companies in the Android realm with patent licensing deals that have turned out to b every...

Apple considers buying another $5 billion in patents

Apple considers buying another $5 billion in patents

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is considering buying InterDigital's patent portfolio, which is worth up to US$5 billion. The pat...

Should Apple win current legal battles, payoff would be huge

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Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi believes that Apple is confident it will win current legal battles with HTC and Samsung, and is therefore in for the long haul. Apple has "more to lose" than its rivals, Sacconaghi notes, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">a whole lot</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to win.</div>
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Philip Elmer-Dewitt has highlighted the most interesting notes from Sacconaghi's statement, including:</div>
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<li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">We anticipate that Apple will push its legal claims hard and unrelentingly and believe that the company's key goal is to upend Android's momentum by forcing a work around on key essential features which, if successful, could have huge, positive financial implications for Apple.</li>
<li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">Should Apple prevail in forcing Android to rework some of its functionality, resulting in market share shifts, it could have huge, positive financial implications for Apple...a 10 percentage point shift in smartphone market share from Android to Apple...is worth an estimated $30B+ in annual revenue and $10+ in annual EPS to Apple.</li>
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That's a lot of dough. Steve Jobs has long said that Apple takes its patents seriously, which Tim Cook recently reiterated: "We have a very simple view: we love competition, but we want people to invent their own stuff. And we're going to make sure we defend our portfolio."</div>
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Should Apple win current legal battles, payoff would be huge

Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi believes that Apple is confident it will win current legal battles with HTC and Samsung, and is therefo...

Consortium including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony snags Nortel patents for $4.5 billion

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="57" src="http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7109/nortel.jpg" style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" width="220" />News that Google had competition for a bundle of patents being sold by bankrupt Nortel Networks surfaced a week ago and now it's official; a consortium of companies including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony won the multi-day auction with a bid of $4.5 billion. According to <em>Reuters</em>, RIM contributed $770 million to the effort while Ericsson is on the hook for $340 million when the deal closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter of this year. What they'll do with the over 6,000 patents and patent applications covering everything from wireless to optical to semiconductors isn't immediately clear, but what <em>won't</em> happen is Google using them as leverage to stave off the patent trolling hordes. Before any of that happens, the sale has to clear US and Canadian courts which is why a joint hearing has been scheduled for July 11th, so expect plenty of words -- and probably a few more cross licensing agreements -- from the involved parties by then.</p>

Consortium including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony snags Nortel patents for $4.5 billion

News that Google had competition for a bundle of patents being sold by bankrupt Nortel Networks surfaced a week ago and now it's officia...

Alcatel-Lucent trust sues Apple and others over video patents

<img align="right" alt="MacBook Stock" border="0" hspace="8" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tuaw.com/media/2010/12/macbook-stock.jpg" vspace="8" />Apple has been hit with yet another <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9202018/Alcatel_Lucent_trust_sues_Apple_others_over_video_patents">patent infringement lawsuit</a> this week. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for Southern California by the Multimedia Patent Trust. The MPT is a subsidiary of <a href="http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/">Alcatel-Lucent</a> that was formed when Alcatel merged with Lucent Technologies in 2006. The MPT controls and defends a block of patents previously owned by Lucent. The company has a litigious history and has filed infringement lawsuits against Microsoft, Dell, Disney and DirecTV. <br />
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The four patents listed in this infringement case focus on video codecs with Apple allegedly infringing on three of the four patents. Cited in the complaint are Apple's <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbook/">MacBook lineup</a> of laptops, the iPhone and its video editing solution, <a href="http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/">Final Cut Pro</a>. Apple is not alone in this lawsuit; Canon cameras and camcorders, LG mobile phones and TiVo DVR equipment are also being targeted by MPT. MPT is asking for past royalty payments from these alleged infringing products and, at least for Apple, is not seeking an injunction.<br />
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<h6></h6><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9202018/Alcatel_Lucent_trust_sues_Apple_others_over_video_patents">Source</a>

Alcatel-Lucent trust sues Apple and others over video patents

Apple has been hit with yet another patent infringement lawsuit this week. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for S...

Apple patents glasses-free 3D projector

<P>Apple has patented a glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) 3D display system which would let viewers see pictures in 3D regardless of where they were sitting.</P><br /><P>The latest patent from the Mac and iPhone giant suggests that Steve Jobs and co. are keen to be innovators and market leaders in the forthcoming shift to 3D entertainment.</P><br /><P><img alt="Apple patents 3d display tech" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/computing/mac/images/apple-iphone-gallery-pic-01-420-90.jpg" title="Apple patents 3d display tech" width="420"></IMG></P><br /><P>Apple has been issued with a US patent for a display system that would let numerous viewers see a high-quality 3D image projected on a screen without 3D glasses.</P><br /><P>The home computing industry is very keen to follow the success of 3D in movie theatres over the last year or two, with a number of leading laptop manufacturers such as Acer, Asus, Toshiba and others already actively promoting their 3D notebooks this Christmas season.</P><br /><P>Consumer tech and computing companies clearly hope that the popularity of massive 3D movies such as James Cameron's <EM>Avatar </EM>and the sublime <EM>Toy Story 3 </EM>will inspire consumers to buy new 3D TVs and laptops this coming Christmas.</P><br /><P>Hence, <a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=7,843,449.PN.&OS=PN/7,843,449&RS=PN/7,843,449">Apple's latest U.S. patent 7,843,449</A>, awarded by the US patent office this week, which details an auto-stereoscopic 3D display system.</P><br /><P>One of the biggest hurdles to the adoption of 3D TV and computing in the home is seen to be the need to wear specialised (and often expensive) 3D glasses. </P><br /><P>Thus, companies such as Apple are keen to develop workable 3D displays that don't require you to don specs. Much like Nintendo is hoping its forthcoming 3DS console will capture the imagination of the gaming market when it launches next Easter.</P><br /><P>Apple's patent describes using a special reflective screen with a rippled texture which will create the auto-stereoscopic projection system, projecting different images to each eye without the need for 3D glasses. </P><br /><P>Apple also suggests it can project multiple images to different points on the ripples for multiple users to view at the same time.</P>

Apple patents glasses-free 3D projector

Apple has patented a glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) 3D display system which would let viewers see pictures in 3D regardless of where they ...