Another front has opened in the multi-faceted story of patent battles: Neonode, an optical touchscreen tech company based in Sweden, says that it has been granted a patent in the U.S. that covers the touch-and-glide gesture that it claims is used on devices like the iPhone and iPad.
The patent is notable not only because Neonode says the patent covers functions like the horizontal touch gesture that Apple uses between screens on its iOS devices, as well as in the slide-to-unlock feature. But also because slide-to-unlock is the same feature that Apple has been citing in its own patent lawsuits against Android device makers Motorola and Samsung. → Read More
Another development in the very long and winding road of mobile patent disputes: Apple has now had to disable the push email function used through MobileMe/iCloud, after a court ruled earlier this month that Apple had infringed on a Motorola patent claiming IP on push email.
A spokesperson from Apple told TechCrunch that the turn-off happened overnight, and that it will be appealing the ruling. → Read More
An interesting patent application from Apple has just been made public, and it looks like one that may actually get some use (and seems like a “legitimate” patent, to boot). It has to do with a new mechanism for keyboard keys, one that loses much of the depth necessary in mechanical or scissor-switch mechanisms, yet purportedly doesn’t sacrifice the tactile feel we all crave from a keyboard. → Read More
It sometimes feels like a absurd story without an ending, trying to track who is attacking whom in the mobile patent game. But Google has now secured one patent that may demonstrate how companies are figuring out ways of getting around would-be infringement issues — and possibly produce more differentiated products in the process.
A Google patent, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, looks like it could pave the way for a new way of unlocking a mobile device. The news comes just as Android-handset maker Motorola, which Google is in the process of acquiring, got a ruling against it in Germany for another mobile unlock patent, in an ongoing case filed by Apple. → Read More
Apple has been duking it out with Android manufacturers for the past couple years, and very few are safe. Samsung has already suffered some big losses with the banning of its Galaxy Tab in Germany and Australia. HTC, however, has remained mostly safe from Apple’s wrath.
In July the Taiwanese manufacturer had a close call, as Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski ruled that HTC was infringing two of Apple’s proposed 10 patents. Of course, before any serious action could be taken the ITC needed to have a look, which is exactly what’s happened.
Luckily for HTC, most of the infringement “charges” have been dropped, save for two claims in one patent, ruled the ITC. → Read More
The world of patent litigation seems less and less connected to the real world as the rate of change and development outpaces the rate at which companies can patent new technologies, or even, as BT shows, sort through their existing ones. The amount of infringement lawsuits in play right now is mind-boggling, and while some have some common-sense merit, others simply don’t have a veneer of legitimacy. BT’s new lawsuit against Google, alas, seems to fall into the latter category.
The games these company play as far as picking and choosing who, how, and where they sue are beyond understanding by onlookers. It seems likely that the normal method of extortion via patent has failed, so BT has gone all-out, and is asking for damages, likely quite a sum, as they allege years of willful infringement. → Read More
The age of driverless cars may still be years in the future, but to those playing a long game, that just means that work now will pay off even more later. Google is getting into the business of tracking and managing driverless cars, and while the technology actually steering and perceiving the cars’ surroundings will be undergoing lots of changes, some fundamentals of their interactions with the world can actually be explored today.
For example, Google has been granted a patent for a “landing strip”: a parking spot with special markings that help the car park itself, and then allow it to determine exactly where it is without relying on GPS or landmarks. → Read More
Over the last two years, Apple has been engaged in vicious legal battles over smartphone patents, many of which are aimed at squelching (or squeezing money out of) manufacturers of devices running Android. And now, for some reason, it has given valuable patents to a patent troll — which is using them to sue many of the top technology companies in the world.
Meet Digitude Innovations, a firm based in Virginia that recently filed suit with the International Trade Commission alleging patent infringement by technology companies including RIM, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Amazon, and Nokia (note that Apple is not on this list). The ITC is a favorite for companies litigating over mobile phone patent disputes, as it can block the import of products long before a case has actually concluded.
Digitude was founded in 2010 and raised $50 million from Altitude Capital Partners, with aims to “acquire, aggregate, and license key technology areas within the consumer electronics and related technology fields in a patent consortium” — in other words, it buys up patents and then sues other companies until they settle and agree to pay licensing fees, because it’s generally less expensive than actually going to court. → Read More
Don’t you sometimes wish you could just rip the display off your MacBook and use it as an iPad? OK, maybe that’s a bit violent, but it’s still worth dreaming of. The folks over at Apple apparently agree with me, as Cupertino has just been granted an application by the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Association for a “Clutch barrel antenna for wireless electronic devices.”
Obviously, the title doesn’t necessarily imply “transformable iPad/MacBook hybrid,” but just hold your horses for a second as we parse through this patent speak. → Read More
Coming up with new gestures that can be performed with one, two, or three fingers is a surprisingly difficult job. Many are proposed; few actually make it into daily use. Here’s one from Apple entitled “hold and swipe,” in a recent-ish patent application. But is it really new?
I’m leaving out the part where patenting a gesture is an absurdity, because that’s an entirely separate issue. Let’s take a look at whether this gesture is a no-brainer or a non-starter. → Read More
In this week’s news from the front lines, the European Commission has decided to initiate a preliminary investigation of Samsung’s litigation tactics with regards to its standards-essential patents. While Apple’s accusations against Samsung have been centered around its own intellectual property, Samsung’s counterclaims both in Europe and here in the States are based on its own 3G wireless-related patents.
Because said patents are standards-essential patents (and thus, available to any company to license under FRAND licensing terms), Samsung’s use of them in a court setting may be seen as “egregious,” or at least that’s how Apple’s putting it. → Read More
Another batch of Microsoft patent applications have trickled into public view, and these ones may be even cooler than the last bunch. They describe “flinging gestures,” interaction with 3D virtual objects, and even throw it back a bit to describe a new email view format.
Let’s take a look, shall we? → Read More
Kickstarter, which just recently celebrated the 10,000th successfully funded project in its 2.5-year history, is under siege by that most ubiquitous of foes, presently at least: patent litigation.
Yes, the site that works so diligently to advance interesting and original ideas among the community is being shaken down by a company seemingly formed for patent-licensing purposes. But whether we like them or not isn’t material if the patent is valid and granted, right? → Read More
Remember that one time that company called ThinkOptics tried to sue Nintendo over the Wii? Well, that’s still happening, but the idea seems to be picking up steam. Yet another company has decided to sue Nintendo over the Wii: UltimatePointer. → Read More
Earlier today, Microsoft and Samsung disclosed that they reached a cross-licensing agreement over patents. The key point: it’s a bad blow to the notion that Android is free. Instead, it’s more like “free” with huge Android OEM partners like HTC and now Samsung agreeing to pay Microsoft to use Android. Google must be pissed off.
And they are. Here’s their statement:
“This is the same tactic we’ve seen time and again from Microsoft. Failing to succeed in the smartphone market, they are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others’ achievements and hinder the pace of innovation. We remain focused on building new technology and supporting Android partners.”
If you’ve been in photography for more than ten years, you probably remember the way things used to be on old film cameras. There was no electronic interconnect between the lens and the body, so lens-related functions (focus, zoom, aperture) were on the lens and body-related functions (ASA, shutter speed) were on the body. That changed as autofocus and auto-exposure, particularly on digital cameras, necessitated a data connection between the lens and the body. While we never did away with the focus and zoom rings, aperture went right out the window and was electronically controlled.
A few nice cameras have aperture rings now — the X100, for instance — but generally speaking you can’t find one except on professional cinema gear these days. But Canon may be looking to change that. → Read More
I could swear that I’ve had a dream about this before, or at least written about it*, but it looks like Microsoft beat me to the patent office.
On September 22, Microsoft filed the “Mobile Communication Device Having Multiple, Interchangeable Second Devices” patent, which basically describes a slider-style phone that has replacement components to swap in for the slider keyboard. → Read More
If you were to take a good hard look at the Apple-Samsung trail of destruction (otherwise known as their world-wide patent war), you’d likely come to the conclusion that Apple is ahead by a few key points, at least thus far. Apple has taken down the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, won an EU-wide (sort of) injunction on three Galaxy smartphones (though Samsung’s found a way to keep selling them), and kept the GalTab from being sold in Australia as well. Samsung has yet to get any iProduct removed from store shelves.
Obviously, this is an ongoing war and anything could happen, but as it rests now Apple has the advantage. With any win, however contained, the psychological affects of that win carry over into other court systems and countries. So Apple’s win is more than just a win in Europe, and a semi-win in Australia — it’s a sign to all the other courts that Apple may just have a point to their argument. To Samsung, this effect is lethal.
With that said, Samsung’s head of global marketing for mobile communications Lee Younghee has said that Samsung plans to take a much more aggressive stance with regard to Apple, reports the AP. → Read More
There’s no question that the cost of patents is rising. Google is paying $12.5 billion for Motorola mainly for its huge mobile patent portfolio. In July, an anti-Google consortium raised $4.5 billion for Nortel’s patents (and they overpayed). Interdigital, Kodak, and others are looking to sell their patent portfolios. As my colleague Erick Schonfeld wrote recently, we are in the midst of a patent bubble. One startup, Lex Machina, is aiming to help companies gain insight into data and analytics on patent litigation. And unsurprisingly, the company’s online patent litigation database is being used by most of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley.
The company is just did a study on mobile handset litigation. According to Lex Machina’s data, mobile handset lawsuits are up roughly 25 percent a year since 2006. In fact, in August of 2011 alone, there were 294 patent lawsuits, 8 percent of which were mobile-related. Currently, Apple is involved in 97 open patent cases (here’s an example of one). Motorola Mobility is involved with 38 open patent cases. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
