Tag: intellectual property

Google and HTC Announce US$1.1 Billion Cooperation Agreement

After several reports that Google will take over HTC’s mobile division, Google has just announced a deal with HTC. In a statement released by the search engine giant, Google, the majority of the personnel working in HTC mobile division will now work for Google in a deal worth US$1.1 billion. Moreover, Google will, “receive a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property (IP).”

In a statement, Google has said

Google and HTC Corporation today announced a definitive agreement under which certain HTC employees – many of whom are already working with Google to develop Pixel smartphones – will join Google. HTC will receive US$1.1 billion in cash from Google as part of the transaction.

This deal doesn’t mean that HTC will shut shop in its smartphone department. HTC CEO Cher Wang said that this agreement will “ensure continued innovation within our HTC smartphone and Vive virtual reality business.” Google concedes that this deal is a testament “to the decade-long strategic relationship between HTC and Google around the development of premium smartphones.”

The transaction is expected to close by early 2018, subject to regulatory approvals.

This is not the first time that Google has taken charge of the hardware for its smartphone lineup. Six years ago, Google announced a US$12.5 billion buyout of Motorola Mobility. However, after opening a manufacturing plant in the United States, Google decided to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for a fraction of the price it bought Moto for. The takeover made Motorola into an amazing smartphone manufacturer and has continued to thrive in the smartphone industry since then.

HTC’s flailing smartphone share and tumbling sales in the past few years made people talk about a possible takeover by Google of its smartphone department while HTC continues its work in the VR industry. In late August, reports emerged that a deal between Google and HTC will be announced by the end of 2017.

Rick Osterloh (Google) and Cher Wang (HTC)

This move by Google to buy off smartphone personnel from HTC could bring Google closer to achieving the hardware/software synergy that has worked so well for Apple and the iPhone. Although HTC and other Android smartphone makers still use off-the-shelf processors and other components in their handsets, Google snatched one of Apple’s chip architects earlier this year. This could be an attempt to evolve beyond that and design its own chip.

Meanwhile, Google’s two new flagship devices, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are scheduled to be launched on October 4th. The Pixel 2 is made by HTC while the Pixel 2 XL with thin bezels and a tall display is made by LG.

September 21, 2017
Apple Pays for Swiss Railway Clock Design

Apple may be willing to spend millions in court over some copyright fights, but it has learned the lessons of history and has decided not to mess with the Swiss.

Last month, Switzerland’s railway operator SBB took Cupertino to task for stealing the design of its clock for iOS 6’s Clock app. Now the world’s favorite fondleslab manufacturer has agreed to pay up and license the design from SBB, rather than risk the wrath of the Swiss railways.

The iPad Clock app, according to an SBB spokesperson, was “an unauthorized use by apple,” and thus they needed to work out a “legal and financial” resolution to the issue in order to prevent copyright infringement. However, SBB later admitted that it was “rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design,” to clarify that they weren’t simply taking money for the use of the design. SBB already does in fact license the clock’s design to other companies, including the watchmaker Mondaine, so it can be assumed that Apple did pay to use the design.

According to SBB, the railway clock, which was originally designed by Hans Hilfike in 1944 has become “a symbol of innovation and reliability.”

October 14, 2012
Apple vs Samsung Heats up : new complaint : 17 devices infringe 8 patents.

With the old lawsuit not yet over, Apple has filed a new complaint that attack 18 new Samsung devices. According to Apple the devices infringe 8 patents that are currently owned by Apple. Four of the patents in question having been granted since the last time Apple filed suit against the Korean firm including missed call management, slide-to-unlock and data-syncing technology.

The devices infringing the patent include the new Galaxy Nexus along with all variants of the Galaxy SII, Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 8.9.

Looks like this battle is going to be a never ending one, or at least till cupertino gets some korean slaves in its undertone.

[Complaint (PDF)]

February 16, 2012
Hong Kong Court clears Apple in the Name Dispute

The Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in the Proview Technology vs Apple case, the former owns the iPad name in China. Apple claims that a Hong Kong court has sided with it in a similar battle

“Apple bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago, Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple.”

Proview’s lawyer said that the court ruled that the trademark couldn’t be sold to a third party before hearing ends, meaning that it has no real affect on the dispute in China. Its like one way or another Apple is surrounded by Lawsuits.

[China Daily]

February 16, 2012
Apple Wins German injunction against Samsung, Galaxy Tab 7.7 removed from IFA

Apple has won the injunction filed in German Courts for the immediate halt in sales and display of the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Several vendors in and across Europe have stopped selling the Galaxy Tablets launched this year. Samsung pulled its new Android tablet from both the IFA show floor and its German website on Saturday, in compliance with a Friday decision handed down by the same Düsseldorf Regional Court court that banned sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 last month. The 7.7-inch slate had previously been on display with a sticker that read “Not for sale in Germany,”.

Samsung said that it “respects the court’s decision,” and vowed to do everything it could to defend its intellectual property.

September 5, 2011
Apple blocks sale of the Galaxy Tab in EU : Case in Germany

Apple has won a preliminary injunction to stop the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the whole of the European Union except for the Netherlands. A new ruling by a regional court in Dusseldorf, Germany has granted Cupertino a preliminary injunction, blocking the sale and advertising of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple has a similar ongoing lawsuit in the Netherlands. Should Samsung continue to sell the tablet, the company could face fines of up to $350,000 for each violation. Apple also won the injection in Australia blocking the sale of the said tablet.

Samsung plans to appeal the injunctions, but the likely appeal will take about a month to be heard by the judge who granted the injunction.

August 10, 2011
Apple Faces Patent Infringement, For LG owned Fast Boot up process

A company called Operating Systems Solutions (OSS) is suing Apple for OS X’s fast booting operation.Apple’s function, seen the the Macbook Air launched this year, violates at least one protected claim, which details a four-step method for speedy booting, and involves files like config.sys and autoexec.bat.

The patent was originally granted to LG Electronics, back in 2002, but is now currently owned by Operating Systems Solutions (OSS).

[Patently Apple]

August 9, 2011
Apple Increases Attack against Samsung, Adds More devices to the Suit
Apple has added a bunch of other Samsung Smartphones to their already existing Lawsuit, that claims that Samsung Infringes copyrights that belong to Apple. The new additions to the suit include
- DROID Charge
- Exhibit 4G
- Galaxy Ace
- Galaxy Prevail
- Galaxy S
- Gravity
- Infuse 4G
- Nexus S 4G
- Replenish
- Galaxy Tab 10.1
- Galaxy S II
Apple had earlier already filed a complaint against Galaxy S, Nexus S, Epic 4G, and Galaxy Tab among other products.

[quote]Before Apple’s introduction of the first iPhone product, no other company was offering a phone with these features. Prior mobile phones were often bulkier and contained physical keypads. Some had a rocker-style navigation button and sets of buttons for numbers and calling features. Others had a front panel with a partial or full QWERTY keyboard and a screen. None had the clean lines of the iPhone, which immediately caused it to stand apart from the competition.[/quote]
June 18, 2011
Google will acquire Modu patents for $4.9 BN

Whats up with Acquisitions lately, Recent Microsoft-Skype acquisition and now this. Google will acquire all Modu patents from the bankrupt company for a whopping 4.9 Billion US $. The company had planned for major worldwide release of its spectacular transformer phones, that fit the purpose when needed, and had planned for an IPO, but came close to an imminent closure due to lack of funding.

Google’s $4.9 million IP purchase will be used to pay back Modu’s creditors and former Modu employees who are still due wages. What this could entail is freakishly small Android smartphones……hoping anyway.

May 19, 2011
Apple Sues Samsung for the Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab and other Infringements

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal , Apple sued Samsung Electronics Co., claiming that Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablet copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad. For patent infringements.

The Filing claims

“Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products,”

The lawsuit is kind of ironic, because Samsung manufactures key components that go into Apple Products, from Displays, to microchips and even camera sensors. This lawsuit ma actually sour the relationships between the two smartphone giants and result in other tie-ups.

The new Galaxy Tab is also the strongest rival to the iPad 2 , which may have been the biggest cause for the lawsuit.

April 19, 2011
Apple sues Amazon over App Store trademark infringement

Apple was already in Battle with Microsoft for their “APP Store” Trademark infringement. Now Amazon is releasing its APP Store for the Android OS platform. But, Amazon’s Android Appstore seems to have been intentionally contracted to a single word to differentiate its name. Apple claims it reached out to Amazon on three separate occasions asking it to rename its software download offering, but when faced with the lack of a “substantive response,” it decided to take things to court.

“We have a long-standing practice of not commenting on pending litigation,” Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Amazon, said late yesterday.

Apple said in the court filing that it contacted Amazon three times to demand that it cease using the name and that Amazon hadn’t “provided a substantive response.”

“We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers,” said Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple.

[Bloomberg]

March 22, 2011
Nokia tablet in works, suggests patent

Nokia has been talking about the Tablet market since early 2010, and their latest patent filing suggests a N8 style tablet heading towards us. The question remains, if the device will actually run Symbian optimized for tablets or Windows Phone 7 for tablets.

The render Suggests a 9-10 inch tablets with a thickness around 12mm. The device also has sd card slots and 2 usb slots. Check out the patent images below.

[USPTO (D634,317), (D634,318)]

March 16, 2011