NTP Wins Court Ruling on 7 Patents From Apple, AT&T Cases - Bloomberg:
"NTP Inc., the patent licenser that extracted a $612.5 million settlement from Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) in a dispute over wireless e-mail technology five years ago, won an appeals court ruling in a battle over the validity of its patents as the company sues other smartphone makers."
DoJ ramping up antitrust probe of $4.5B Nortel patent purchase by Apple, others | NmUrRhmn.COM:
However, The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department is deepening its probe of the deal, with particular interest to whether the purchasers could use the patents to “unfairly hobble” devices running Google’s Android mobile OS. The search giant placed the initial bid in the auction, but was unable to outbid its competitors once Apple teamed up with the other companies.
According to the report, the DoJ can still “impose conditions” on the companies even though the deal has already been completed. Earlier this year, the federal agency put pressure on a deal that would have seen Microsoft, Apple and Oracle purchase patents from Novell, instead forcing Microsoft to license the patents.
Google acquires 1,030 patents from IBM to play defense:
As patent lawsuits become ever more frequent, companies are building up their portfolios in an effect to protect themselves from litigation. Google is no stranger to this practice, as it confirmed on Friday it had purchased 1,030 patents from IBM. Terms of the deal were not disclosed...
Technologies included in the patents cover chip fabrication and design, computer architecture designs, relational databases, business processes, and object oriented programming, according to SEO By The Sea, which first reported of the sale Thursday.
Could The Supreme Court Invalidate Software Patents? | Techdirt:
Some folks claimed in response that Lee was advocating 'judicial activism,' and Scalia's hands were tied by the law itself. However, as Lee correctly retorts, the law does not explicitly say software patents are okay. In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled against such patents in the past. It's just that those rulings were a long time ago, and the lower courts (mainly CAFC) have chipped away at that over the past couple decades. Lee points out that in 1972, when the Supreme Court first rejected software patents in Gottschalk v. Benson, it invited Congress to change patent law if Congress intended for software to be patentable. Congress did nothing.
Rovi sues Hulu over program guide patents | Reuters:
It’s been a bad week for Hulu. Just a few days after Fox announced it will put up a pay wall around what used to be free broadcast content on the streaming site, Hulu is now being hit by a patent infringement suit from interactive programing guide vendor Rovi.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Delaware Thursday, revolves around three patents related to online TV program guides and search products: US Patent #6,396,546, US Patent #7,103,906 and US Patent #7,769,775. The suit seeks unspecified damages (and attorney fees!) for the alleged infringement.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone revenue: $613 million, at the very most | The Microsoft Blog - seattlepi.com:
Buried deep within Microsoft’s annual report Thursday to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is this little gem: In the company’s 2011 fiscal year, revenue for the Xbox 360 platform was $8.103 billion.
That’s not what’s noteworthy. What’s noteworthy is if you subtract that number from overall revenue to the Entertainment and Devices Division – $8.716 billion – you get a rough figure for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile.
That number – which also includes revenue from Zune, Mediaroom, Surface and hardware – was a mere $613 million last year.
Apple, Google and Microsoft revalue smartphone DNA | Reuters:
A battle royale has recalibrated the market for smartphone DNA. With Apple, Google and Microsoft duking it out for control of the mobile market, each needs or desires more and better patents for supremacy. Without them, their devices are vulnerable to shakedowns for royalties or, worse, demands to stop using the innovations. This has sparked a mad dash to acquire such portfolios -- for use as both a saber and a shield.
