Read here: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/10/softbank-ceo-vs-google-glass/
Here's a funny one! One of Japan's richest men, claims he's patented Google Glass already.
Lets get things straight, he's got an army of lawyers to call, and his name is Masayoshi Son, a billionaire and CEO of SoftBank. In 2010, there was in fact a patent that is similar but not identical to Google's. In Google's, one's own words are translated with Google specs. In his, he says that they're translation glasses with captions.
You can view the Glass's promo video here: Project Glass promo video.
So how is this guy so rich? He sold a translation device patent to Sharp for $1 mill.
So what are your thoughts on this? Real or fraud?
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Post 23: ZTE agrees to Android, Chrome patent licensing from Microsoft
Read about this here: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/zte-agrees-android-chrome-patent-licensing-microsoft-217176
the tl;dr: Microsoft has inked an agreement with China's ZTE for its Android and Chrome patent licensing program.
It seems that as far as we know, "Financial details of deal were not disclosed. But the agreement gives ZTE access to Microsoft patents covering phones, tablets, computers, and other devices running Google's Android and Chrome operating systems."
There are many other companies that also signed with Microsoft's licensing program, which is meant to help these gadget vendors and avoid further lawsuits with Microsoft.
Something like 80% of Android smartphones sold in the US and worldwide are under agreements with Microsoft.
Interestingly enough, China's Huawei, the world's 3rd largest smartphone vendor, and Google/Motorola haven't signed with Microsoft.
I think that this could result in some interesting cliques in the future. Google and Huawei are both huge firms, so they could probably stand their own against Microsoft. Perhaps there are other reasons for them not signing on but we'll have to see about that!
the tl;dr: Microsoft has inked an agreement with China's ZTE for its Android and Chrome patent licensing program.
It seems that as far as we know, "Financial details of deal were not disclosed. But the agreement gives ZTE access to Microsoft patents covering phones, tablets, computers, and other devices running Google's Android and Chrome operating systems."
There are many other companies that also signed with Microsoft's licensing program, which is meant to help these gadget vendors and avoid further lawsuits with Microsoft.
Something like 80% of Android smartphones sold in the US and worldwide are under agreements with Microsoft.
Interestingly enough, China's Huawei, the world's 3rd largest smartphone vendor, and Google/Motorola haven't signed with Microsoft.
I think that this could result in some interesting cliques in the future. Google and Huawei are both huge firms, so they could probably stand their own against Microsoft. Perhaps there are other reasons for them not signing on but we'll have to see about that!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Post 22: Apple's Patent for "No Look" Multitouch Interface
Read here but you must scroll down to see this article http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/technology/articles/Tech-News253A-With-Pressure-From-Google/3/26/2013/id/48928
Recently Apple was granted ANOTHER new patent! US Patent No. 8,407,623 for "Playback control using a touch interface."
This patent was actually originally filed in 2009, so that shows you how long it takes to make a a filed patent come to reality right? Basically it's a system that registers touch input, when nothings being displayed on the screen. Users then don't have to even LOOK at the device to contorl it, and this could potentially save a ton of battery life as well!
The patent also has commands for playback functions, and as the article articulate:
"The patent lists commands for playback functions, like a single tap for play/pause, a double tap for moving to the next item, a triple tap for moving to the previous item, a clockwise circle for turning the volume up, and a counterclockwise circle for turning it down."
I think this is a SUPER cool innovation that would be so useful in many aspects. Unfortunately, it's a little disappointing that there's already a patent for it, because I would love to see this on some other devices!!
What other applications do you think this could open doors for? Let me know below!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Post 21: Rackspace fights patent troll in the name of every mobile developer everywhere
Read about it here! http://gigaom.com/2013/04/12/rackspace-fights-patent-troll-in-the-name-of-every-mobile-developer/
tl;dr: Rackspace is taking one for the team by trying to invalidate a patent that an alleged patent troll claims covers the ability for mobile displays to rotate as the device turns.
Rackspace is a cloud computing provider and right now they're taking a challenge to fight against patent trolls. I think that's a decently noble cause, since patent trolls seem to be the most difficult to deal with, and most frustrating.
Currently, they're trying to challenge the validity of a patent: Rotatable Technologies, which is suring anyone in mobile apps that use rotating screen displays. And yes, that is pretty much how many and most screens operate in smartphones.
tl;dr: Rackspace is taking one for the team by trying to invalidate a patent that an alleged patent troll claims covers the ability for mobile displays to rotate as the device turns.
Rackspace is a cloud computing provider and right now they're taking a challenge to fight against patent trolls. I think that's a decently noble cause, since patent trolls seem to be the most difficult to deal with, and most frustrating.
Currently, they're trying to challenge the validity of a patent: Rotatable Technologies, which is suring anyone in mobile apps that use rotating screen displays. And yes, that is pretty much how many and most screens operate in smartphones.
You can read about the detailed the legal challenge in a blog post here and its petition to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Rackspace got trolled by getting sued by this Rotatable company along with some other big names, and then were offered to settle the claim for less than 75k. Rackspace wasn't having any of that and used " a legal theory called patent exhaustion, patent holders who sue and lose or settle with and grant a license to upstream defendants (e.g., OS or device manufacturers in this case) can’t then go after downstream users such as Rackspace or Whole Foods. "
Rackspace has stood up to many other trolls before, so kudos to them for their brave stances. If you'd like to know about their other defenses, read the article because there are many instances.
For fun here's an image:
Rackspace commented that they want to start a movement against patent trolls, and I'm all for that.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Post 20: Study: One-quarter of U.S. patents issued this year will be in mobile
Read away here! http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/study-one-quarter-of-us-patents-issued-year-will-be-in-mobile-215366
Some interesting tidbits right here: a quarter of all patents in the U.S. this year are mobile related. We've seen countless times in this class just how many patents get filed, so for 1/4 of them to be about mobile items, that's kind of ridiculous. It really shows how big mobile businesses are getting, and the hardware behind it too. I think it's safe to say that there are some huge things on the horizon for mobile phones, and the fact that there are so many patents being released really backs it up.
In other news, the mobile related patents issued grew by 591% from 2002 to 2012. U.S. is ahead in mobile patents beating out Europe. Some facts they claim:
" Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted nearly three times as many mobile patents as the European Patent Office. The U.S. has taken the lead partly because of the growing importance of mobile software development, which takes place predominantly in the U.S."
Not only that, Samsung Electronics has the most MOBILE related patents across the U.S. and Europe. (IBM is still the largest overall patent holder). Samsung had the most patents granted in 2012 and they were for innovations in devices and network infrastructure/tech.
So now we know that Samsung can be considered a dominant patent holder, way above Apple and Google, how do you think future patent litigation will favor?
Some interesting tidbits right here: a quarter of all patents in the U.S. this year are mobile related. We've seen countless times in this class just how many patents get filed, so for 1/4 of them to be about mobile items, that's kind of ridiculous. It really shows how big mobile businesses are getting, and the hardware behind it too. I think it's safe to say that there are some huge things on the horizon for mobile phones, and the fact that there are so many patents being released really backs it up.
In other news, the mobile related patents issued grew by 591% from 2002 to 2012. U.S. is ahead in mobile patents beating out Europe. Some facts they claim:
" Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted nearly three times as many mobile patents as the European Patent Office. The U.S. has taken the lead partly because of the growing importance of mobile software development, which takes place predominantly in the U.S."
Not only that, Samsung Electronics has the most MOBILE related patents across the U.S. and Europe. (IBM is still the largest overall patent holder). Samsung had the most patents granted in 2012 and they were for innovations in devices and network infrastructure/tech.
So now we know that Samsung can be considered a dominant patent holder, way above Apple and Google, how do you think future patent litigation will favor?
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Post 19: Nokia wins one against HTC in German patent case
The short tl;dr: A court finds HTC to be violating a patent held by Nokia, but whether the ruling will change the German marketplace in any way remains to be seen.
and can be read more in detail here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57575065-94/nokia-wins-one-against-htc-in-german-patent-case
Nokia has just won a patent infringment, but in Germany.
The official ruling is: HTC is infringing a Nokia patent related to saving battery life by identifying packets of data that can be reconstructed through the use of an encoded message.
The issue is that there is some debate as to whether or not this is a large victory for Nokia or not. It seems that Nokia actually won't be importing three devices in Germany anyways. Unfortunately the three devices were the only ones that were affected by this ruling. German business is not going to be affected in any way by this, a claim made by Nokia themselves.
However, HTC will plan to appeal the courts decision, and there have been some people who are saying that they believe HTC's statement about the three devices is not completely true.
How do you think this will affect either companies? HTC and Nokia have many more claims to be ruled on, do you think this has any affect on future rulings?
and can be read more in detail here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57575065-94/nokia-wins-one-against-htc-in-german-patent-case
Nokia has just won a patent infringment, but in Germany.
The official ruling is: HTC is infringing a Nokia patent related to saving battery life by identifying packets of data that can be reconstructed through the use of an encoded message.
The issue is that there is some debate as to whether or not this is a large victory for Nokia or not. It seems that Nokia actually won't be importing three devices in Germany anyways. Unfortunately the three devices were the only ones that were affected by this ruling. German business is not going to be affected in any way by this, a claim made by Nokia themselves.
However, HTC will plan to appeal the courts decision, and there have been some people who are saying that they believe HTC's statement about the three devices is not completely true.
How do you think this will affect either companies? HTC and Nokia have many more claims to be ruled on, do you think this has any affect on future rulings?
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Post 18: Apple seeks patent for wraparound iPhone display
A classmate spoke of this in class this week, and I came across this article: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Apple-seeks-patent-for-wraparound-iPhone-display_14054.html
It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a screen that wraps around the phone, allowing for more visibility. Here's a diagram that might help you understand:

What's interesting is that this might not be limited to just phones, but other types of displays as well. The front of the phone will likely be all display. In fact, this allows for tons of new possibilities in terms of development.
Interestingly, the concept of a complete display on phones has already been done on Android and Nexus phones. Physical buttons on the front of the phone aren't on those Android phones anymore, unlike the typical iPhone button on the bottom center. In fact Android has many interesting ways they adapt to a full display front like getting menu's and locking screen widgets are merely from swiping at the edges of the screen.
Still, this wraparound screen is a cool idea. However I'm not sure how effective it will be. If the phone's edge is slim as many phones are today, what's the point of having a screen on it? I can see a few potential uses, but I guess there's the beauty of innovation, we'll have to see to find out.
Interested? Think it's bad? Let me know belowwwwwww.
It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a screen that wraps around the phone, allowing for more visibility. Here's a diagram that might help you understand:

What's interesting is that this might not be limited to just phones, but other types of displays as well. The front of the phone will likely be all display. In fact, this allows for tons of new possibilities in terms of development.
Interestingly, the concept of a complete display on phones has already been done on Android and Nexus phones. Physical buttons on the front of the phone aren't on those Android phones anymore, unlike the typical iPhone button on the bottom center. In fact Android has many interesting ways they adapt to a full display front like getting menu's and locking screen widgets are merely from swiping at the edges of the screen.
Still, this wraparound screen is a cool idea. However I'm not sure how effective it will be. If the phone's edge is slim as many phones are today, what's the point of having a screen on it? I can see a few potential uses, but I guess there's the beauty of innovation, we'll have to see to find out.
Interested? Think it's bad? Let me know belowwwwwww.
Post 17: Google agrees to not abuse mobile patents, search ads, or search results
Here's the article if you'd like to read more in depth: http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/google-agrees-not-abuse-mobile-patents-search-ads-or-search-results-210056
It seems that Google is under investigation by the FTC. They're taking the high road and agreed to do some changes to halt the current FTC findings. Interesting...something to hide perhaps?
Here's the basics:
changes in business practices concerning smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles.
changing business practices for online search advertising.
allowing competitor access on FRAND(fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) terms on smartphones, laptops, tablets, and gaming consols.
agreed not to seek injunctions against products is believed may infringe on it's patents.
give online advertisers more flexibility on platforms.
but whoa. Did you see that?
agreed not to seek injunctions against products is believed may infringe on it's patents.
It seems that Google is under investigation by the FTC. They're taking the high road and agreed to do some changes to halt the current FTC findings. Interesting...something to hide perhaps?
Here's the basics:
changes in business practices concerning smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles.
changing business practices for online search advertising.
allowing competitor access on FRAND(fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) terms on smartphones, laptops, tablets, and gaming consols.
agreed not to seek injunctions against products is believed may infringe on it's patents.
give online advertisers more flexibility on platforms.
but whoa. Did you see that?
agreed not to seek injunctions against products is believed may infringe on it's patents.
that's a pretty bold statement, and there's more:
"Google has agreed to a consent order that prohibits it from seeking injunctions against a willing licensee, either in federal court or at the U.S. International Trade Commission, to block the use of any standard-essential patents that the company has previously committed to license on FRAND terms."
Google has a pretty tall order to fulfill with some of these changes. Do you think they're completely serious about these? Possible loopholes? Let me know in the comments below!
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