US Appeals court rules Motorola can’t enforce injunction against Microsoft in Germany… again

US court rules Motorola can't enforce German injunction against Microsoft, keeps the Xbox 360s flowing

In another face of the ever turning world of patent battles, Reuters reports Microsoft has snagged a victory over Motorola as the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in its favor today. Motorola had obtained an injunction in Germany against Microsoft products — including the Xbox 360 and Windows 7 — based on its h.264 patents back in May, but today the court upheld a previous decision putting enforcement on hold because of Microsoft’s existing lawsuit against Moto for breach of contract. Microsoft’s push to leverage its patents into licensing payouts from manufacturers of Android devices have seen the two at each other’s throats since at least 2010, when the folks from Redmond lodged an ITC complaint over nine patents and followed up with another suit accusing Motorola of charging unfair license fees for its patents. Motorola fired back with its own pair of lawsuits — all of this a year before we heard it would be acquired by Google — and the battle was on. Whether or not this moves us any closer to any resolution remains to be seen, but at least Bavarian gaming consoles are safe, for now.

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US Appeals court rules Motorola can’t enforce injunction against Microsoft in Germany… again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceDan Levine (Twitter), Reuters  | Email this | Comments

Nokia Lumia 920, 820 get official European prices, launching in November

The optical nous of the Lumia 920 won’t just be visiting Australia soon. Nokia has revealed that its Windows Phone 8 flagship will arrive in Europe priced at 649 euros ($836), while the Lumia 820 will arrive several hundred euros cheaper at 499 euros ($643). Both will arrive in Italy and Germany some time in November, although the company weren’t pointing to any specific launch date just yet. Further east, Russian Nokia fans can already put in their preorder, with the devices there arriving at some point in Q4.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Nokia Lumia 920, 820 get official European prices, launching in November

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Nokia Lumia 920, 820 get official European prices, launching in November originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena, The Verge  |  sourceNokia Russia, Plaffo, Nokia Germany  | Email this | Comments

German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don’t violate Apple touch event patent

Galaxy S III and iPhone 4S

Motorola and Samsung just caught a break from the law after a few hard knocks. A Mannheim, Germany court has ruled that neither company infringes on an Apple patent covering how an OS responds to and ignores touch events. While we don’t yet know the full details, patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller suggests that the German judge took the same point of view that thwarted Apple’s claims in the Netherlands and the UK: the particular patent was just too broad to stick. It’s a potentially important win, as a ruling of violation could have led to serious problems with keeping Android-based Motorola and Samsung devices in stores; other patents are more easily circumvented. However, it’s still something of a Pyrrhic victory for a pair of companies that have lately been facing the threat of near-term bans and steep damages.

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German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don’t violate Apple touch event patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft wins injunction against Motorola in German court, aims to strike patent license deal

Motorola and Microsoft are no strangers to the patent war tango, and today marks the third injunction against the Droid maker in the German court. Judge Dr. Guntz of the Munich I regional court ruled that Motorola infringes on a Microsoft patent for “soft input panel system and method,” granting Microsoft the ability to ban sales of some Motorola devices in the country. Essentially, the patent in question covers the software required to let applications flexibly receive input from different sources, such as the touchscreen keyboard and voice input.

As Florian Mueller of Foss Patents points out, the functionality covered by this patent is utilized by the vast majority of apps, and among Android device makers only Google-owned Motorola Mobility is not paying Microsoft a patent license for this feature. Microsoft Corporate Vice President David Howard issued a statement with a not-so-subtle dig at the company in question: “We will continue to enforce injunctions against Motorola products in Germany and hope Motorola will join other Android device makers by taking a license to Microsoft’s patented inventions.” Google can (and most certainly will) appeal the ruling, so the saga continues…

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Microsoft wins injunction against Motorola in German court, aims to strike patent license deal originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFoss Patents  | Email this | Comments

German prosecution charges HP staff with bribing Russian officials to clinch PC contract

HP prints money

The legal system’s engines can take awhile to get churning, but there’s no questioning the impact when they’re at full bore. German prosecutors have wrapped up an almost three-year investigation into allegations of HP managers’ bribery by charging the executives involved. Hilmar Lorenz, Päivi Tiippana and Ken Willett, along with claimed accomplice Ralf Krippner, have all been indicted for supposedly funneling €7.5 million ($9.7 million) in bribes through a German subsidiary and far-flung shell accounts to land a €35 million ($45.3 million) PC supply deal with Russia’s Prosecutor General Office early in the previous decade. While only the people directly attached to the scandal currently face any consequences if found guilty, German lawyers are motioning to have the PC builder attached to the case, and there’s a chance the formal charges could fuel an ongoing US investigation. HP is cooperating even as it’s trying to distance itself from the indictments as much as possible — these are for old allegations and a “former HP company,” it says. While we don’t yet know the whole story, it may be a protracted tale knowing that at least Tiippana and Willett plan to fight the accusations.

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German prosecution charges HP staff with bribing Russian officials to clinch PC contract originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Forbes  |  sourceWall Street Journal  | Email this | Comments

Photokina 2012 wrap-up: Canon, Nikon, lust-worthy Leicas, a full-frame Sony compact and more

Photokina 2012 wrapup Canon's 6D, lustworthy Leicas, a fullframe Sony compact and more

The sun is setting on Germany’s monster of a photo show, but Photokina didn’t come and go without shaking up the industry. The biennial trade show drew all the big names — Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and many more manufacturers all had their latest wares on display for tens of thousands of photographers, journalists and local attendees — with each company releasing a suite of impressive products. Canon and Nikon made an impression with their $2,100 6D and D600 full-frame DSLRs, while Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Fujifilm each upped the ante with new mirrorless lineups, and Leica demoed its new M, which for the first time brings live-view and video capture to the high-end rangefinder series. The fun doesn’t stop there, though — there was plenty more to explore, and you’ll find it all in our wrap-up just after the break.

Continue reading Photokina 2012 wrap-up: Canon, Nikon, lust-worthy Leicas, a full-frame Sony compact and more

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Photokina 2012 wrap-up: Canon, Nikon, lust-worthy Leicas, a full-frame Sony compact and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re live from Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany!

We're live from Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany!

Germany just can’t get enough of Engadget, it seems. Just two weeks after the close of IFA in Berlin, we’re back in the land of Bier and Honig, for a camera-fueled journey to Cologne. This giant photography trade show is held only once every two years — the last Photokina was way back in 2010 — and it’s arguably the industry’s biggest event, drawing manufacturers the world abound to launch their latest prosumer and professional devices. We won’t likely see a blockbuster product like Samsung’s Galaxy Camera, but there could be another Android shooter or two in store, along with plenty of updates to last year’s advanced compacts and mirrorless cams, and a modest spattering of full-frame DSLRs. We’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens, so keep your eyes peeled to this very site to catch the action as it goes down.

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We’re live from Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uros’ Goodspeed hotspot packs 10 SIM cards, says roaming is for chumps (update: fee differences)

Uros' Goodspeed hotspot packs 10 SIM cards, says roaming is for chumps update fee differences

Snagging international data service usually involves either special agreements or steep roaming costs. Not Uros and its new Goodspeed hotspot. The pocketable, 21Mbps HSPA+ router carries a staggering 10 SIM cards and simply uses a local SIM for whichever destination country you visit. The brute force strategy helps Uros offer a relatively low flat rate for 1GB of data per day, no matter where you are on the coverage map: while the Goodspeed itself costs 273 ($352), Uros asks just €5.90 ($8) a day for occasional visits and €9.90 ($13) a month for frequent fliers. It’s a very sizable bargain for the jetset, even with a current scope limited to Finland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. A number of “important” countries are due before Christmas, which could make Uros’ hotspot a go-to choice for those who just can’t stay settled in one place.

[Thanks, Antti]

Update: Uros has gotten in touch with us to clarify the pricing beyond what we’ve seen so far. The €9.90 fee covers account details and doesn’t “yet” reflect data — you’ll still need to pay €5.90 per day . There’s also a chance the rate could go up in future countries, although all the existing countries abide by that rate.

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Uros’ Goodspeed hotspot packs 10 SIM cards, says roaming is for chumps (update: fee differences) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Arctic Startup  |  sourceUros  | Email this | Comments

Play Pong While You Wait for the Traffic Light to Turn Green

Some walk lights have buttons you can press to let the system know that there are pedestrians waiting to cross, while some others have a Pong game unit instead.

Too bad you can only find the latter in Germany.

Pedestrian Crossing LightsApparently someone thought that pedestrians needed some entertainment while they wait for the lights to turn red. That entertainment came in the form of Street Pong. These basically allow pedestrians on opposite sides of the street to play pong while the cars go zooming past.

The cool thing is that there’s actually a timer which counts down just how much playing time you have left before it’s time to cross the street.

Awesome stuff. Now if we can only get these everywhere.

[via Geekologie]


Apple wins injunction against Motorola in Germany over ‘rubber-banding’ patent

Apple wins injunction against Motorola in Germany

Hope and pray all you want, but the patent wars are far from over. The latest chapter in the ongoing game of IP Risk hands Apple a victory over the Google-owned Motorola Mobility in Germany. If you thought the recent licensing deal would put the kibosh on further flare ups between the two, you were sadly mistaken. The Munich I Regional Court awarded Cupertino an injunction against Moto devices over the so-called “rubber-banding” patent, which relates to the bounce back animation when scrolling to the bottom or top of a list. The fate of infringing phones isn’t set in stone yet, as there’s still room for appeal, though, a €25 million bond would score Apple an enforceable preliminary injunction. One relatively simple solution would be for Moto to implement the stock Android “glowing” animation, which would bypass Apple’s claims. Though, an even better solution would be for all parties involved to quit their bickering over patent minutia and focus on making the best products possible.

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Apple wins injunction against Motorola in Germany over ‘rubber-banding’ patent originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFOSS Patents  | Email this | Comments