Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola has fended off a patent lawsuit from Microsoft, with the Google-owned smartphone company convincing a German court that its devices do not infringe IP around bridging a device’s radio and apps. The patent, “Method and radio interface layer comprising a set of application programming interfaces (APIs),” was infringed by Motorola’s Android devices in how they access contacts entries and other elements, Microsoft argued, but the lower regional court of Mannheim decided it disagreed.

Although its been Apple’s voracious attitude toward patent litigation that has made most headlines in recent months, Microsoft has been equally eager to pick through rivals and make some cash from their implementation of technology. Unlike Apple, however, which has sought primarily to block its rivals from store shelves, Microsoft’s goal has apparently been forcing patent licensing agreements, which it has already signed with the majority of high-profile Android device OEMs.

In fact, Motorola Mobility has been the main hold-out from a patent deal with Microsoft, hence the company’s aggressive challenges in the courts. According to David Howard, associate general counsel at Microsoft, today’s victory shouldn’t give Motorola – and Google – too much hope, as it does not change the state of in-store play. “This decision does not impact multiple injunctions Microsoft has already been awarded and has enforced against Motorola products in Germany” he explained.

Those previous rulings have seen several Motorola products pulled from German stores in the past few months, most recently for a system which allows a keyboard to communicate with an app. “It remains that Motorola is broadly infringing Microsoft’s intellectual property,” Howard argues, “and we hope it will join the vast majority of Android device makers by licensing Microsoft’s patents.”

Motorola Mobility and Google are yet to comment on the ruling.

Motorola beats back Microsoft in latest Android ban attempt is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung is claiming that Apple’s billion-dollar August court victory is tainted by the fact that the jury foreman failed to disclose his 1993 bankruptcy and suing by former employer Seagate. More »

Samsung has squeezed its Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of a US sales ban, after a jury decision that the Android tablet did not, in fact, infringe any of Apple’s patents. One of the earliest devices to be targeted by Apple, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was barred from US sales in June of this year; however, the tablet was later found to not fall foul of the Cupertino firm’s litigation, and Samsung demanded that sales be allowed to resume. Despite Apple arguments, Reuters reports, Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California court agreed.

Apple’s claim had been that Samsung infringed the D504,889 patent around the physical design of its tablets, and posted a $2.6m bond in order to enact the preliminary injunction it was granted against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. In the intervening period, several Samsung devices were found by a US jury to overstep the mark on various Apple patents, though the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was not among them.

Despite the 10.1 already having been superseded in Samsung’s range, Apple was keen to have it kept from shelves. The company argued that no decision should be made until all of its motions had been reviewed, but Justice Koh was not convinced.

“The court does not agree with Apple that Samsung’s motion for dissolution of the June 26 preliminary injunction cannot be fairly decided without resolving Apple’s post-trial motions” she wrote in her statement on the decision.

Exactly what Samsung plans to do now that its older tablet is cleared for sale remains to be seen. The company had already begun offering the Galaxy Tab 10.1 2, the second-gen version, though likely has remaining stock of the first model and could simply seek to recoup some of the manufacturing investment in those devices.

“We are pleased with the court’s action today,” Samsung said in a statement on the ruling, “which vindicates our position that there was no infringement of Apple’s design patent and that an injunction was not called for.” Apple is yet to comment.

Samsung recently filed a motion to include the iPhone 5 in its ongoing case against Apple, alleging that the smartphone infringes eight patents it holds.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 cleared for sale in US after Apple arguments overruled is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Over the years, we’ve featured some pretty incredible cakes (and cupcakes) here on Technabob, but to date, we’ve never seen one that had projected, interactive images on it. Well, Disney, being Disney, has been working on the idea for a few years now, and recently was awarded a patent for the technology.

The patent abstract reads as follows:

A method for digitally augmenting or enhancing a food product such as the surface or top of a cake or other edible object. The method includes generating an augmentation media file based on a projection surface of the food product such as a digital movie or image that is mapped to the 3D topography of projection surface and that is projected on the food product using a properly aligned projector. Interactivity is provided by having the method include determining a modification or change of the 3D topography of the projection surface and, based upon the modification, generating a modified augmentation media file and operating the projector to use the modified augmentation media file to project a modified projected image on the food product. The method further provides interactivity by detecting a user interaction with the projection surface and generating a modified augmentation media file based on this tracked interaction.

So think Microsoft Surface PixelSense, but on a cake. Here it is projecting an image of a baby, turning into a backpack-wearing kid, and then into a basketball player. Sure, why not?

The technology could work with complex topographies and interact differently depending on the section. For instance, a cake could have a river rolling through the middle of a valley, and touching the water would make it splash or change directions without affecting the hills around it.

It could even display personalized messages on slices of cake as they are removed from the main cake.

As intellectual property lawyers are known to do, this patent protects Disney in the event that someone wants to make any food that uses a projector and lets you interact with its surface. Granted, the ideas of an interactive, augmented display already have tons of prior art, but in terms of baked goods, Disney was apparently in the clear.

You can check out the full patent over at Google Patents.

[via r/gadgets]

Microsoft is facing the unpleasant end of the European Commission antitrust blunderbuss, with the company now in line for a potentially huge fine over browser choice missteps. The EC confirmed it was investigating the software firm back in July, after an agreed-upon browser choice page failed to be shown to 28m PC users; now, Reuters reports, the EC will open a formal proceeding that will decide the extent of the penalty.

The next step is to open a formal proceeding into the company’s breach of an agreement. We are working on this,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said this week. ”It should not be a long investigation because the company itself explicitly recognized its breach of the agreement.”

Microsoft was quick to hold up its hands and admit its mistake, confirming that a “technical error” had prevented the selection screen from being shown on computers running Windows 7 Service Pack 1. The bug was promptly addressed and the selection dialog shown, and Microsoft hoped that voluntarily extending the browser-choice compliance by 15 months would save it from punishment.

However, that remains the decision of the EU, and the potential to hit Microsoft’s pocket is high. The Commission has the right to apply a fine equivalent to up to 10-percent of Microsoft’s revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, a sum which would amount to as much as $7.4bn.

Meanwhile, Almunia also had some warning words for Google, which also faces the possibility of investigation by the EU. “If remedies offered by Google can eliminate our concerns, we will succeed in reaching an agreement” the commissioner said, referring to complaints by Microsoft and others regarding Google’s attitudes to competition. “Otherwise,” he warned, “the legal road is a long one.”

Microsoft faces up to $7.4bn fine in EU browser punishment is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.