Hasta La Gadget!

For those who have been following the tech news, the legal battle between Apple and Samsung, and Apple and Motorola is nothing new. While Apple and Samsung might not have been able to reach a consensus and strike a deal with each other, it looks like Motorola has been more successful. It has been reported that Motorola has agreed to license out some of its standards-essential patents to Apple, at least as far as Germany is concerned. Naturally no word on what the royalty rates are since these are usually kept hush-hush, but it could be interesting to note that Apple’s willingness to license Motorola’s patents is probably as far as an admission that yes, they may have infringed upon some patents. We doubt Apple will ever come forward and admit that, but if we read in between the lines, it certainly seems that way. No word on how this will affect the ITC case between Motorola and Apple in the US, but it certainly looks like a step in the right direction towards a peaceful resolution.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: ITC rules that Apple did not violate Motorola’s patent, remands case back to judge, Motorola patent win might result in US import ban for Apple,

Google has already been working on patents that could pick out faces and song melodies in our YouTube clips. Now, it might just have the ultimate tool: the technique in a just-granted patent could pick out objects in a video, whether they’re living or not. Instead of asking the creator to label objects every time, Google proposes using a database of “feature vectors” such as color, movement, shape and texture to automatically identify subjects in the frame through their common traits — a cat’s ears and fast movement would separate it from the ball of yarn it’s attacking, for example. Movie makers themselves could provide a lot of the underlying material just by naming and tagging enough of their clips, with the more accurate labels helping to separate the wheat from the chaff if an automated visual ranking system falls short. The one mystery is what Google plans to do with its newfound observational skills, if anything, although the most logical step would be to fill in YouTube keywords without any user intervention — a potential time-saver when we’re uploading that twelfth consecutive pet video.

Filed under: Internet

Google lands patent for automatic object recognition in videos, leaves no stone untagged originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s war with Apple has certainly been overshadowed by the showdown with Samsung. But, with the latter melodrama shifting into quiet mode, focus is coming back to the battle with Moto. That ongoing story has taken a rather unexpected turn, however. A filing on Monday revealed that the Google subsidiary has agreed to license some (if not all) of its standards-essential patents to Cupertino… in Germany, at least. When exactly the deal was struck isn’t clear, and neither side has announced a royalty rate as of yet. It could be that the German courts will decide what is appropriate according to FRAND rules, but the agreement also includes an admission by Apple that it is liable for past damages relating to these patents. The terms seem to include only “cellular standard-essential” patents, which means the company’s claims regarding WiFi and video codecs could still be used as an avenue of attack. But, with at least one set of FRAND patents set aside, we wouldn’t be surprised if the rest followed. It may be that Moto has simply decided to pick its fights more carefully, in light Apple’s recent legal victory and growing pressure from the European Commission surrounding potential abuse of standards-essential patents. Or, it could be an olive branch and a sign that the patent wars are winding down — a possibility we’d joyously embrace.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Apple strikes licensing deal with Motorola in Germany, heralds more peaceful times? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s nothing better for a couple of companies with a fledgeling operating system between them than two of their main competitors battling it out in the courtroom. In this case, Microsoft and Nokia have the opportunity to make a swift grab for a giant amount of average citizens here in the United States who are seeing the Apple vs Samsung legal case as a weakness not only for Samsung, but for Apple as well. Windows Phone is more than ready to take on a position as a “reliable” brand while Android and iOS are appearing newly questionable – to your mother and father watching only the news coverage offered up by their newspapers and nightly television news.

One of the great things that Microsoft has had going for it with Windows Phone since the beginning (all those months ago) was the trust factor. People believe in Windows as an operating system for their desktop computer, so they’re prone to trust Microsoft’s mobile OS as well – that’s the ideal situation. Here Microsoft – and their best buddies at Nokia – have the opportunity to say: “look, our OS doesn’t rely on the factors that Apple and Samsung are warring about, we’re completely independent of such petty things.”

Of course if you follow Microsoft’s war on Android via patents, you know that the situation is nothing of the sort. Carolina Milanesi of the research firm Gartner Inc. spoke up about the situation this week:

“I am sure that vendors in the Android ecosystem are wondering how long it will be before they become Apple’s target. This might sway some vendors to look at Windows Phone 8 as an alternative, and for the ones like HTC Corp. and even Samsung, who have already announced plans to bring to market a WP8 device, how much stronger their investment should be.” – Milanesi

It would appear that a situation like this is already starting to happen – now Microsoft and Nokia have only to hold on for dear growth. Nokia’s stock jumped up to 12 percent at its best today while Microsoft jumped a slightly less impressive 1 percent to $30.87. Meanwhile Apple, traditionally a stock that doesn’t stay still for long, went up just 2.3 percent today while Samsung went down by 8 percent. Also of note is BlackBerry’s price – RIM gained 3.3 percent today as well.

[via Washington Post]

Nokia and Microsoft see massive opportunity in Android legal case is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An internal memo distributed among Samsung employees has been published, with the company’s execs expressing “disappointment” at the $1bn Apple verdict last week, but vowing to fight on nonetheless. The document, released through Samsung’s corporate blog, paints Apple as lawsuit-fixated, with Samsung saying it “initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers.”

That relationship sees Apple spend billions of dollars each year on Samsung components, including systems processors for iOS devices, flash memory, and more. Despite Samsung’s claimed reluctance to take the arguments into the courtroom, however, the company says “Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue.”

Unsurprisingly, Samsung highlights differences between the outcome of the jury trial in San Jose and the verdicts reached in courts elsewhere in the world. Those – including the UK, Korea, and Germany – found that Samsung had neither copied Apple’s UI interactions nor dismissed its claims about Apple infringing Samsung’s own standards patents. In the US, however, Samsung was awarded zero damages for that, with the jury deciding that Apple had not infringed whatsoever.

Samsung concludes with the suggestion that Apple will not win over customers by litigation, but that its own “pursuit of innovation” will give it success in the long-term. Both companies will file post-trial motions over the coming weeks, with an injunction hearing tentatively scheduled for September 20.

“[Internal Memo] Regarding the Jury Verdict in California

On Friday, August 24, 2012, the jury verdict in our trial against Apple was announced at the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The following is an internal memo that reflects Samsung’s position regarding the verdict:

We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers. However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue, so that we can protect our company.

Certainly, we are very disappointed by the verdict at the US District Court for the Northern District of California (NDCA), and it is regrettable that the verdict has caused concern amongst our employees, as well as our loyal customers.

However, the judge’s final ruling remains, along with a number of other procedures. We will continue to do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted.

The NDCA verdict starkly contrasts decisions made by courts in a number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Korea, which have previously ruled that we did not copy Apple’s designs. These courts also recognized our arguments concerning our standards patents.

History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation.

We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritize innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt.”

[via 9to5Mac]

Samsung: “We will continue until our arguments have been accepted” is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.