Reuters reports that Google and Apple CEOs Tim Cook and Larry Page supposedly had a chat on the phone a few weeks ago their intellectual property disputes before they hit the courtroom. And apparently they’ve got a date to speak again. Can two tech titans resolve their problems without a lawsuit? More »
Back in 2010, a company called Pixel Qi seemed to have neared perfection with its transforming display. In a flash, it could bounce between a glare-free black and white readable screen and a vibrant LCD offering. Two years later, and we’re still waiting to see a major product actually use it. More »
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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Apple and Motorola have apparently started discussing a licensing deal for some of Motorola’s standard-essential patents in Germany. FOSS Patents reports that Motorola announced the work-in-progress deal last night, though the two have yet to agree on the price that Apple will pay for licensing. As many of you already know, Motorola and its new parent company Google have taken Apple to court, attempting to get a number of iDevices banned for patent infringement.
This case between Motorola and Apple echoes the recently-ended patent suit between Apple and Samsung. Apple came out on top in that case, and things are looking pretty good for the iPhone maker in Germany now as well. Standard-essential patents must be licensed under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), so now the two companies are trying to work out those terms. If Motorola and Apple can’t agree on a suitable FRAND rate, then the royalty Apple will be paying Motorola will be decided by the German court.
Naturally, this licensing deal only applies to Apple devices sold in Germany, so elsewhere in the world, the legal battle rages on. Motorola might have a difficult time moving forward with its case, as FOSS Patents points out that now Motorola will have to rely on non-standard-essential patents to try to get what it wants out of Apple. In that case, the worst Google and Motorola will probably be able to do is pump up the royalty rate Apple would have to pay.
It’s worth pointing out that essential patents don’t always stand up well in court. Samsung pointed to several of its essential patents in the trial against Apple, but that strategy didn’t work out as the jury found that Apple wasn’t infringing on them. Will Motorola and Google get what they want out of this case? That’s still hard to call, but with this licensing deal in Germany, it might make it difficult for Motorola to continue on. Stay tuned.
Apple and Motorola working on licensing deal in Germany is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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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.
I said this in August 24, 2011, exactly one year before a US jury declared that Samsung had intentionally copied Apple and then some: “We hope Apple wins the patent wars.” And happily, they did. More »
Fujitsu’s bank balance may be a little lighter today, since Acacia Research Corp. has reported that subsidiaries of both companies have signed a settlement deal over patent disputes. As usual, Acacia is keeping tight-lipped about exactly what the patents cover, but a little digging on our part has revealed they are related to flash memory and RAM technologies. The agreement resolves lawsuits in the works at district courts in Texas and California, which is probably a good thing. After all, these cases can get pretty messy when they go to court.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets
Fujitsu and Acacia resolve patent disputes with settlement, keep it out of the courts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Last Friday, Samsung got punched in its collective corporate throat by Apple’s legal team and a jury of its peers. Apple chief Tim Cook immediately celebrated… with a memo! Samsung’s memo was less fun. Much less fun. But hopeful! More »
When the jury in Apple v. Samsung handed down its verdict on Friday, we watched Apple take a victory lap and heard Samsung warn of hampered competition, but one company remained conspicuously silent: Google. This weekend, though, Mountain View finally released a statement, insisting that while Samsung lost the trial, the ruling doesn’t actually implicate Android. “The court of appeals will review both infringement and the validity of the patent claims. Most of these don’t relate to the core Android operating system,” the company said, noting that several of these patents are being revisited by the US Patent Office. Still, buried in that statement is an implicit acknowledgment that if Samsung can’t reverse the decision on appeal, innovation among Android devices might well be be stifled:
“The mobile industry is moving fast and all players – including newcomers – are building upon ideas that have been around for decades. We work with our partners to give consumers innovative and affordable products, and we don’t want anything to limit that.”
Of course, Samsung has indeed said it intends to appeal (and an internal memo reported by CNET corroborates this), so it would seem that the proxy battle against Android is far from over, and the drone of legalese is sure to continue.
Google on Apple v. Samsung: most infringed patents ‘don’t relate to the core Android operating system’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Electronics has been knocked hard on mobile phone design innovation in the last few days, but in what might be a spectacular display of diversionary tactics, it is also doubling down on another significant part of its business — chipmaking. Today, the Dutch semiconductor machine maker ASML announced that Samsung would be investing close to $1 billion — yes, more or less the same amount for which the jury in California held it liable over Apple patent violations on Friday — towards R&D and an equity stake in the business. In doing so, Samsung will be joining Intel, which took a 10% stake in ASML in July for $2.1 billion.
Samsung’s interest in ASML — along with another investor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s – was registered at the time of the Intel investment, and today’s announcement makes a point of saying that Samsung will “commit” the funds. That implies although the deal isn’t signed, sealed and delivered, Samsung was keen to get some news out quickly that pointed to it coming out fighting in the wake of the bad news delivered on Friday.
ASML describes itself as “one of the world’s leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry.”
The machines it makes, which employs a technique called extreme ultraviolet lithography, can help speed up the production of more powerful and smaller semiconductors — an essential component of smartphones, tablets and other devices. As Samsung pointed out in its internal memo to employees in response to the jury verdict, Apple is one of its most important customers for this part of the business.
Under the terms of the “commitment” announced today, ASML says that Samsung Electronics will put €276 million ($345 million) into ASML’s research and development program over the next five years. The company had targeted total backing of €1.38 billion for that R&D program, and it says that has now been met.
Separately to this, Samsung will also investing €503 million ($629 million) for a 3% equity stake in ASML. In total, Samsung, Intel and TSMC have 23% of ASML, equivalent to €3.85 billion, which will get returned to shareholders in a share buyback scheme.
Provided that Samsung has to pay the full penalties recommended by the jury, and that it follows through on its ASML investment, that $2 billion potentially will weigh heavy on profits in a typical quarter, especially if there are any injunctions attached to the first of those. In Q2, Samsung Electronics made $6 billion in operating profits — essentially, the news of the last couple of days would have wiped out one-third of that.
Worth pointing out that at the moment, the shining star for Samsung is its mobile phone business — which includes its Galaxy line of Android-based smartphones, the same ones that were the subject of the lost U.S. lawsuit. At the same time, its chip business actually declined by 6% in terms of revenue — a sign that Samsung needs to continue investing in the division to keep it in fighting form.
While we will still have to wait and see if Samsung will have to pay up the full amount of damages, and whether it will have longer injunctive effects, the ramifications have already come out in short-term investor activity. Just look at the drop in how Samsung’s stock performed in trading this morning, dropping nearly 8%:
(via Yahoo Finance)
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