Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re like us, you’ve spent entirely too much time wondering how the movie Rear Window might have played out differently, had someone just handed Jimmy Stewart’s character an iPad to play with. With the introduction of the Super Gear Telescope, it seems that the plot would’ve been mostly the same, just as soon as he finished beating Angry Birds. The Brando add-on brings 6x zoom to the iPad 2 and generally looks far less awkward than its iPhone predecessor. All in all, $26 seems like a small price to pay to see what the neighbors are looking at on their own iPads.

Brando’s iPad 2 telescope is perfect for watching the next Apple keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indie developers turned to the Web hours after receiving warning letters from Lodsys last month, but larger devs took a more traditional approach, leaving the communication and finger-pointing to lawyers instead. Two such companies, the New York Times and OpinionLabs, came to light after filing suit against the patent troll yesterday, seeking declaratory judgements to invalidate Lodsys’s patents. A nine-page complaint filed by NYT lists four Lodsys patents, including 7,222,078, which had previously been used to target smaller developers. NYT’s ad click-through system and OpinionLabs’ surveys were both also targeted, and if the suits are successful, Lodsys would be responsible for all legal expenses, and wouldn’t be allowed to collect on its patents in the future.

We spoke with Julie Samuels of the EFF, who explained that filing for a declaratory judgment could theoretically enable NYT and OpinionLabs to have trials held in California and Illinois, where the declaratory judgments were filed, instead of the Eastern District of Texas — the notoriously plaintiff-friendly court where Lodsys filed its suit against seven devs on May 31st. Other devs who received letters but have not yet been sued can also do the same. The suits brought by NYT and OpinionLabs formally call the validity of Lodsys’s patents into question, but unfortunately don’t change the game for devs Lodsys already sued, who would still be responsible for licensing fees and other damages if the court determines the patents to be valid (and their apps to be infringing).

New York Times, OpinionLab sue Lodsys seeking declaratory judgement originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A selection of Nokia's innovative phones. Photo: Gary Barber on Flickr

Apple has settled a patent dispute with Nokia that has been rattling through the courts since 2009. The struggling Finnish mobile giant sued Apple, claiming that it had infringed on ten patents, and then added another 36 to the mix in the following years. These patents covered everything from touchscreen scrolling to Wi-Fi to “multitasking operating systems, data synchronization, positioning, call quality and the use of Bluetooth accessories.”

Apple of course counter-sued, but it appears that it wasn’t in as strong a position as it would have liked and was finally forced to back down. Both companies have now settled all legal action against each other.

The terms of the deal are a secret, but we know that Apple will first pay a cash settlement and then an ongoing license fee to Nokia. If the troubled Nokia’s business continues to go downhill, this could become quite a significant source of income.

In fact, Nokia CEO Steven Elop hinted that patent-trolling might be big business in the future. “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” he said in a statement, continuing that it “enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile-communications market.” If that doesn’t signal patent-trolling, I don’t know what does.

The lack of official figures hasn’t stopped analysts from guessing at the amounts involved. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Swedbank’s Jari Honko pulled the figure of €500 million (around $722 million) out of the air.

Meanwhile, speaking to MarketWatch, MKM partners’ Tero Kuittinen also had a crack at guessing the numbers. “I am assuming that the licensing fee would be probably 4 euros per iPhone” he said. And the Globe and Mail reports that “Analysts said Nokia could be estimated to get between 1 and 2 per cent of iPhone revenue.”

We may get an idea of the amounts involved when Nokia makes its second quarter earnings announcement, the targets for which it lowered two weeks ago. Of course, this probably won’t make a huge difference to a company whose shares have fallen by 43% already this year. To really bounce back, Nokia needs to concentrate on making a kick-ass phone that uses all of its clever patents, instead of whining when somebody else does it.

Or we guess that it could just sue Android.

Nokia enters into patent license agreement with Apple [Nokia]

Can you believe that an iRumor has come true, for once—and early? Apple’s started selling unlocked iPhone 4 phones in the US, with the 16GB model (in both black and white) costing $650, and the 32GB models coming in at $750.

More »

It’s over. The patent battle between Nokia and Apple just ended not with an injunction, but with a press release citing a license agreement and payments from Apple to Espoo. The specifics of the agreement are confidential, but Nokia does say that Apple will make a one-time payment followed by on-going royalties. So, while Nokia may be having trouble selling its zombied handsets, at least its IP portfolio can help fill the coffers during the transition to Windows Phone. Read the full press release after the break.

Continue reading Apple and Nokia patent dispute ends with license agreement, Apple payments

Apple and Nokia patent dispute ends with license agreement, Apple payments originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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