Hasta La Gadget!

The saga continues for Google’s voyeuristic mapping service, but this time Microsoft Streetside and Aol’s MapQuest 360 View may be the Bonnie to Street View’s Clyde. Transcenic, Inc. is suing the tech giants for acquiring the tools necessary to offer 3D mapping by less-than-legitimate means. The Louisiana-based company alleges that all named parties borrowed, without permission, a bit from a patent it owns on a 3D cartography technology that captures spatial reference images and uses a database to navigate them on command. Google has been in hot water for its maps before, but it no doubt hopes this legal tiff ends as well as its one for trespassing, where it only paid a pack of gum’s worth of damages. If you’re into reading all the current legalese, check out the source for the full complaint. Meanwhile, we’ll find out if Cousin Vinny’s on the case.

[Disclosure: Aol is the parent company of Engadget.]

Google, MapQuest, Microsoft and Aol sued for allegedly infringing 3D mapping patent originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Huffington Post  |  Priorsmart  | Email this | Comments

Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its countersuit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK. Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go?

Update: To clarify, this does not mean that Samsung has abandoned its own infringement claims against Apple. Those claims have been rolled into counter-claims in the original suit.

Samsung drops Apple countersuit — Apple’s still got a bone to pick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TUAW  |  Bloomberg  | Email this | Comments

News that Google had competition for a bundle of patents being sold by bankrupt Nortel Networks surfaced a week ago and now it’s official; a consortium of companies including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony won the multi-day auction with a bid of $4.5 billion. According to Reuters, RIM contributed $770 million to the effort while Ericsson is on the hook for $340 million when the deal closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter of this year. What they’ll do with the over 6,000 patents and patent applications covering everything from wireless to optical to semiconductors isn’t immediately clear, but what won’t happen is Google using them as leverage to stave off the patent trolling hordes. Before any of that happens, the sale has to clear US and Canadian courts which is why a joint hearing has been scheduled for July 11th, so expect plenty of words — and probably a few more cross licensing agreements — from the involved parties by then.

Continue reading Consortium including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony snags Nortel patents for $4.5 billion

Consortium including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony snags Nortel patents for $4.5 billion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Marketwatch  | Email this | Comments

We’ve already noted our slip into Bizarro World, a strange and topsy-turvy land where — thanks to patent-infringement claims — Microsoft strikes licensing deals with Android device makers. Redmond has used a carrot-and-stick strategy thus far, suing competing manufacturers (Barnes and Noble, Motorola) while reaching a protective royalty agreement with HTC, which, not coincidentally, also makes Windows Phones. Today, another company joins the licensee list: General Dynamics Itronix, known for its rugged computers, some of which do run Windows. Neither company offered much in the way of details, other than declaring that Itronix will pay royalties, but we’ve no reason to believe it’s too different from HTC’s arrangement. See the press release after the break for an excellent example of terse, unrevealing business-speak.

Continue reading Microsoft inks Android patent deal with Itronix, causes more heads to explode

Microsoft inks Android patent deal with Itronix, causes more heads to explode originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPoweruser  |   | Email this | Comments

Much ink has been spilled about Oracle’s lawsuit against Google for Android’s allegedly unlawful use of Java, and rightfully so, considering Team Ellison’s seeking to take more than a billion dollar chunk out of Google’s bottom line. Just because Oracle’s damage calculations add up to ten figures doesn’t mean that the court will agree with them, however. And, there’s a long legal road to be tread before the court can assign a dollar value to the case — namely it must determine if the patent claims and copyrights are valid and whether Android actually infringes them.

That’s why Google requested the USPTO re-examine the patents asserted by Oracle, as the process gives Google a shot at invalidating them outside the courtroom. It looks like the strategy is paying off, as one of those re-exams recently resulted in a rejection of 17 of the patent’s 21 claims — which reduces the number of claims Oracle can assert in court accordingly. Of course, those four remaining claims plus the 118 contained in the other six asserted patents (should they survive the re-examination process) could still spell doom for the little green bots, but it is a victory, albeit a modest one, for the team in Mountain View. So, Oracle may have a few less IP bullets to fire Google’s way, but it’s still got plenty of other legal ammo left. We’ll keep you posted when next shot’s fired.

Oracle v. Google update: USPTO rejects several patent claims, leaves chinks in Oracle’s IP armor? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |  Groklaw  | Email this | Comments