Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been a hell of a year for Motorola, but one thing’s stayed the same: the company still thinks RIM is ripping off some of its patents. At least that’s the sense we’re getting from a new complaint Moto’s just filed with the International Trade Commission alleging the BlackBerry crew is infringing five patents on “early-stage innovations” that range across WiFi, app management, UI, and power management. As per usual with ITC complaints, Motorola’s asking for a ban on RIM imports — we’d imagine a cross-complaint from RIM barring Motorola imports is coming soon. Also spotted: lawyers gleefully dancing in the streets dressed only in loinclothes made from money.

Motorola asks ITC to ban BlackBerry imports originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not often that we genuinely like what these big corporations are doing, so you’d better pay close attention here. We’ve caught wind of a Verizon patent covering the logistics of setting up and running a GPS-based classifieds service, which matches potential buyers and sellers of goods on the basis of their stated interests and location. Thus, next time you’re driving by the home of a carpenter, for example, you might be alerted of his contact details should you need some woodworking done. This seems like a legitimately useful expansion on the location services already available on GPS devices, but — as with the Nokia flexible display patent — the application was filed back in 2008 indicating that nothing is imminent. Still, at least it’s comforting to know that good ideas can fleet by carriers’ brain trusts when they’re not too busy talking trash about each other on TV.

[Thanks, Anand]

Verizon patents system for location-aware classifieds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple may already be the favored child of Greenpeace and platform of choice for eco-minded gadgetistas worldwide, but it isn’t resting on its laurels. The company looks like it’s pondering an entrance into the home automation/energy tracking markets, filing for a pair of patents that would enable devices to register their power usage and communicate with each other using HomePlug Alliance standards. Users would be able to monitor the charging status of connected devices and delay their charges to occur during off-peak hours. There’s even a new type of plug that could internally perform AC/DC conversions and automatically provide the appropriate amount of juice to any supporting device. The end of the ubiquitous power brick? Sounds nice, but something tells us it’ll be a few decades before we can reclaim that precious space in our carry-ons.

Two new patents show Apple getting into the energy tracking game, killing power bricks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As expected, Apple just responded to Nokia’s ITC request to ban Apple device imports with a US embargo request of its very own. Notice of Apple’s complaint (without any detail) was posted yesterday on the website of the International Trade Commission — a government agency tasked with protecting the US market from unfair trade practices. As you might recall, the whole Nokia v. Apple legal spat started with Nokia suing Apple for infringing upon Nokia patents relating to GSM, UMTS, and WiFi; a claim later expanded to include “implementation patents” covering a wide range of items including camera sensors and touchscreens. While the ITC hasn’t agreed to investigate either Nokia’s or Apple’s complaints, it is customary to do so with investigations usually taking about 15 months to complete. We’ll post more when the details of Apple’s patent infringement complaint are revealed.

Apple retaliates: requests US import ban on Nokia phones originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently Kodak’s attorneys were having a little courtroom separation anxiety — just a week after settling that long-running patent case with Samsung, they’ve filed three separate actions against Apple and RIM based. Two of the cases are based on the same patent at issue in the Samsung litigation: the first is an International Trade Commission complaint alleging that iPhones and BlackBerrys infringe the Kodak patent on previewing images, while the other is filed solely against Apple in the Western District of New York and also includes a patent on processing images at different resolutions. Apple’s also the sole focus of the third case, which alleges infringement of several patents on computer programs calling to other programs — sounds obvious, but Kodak’s already enforced them against Sun in a 2004 case. Kodak says all it’s after is fair license terms, and that it’s not trying to push anything off the market — the man with the gun always sounds so reasonable, doesn’t he?

Kodak files patent lawsuits against Apple and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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