patents

Microsoft Signs Quanta Computer Under Android Patent Agreement

October 13, 2011 | By Pradeep

Another one added to Microsoft’s growing list of Android patent agreement deals. This time its, Quanta Computer. As usual, Microsoft will receive royalties from Quanta for its Android and Chrome devices.

Press Release:

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 13, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for Quanta’s tablets, smartphones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome Platform. Although the contents of the agreement have not been disclosed, the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties from Quanta under the agreement.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Quanta, and proud of the continued success of our Android licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome devices in the marketplace,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft.

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Apple applies for patent for in-app purchasing

October 9, 2011 | By Surur

Apple has applied for a patent for in-app purchasing. The technique and method for purchasing content while inside an application is summarized as such:

The present technology provides a purchasing interface within an application that allows users to purchase a product from another source without leaving the application. The application offers a product for purchase, and a user, desiring to purchase the product can provide an input effective to cause a purchasing interface to be displayed. While the purchasing interface, or information presented therein, comes from the product source, which is different than the application source, it is presented in such a fashion that gives the impression to the user that they are purchasing the product directly from the application.

The patent would place it at odds with Lodsys, who already has a patent for in-app purchasing which Apple licenses.

In-app purchasing is becoming an increasingly important source of revenue for developers trying to monetise their free applications, and does not yet have a real presence on Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has recently released a game, Beards and Beaks, which does use Xbox Live credits, and may be a work-around for the Lodsys patents, but this has not been rolled out to regular developers yet.

According to Berg Insight In-App purchasing generated 300 million euros last year, will grow to €750 million this year, and hit €3.5 billion in 2015, so it is certainly an area which Microsoft also needs to address urgently.

Via Electronista.com

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Microsoft to make $444 million in revenue from Android licenses in FY 2012

September 29, 2011 | By Surur

Goldman Sachs analysts have estimated Microsoft could earn as much as $444 million from Android patent licensing over the next 12 months starting July 1, 2011.

They arrive at the number by estimated that Microsoft will receive between $3 and $6 in fees from each Android device sold, following Samsung also agreeing to pay Microsoft for the privilege of using the so-called “free” OS.

While the amount is a drop in the bucket, it does give Microsoft added influence with OEMs, and proves Steve Ballmer’s assertion that Android is not free, and comes with licensing fees that have to be paid.

It does further open the door to Android OEMs using more Microsoft products directly, like Bing Search and Exchange Activesync, and distance Google’s association with their own OS.

Ultimately with an estimated $75 billion in revenue $444 million for Microsoft is simply a line item, but is is certainly a lot more than Google will be earning from the OS.

Microsoft signs Samsung up as Android licensee, wins closer collaboration on Windows Phone

September 28, 2011 | By Surur

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, has just tweeted the above rather celebratory message. It appears Microsoft has been successful in its patent negotiations with Samsung, which was rumoured to involve a license fee between $5 and $15 per Android handset.

Brad clearly sees this as the start of a chain reaction, tweeting:

Under today’s agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running Android. Today’s agreement demonstrates we now have a clear path forward for resolving the industry’s mobile patent issues. #clearpathforward. While we haven’t yet reached the beginning of the end of mobile patent issues, perhaps we have now reached the end of the beginning.

With the largest Android OEMS, HTC and Samsung, both licensing Android, the rest of the industry, excluding Motorola, are very likely to fall in line, resulting in a handy revenue stream for Microsoft and an increased incentive for OEMs to user Windows Phone 7.

The interesting part of course is how this will affect the Samsung/Apple litigation, but Apple’s aggressive moves against Samsung were likely critical in giving the giant OEM the the final push to signing up.

It seems also this would put the nail in the coffin of the rumours that Samsung was ending Windows Phone 7 development (possibly spread by Samsung themselves as a negotiating tactic) and we can look forward to some great thin and light Windows Phones from the company in the future.

Update: See the official press release after the break:

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Microsoft adds Acer and ViewSonic to its Android licensing program, working its way up to Motorola

September 8, 2011 | By Surur

Microsoft has continued to succeed in its efforts to convince Android OEMs to pay Microsoft for the privilege of using the supposedly open source OS.

Microsoft announced today it was adding Acer and ViewSonic to its licensing program, with the companies joining HTC, Itronix and Velocity Micro. Microsoft is said to be in negotiations with Samsung already, and being close to getting Motorola’s handset imports into USA banned.

Much have been made of Microsoft possible earning more revenue from its Android licensing than from selling Windows Phone 7 licenses, but if the rumour that Google makes $6 from each Android user holds true, Microsoft may be making significantly more than even Google from Android.

Via Engadget.com

Thanks Milad for the tip.

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Apple says its OK for the ITC to ban HTC’s Android handsets, as they could always sell more Windows Phones

September 2, 2011 | By Surur

Fosspatents has posted about the latest machinations of Apple’s case against HTC, in which HTC has already been found to infringe 2 of Apple’s patents.

With the ITC considering a ban, HTC made arguments about this being against the public interest.

Apple however countered, saying "[t]he present investigation does not present an instance where a compelling public interest might supersede the entry of a statutory exclusion order".

They continued:

Apple, however, argues that "[c]onsumers do not face any potential shortage of like or directly competitive products in the United States". Since Apple and HTC agreed at an early stage of the investigation that Apple’s infringement assertions were related only to Android-based products, Apple points out that, "therefore, even HTC itself could potentially replace the volume of articles subject to a remedial order in this investigation within a commercially reasonable time" by selling more Windows-based HTC phones instead of Android-based ones.

While the case is still on-going, and it will likely result in HTC and/or Google releasing a work-around to the infringement, it would be pretty satisfying to see HTC being forced to seriously promote Windows Phone 7 in USA, just to stay in the market there.

Read (a lot) more at Fosspatents here.

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Microsoft has a “passive economic interest” in Mosaid/Nokia deal

September 2, 2011 | By Surur

Showing once again that there is quite a bit going on behind the scenes, and that Nokia and Microsoft is even closer than one thinks, it seems Microsoft will be a beneficiary of Mosaid’s licensing and litigation with ex-Nokia patents.

Horacio Gutierrez, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel told Mary Jo Foley:

“Over the years, Nokia has developed one of the world’s highest-quality patent portfolios in the mobile phone industry, representing decades of innovation as a worldwide leader in the field. We are pleased to have secured a license to the Nokia patents now acquired by MOSAID for Microsoft’s products and services. In return, we have a passive economic interest in the revenue generated from the licensing of those patents to third parties. The marketplace for intellectual property is incredibly dynamic today, and this agreement is an effective way to make these Nokia innovations available to the industry and to unlock the considerable value of this IP portfolio.”

Apparently Mosaid will be splitting the licensing revenues from the deal with Nokia and Microsoft, keeping a 1/3 to itself.

Microsoft itself will continue to have access to a number of Nokia’s patents, including those covering phone cameras, lenses, hinges and various industrial-design components, Microsoft officials said.

The news of the patent offensive comes on the heel of news that Google basically bought a pig in a poke with its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola.

"It’s an immense mistake," Martin says in an interview on Bloomberg, referring to Google’s blockbuster $12.5 billion patent acquisition of Motorola Mobility. "What they’ve bought is crap. Motorola [had already] sold off its good assets. Back in the early years, Motorola sold off some MPEG patents to GE … After that, they took a bunch of the Freescale patents and sold those off. [Motorola's current patent estate, which Google is trying to buy,] actually has a huge dependency on Freescale, and Freescale actually has an Apple link."

That video, which is a must-see, can be seen after the break.

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Nokia goes on patent offensive, transfers patents to troll company

September 1, 2011 | By Surur

After a half a billion pay-off by Apple Nokia has decided it could earn a significant chunk of money from actively litigating with its patents, and have decided to avoid retaliation and countersuits by off-loading the patents and the suing to Canadian holding company Mosaid.

Mosaid has previously issued patent infringement lawsuits against Dell, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Research In Motion, Huawei Technologies, Wistron, ASUSteK, Asus Computer, Lexmark, Canon, Canon and Intel – to name a few.

Nokia has transferred 2000 patents to the company cost-free, and expects to earn 66% of the settlements the company achieves.

The move comes at a time when Nokia’s market share and income is flagging, and presumably is the result of increasing pressure from share holders to produce more revenue from the company’s assets.

Expect the number of cases filed agaisnt the likes of HTC, Motorola and Samsung to increase dramatically.

Android loses its first patent fight in Europe, Samsung Galaxy S and S2 banned there. Samsung Omnia 7 not banned

August 24, 2011 | By Surur

Android has just lost its first patent-related court case, with Samsung’s Samsung Galaxy S, SII and Ace banned in the country for using Android 2.3, which infringes on Apple’s EP 2.058.868 patent.

The patent is titled "Portable Electronic Device for Photo Management" describes a way to scroll through a photo gallery using finger gestures on a touchscreen.

If Samsung were to upgrade to Android 3.x the issue would be solved, but of course Android is covered with similar pitfalls, meaning there is no guarantee that this problem will disappear so simply.

The Dutch infringement could block the import of all Samsung phones to Europe, since Samsung’s distribution centers are located in the Netherlands.

Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 handsets are of course not affected by this issue, showing for once the very clear advantage of having a properly licensed and patent protected OS.

Microsoft Awarded With Patent For Windows Phone Start Screen UI

August 24, 2011 | By Pradeep

Following the Metro UI patent, Microsoft was also awarded with patent on Windows Phone Start screen UI. Both the start screen and the transition associated with it has been patented. You can find the two patents here and here. Microsoft was also awarded with patent for Synchronised media experience. This may be part of the Microsoft’s three screens vision where you can take your media across the three screens mobile, PC and the TV. Here is the abstract of the patent,

Synchronized media experience :

A synchronized media experience is described. A media server identifies a group of two or more remote media entertainment systems through which user-controlled play of media content may be presented. The server generates and transmits one or more synchronization commands to the remote media entertainment systems to synchronize presentation of a particular media content through the two or more remote media entertainment systems. A control command entered by a user of one of the remote media entertainment systems may be communicated to each of the two or more remote media entertainment systems to enable synchronized, user controlled presentation of the particular media content.

Apart from these two patents, Microsoft has also got patent for several interesting ideas such as Meeting lobby for web conferencing , Auxiliary display unit for a computer system , etc. Visit microsoft-news.com for more details on those.

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Microsoft starts ITC trial against Motorola, asks to block all Droid imports

August 22, 2011 | By Surur

The case has been rumbling for a while but Microsoft is finally having its day in court with Google’s new fiancé, Motorola.

Microsoft’s case against Motorola at the ITC in Washington has started today. Microsoft is accused Motorola Mobility of infringing seven of its patents which Microsoft calls “essential to the smartphone user experience,” including ways to synchronize e- mail, calendars and contacts; schedule meetings; and notify applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.

“We have a responsibility to our employees, customers, partners and shareholders to safeguard our intellectual property,” David Howard, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for litigation, said in an e-mail. “Motorola is infringing our patents and we are confident that the ITC will rule in our favor.”

Motorola has promised to “vigorously defending” itself but according to FOSSPatents Motorola’s own countersuit has been postponed to the second half of 2012, while Microsoft’s case will conclude by March 2012, meaning the ITC could potentially block all imports of Motorola phones for months before Motorola even has chance to respond.

Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex is scheduled to release his findings in the case Nov. 4, and the commission has a target to complete its investigation by March 5, according to information on the agency’s website.

Via Bloomberg.com

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InterDigital Files Patent Infringement Complaint Against Nokia, Huawei And ZTE

July 27, 2011 | By Pradeep

After the sale of Nortel’s patents, InterDigital became talk of the town. The company holds thousands of patents related to wireless technologies and looking for some buyers. Today InterDigital filed a complaint against Nokia, Huawei, ZTE on patent infringements to ITC in USA. Hope Nokia sort this matter out soon ! ! On the other side everyone around the Internet is reporting that Google will be keen on acquiring InterDigital after losing Nortel’s patents just to protect and defend Android. Since the announcement that InterDigital is looking for buyers, its stocks skyrocketed over 50 % in past week alone.

(Credit: Bing Finance)

With the recent patent litigations, IP has become an important factor in assessing a platform. While Apple suing Samsung, HTC, etc over patent violations, Microsoft is licensing its IP to many companies. An IP War has started in the technology started, lets see how that plays out.

FYI, Microsoft was today awarded with some important patents related to our everyday computing.

United States Patent 7,987,459

Awarded on: July 26, 2011 Filed on: March 16, 2005

Application programming interface for identifying, downloading and installing applicable software updates

Abstract

An application programming interface (API) provides a set of functions for application developers to build software programs that automatically detect, download, and install desired software updates.

United States Patent 7,987,365

Subscription-based computing implemented in hardware of computing device

Abstract

A subscription-based computing device has hardware and a subscription enforcer implemented in the hardware. The enforcer has an accumulator that accumulates a usage value as the computing device is being used and an expiration value register that stores an expiration value. The enforcer allows the computing device to operate in a subscription mode without hindrance and with full use when the usage value is less than the stored expiration value, and allows the computing device to operate in an expiration mode with hindrance and without full use when the usage value reaches the stored expiration value to signal that the subscription for the computing device has expired.

United States Patent 7,986,716

Data transfer during a call without simultaneous data capabilities

Abstract

Systems and methods for transferring data over a voice channel during a voice communication connection (e.g., a telephone call) using DTMF signals over a single voice communication channel. The arbitrary data can include contact information, graphics, photographs, streaming media, interactive game information, location information, cached web pages, audio clips, etc. Some or all of the standard DTMF signals can be uniquely mapped to groups of bits. For example, the standard DTMF signals for numbers “0″ through “7″ can be mapped to the corresponding three-bit binary representations of those numbers. The arbitrary data can be placed in a container with meta-data indicating the start and end of the data, the type of the data, the amount of data, error correction/detection information, etc. The receiver can prevent the DTMF signals from being converted to audio signals to spare any human listeners from hearing the DTMF signals.

via: Reuters

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ITC rules HTC infringes two of Apple’s patents–may block the importation of HTC’s Android handsets

July 15, 2011 | By Surur

The ITC has ruled in Apple’s favour on two of 10 patents it claims HTC is infringing in its Android handsets.

The ruling stems from an March 2010 complaint, and does not include a July 2011 complaint which ads an additional 5 patents, and which asks for a wide swatch of HTC Android handsets to be banned from importation in the USA.

Android OEMs are universally vulnerable to patent infringement complaints as Google does not warrant that the software is free from infringement and does not indemnify them from damages due to patent complaints.

OEMs like HTC, Samsung and Motorola are all embroiled in patent infringement suites with Microsoft and Apple at present related to such claims.

Rulings such as these may force OEMs to consider using a properly licensed commercial mobile operating system like Windows Phone 7, for which Microsoft provides unlimited indemnity against claims for copyright, patents and trade secrets, and for which Microsoft already has broad cross-licensing agreements with other major patent holders.

More at CNet.com here.

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