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Apple's future won't be brought to you by the letter 'i'
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple has been dealt a severe blow having been
| told that it no longer has a monopoly on the
| letter "i" as part of the name for its
| products.
|
| A trademarks tribunal has knocked back Apple's
| bid to stop a small company from trademarking
| the name DOPi for use on its laptop bags and
| cases for Apple products.
|
| Apple argued that the DOPi name - which is
| iPod spelt backwards - was too similar to its
| own popular portable music player, which has
| sold in excess of 100 million units worldwide.
`----
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mp3s/apples-future-wont-be-brought-to-you-by-the-letter-i-20100312-q27r.html
Apple is now bullying Linux, again.
Apple's patent attack
http://lwn.net/Articles/376793/
Recent:
There's Nothing New Under the Sun
,----[ Quote ]
| What Schwartz's wonderful anecdotes remind
| us is that every piece of software borrows
| from its predecessors, just as every artist
| learns from the artists that created before
| him or her. And that's to be expected,
| because software is a combination of art and
| science, and both gain much of their power
| by building on what went before, and then
| sharing that for others to build on in their
| turn, for the wider benefit of everyone.
|
| The insane fad for trying to stop that
| sharing, and to turn those ideas into some
| mythical âintellectual propertyâ is now
| reaching its inevitable conclusion, as
| patent thickets everywhere mean companies
| spend more and more time and money defending
| themselves against patent lawsuits, and less
| time getting on with their main business.
| There is only one solution: get rid of
| patents completely, and let the companies
| that innovate obtain their rewards from
| using that innovation to become leaders,
| not from trying to stop others from
| following belatedly in their footsteps.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?blogid=14&entryid=2844
Patent Litigation Weekly: Digging Beneath the Surface of Apple v. HTC
,----[ Quote ]
| So while its partner HTC may be the "perfect
| target" for a patent attack, this is clearly
| a proxy war with Googleâa company that has
| made clear that it's determined to push into
| the cell-phone market. That makes Apple's
| gambit a truly risky one.
`----
http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2010/03/apple-v-htc-and-google.html
The Patent War of All Against All
,----[ Quote ]
| In the context of free software patents are
| problematic. In the ideal world patents on
| software wouldnât exist and there wouldnât
| be a problem. However, they do exist.
| Moreover, part of the reason they exist is
| because of a variation of mutually assured
| destruction â many businesses believe they
| need to acquire patents in order to defend
| against other patents.* Jonathan Schwartz
| sets out some of the sad, tawdry
| circumstances in which this logic plays out
| here.
|
| I think it is a non trivial problem to find
| wording which preserves just the defensive
| potential of patents (which, is actually
| their offensive potential limited to
| specific circumstances of exercise) while
| preserving freedom when licensing software.
| Some of the more detailed free software
| licences attempt this. It is, I think, a
| more difficult problem to craft such wording
| to apply to standards â because standards
| purport to be agreed by some collection of
| people, while freedom requires that everyone
| be permitted to pursue their own goals.
| Thus, any âpromiseâ or âcovenantâ** which is
| limited to an agreed specification must
| necessarily be inconsistent with freedom in
| a way qualitatively different to a patent
| clause in an open source licence.
| Moreover, any wording which applies to a
| particular version of a specification will
| be inconsistent with the evolution of that
| specification. In short, promises made in
| relation to specifications are likely to
| always be problematic (the best to hope for
| is a disclaimer â per W3C).
`----
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/patent-war-of-all-against-all/
Apple Ready to Rumble with Rival Smartphone Makers
http://www.enterprisemobiletoday.com/news/article.php/3869571/Apple-Ready-to-Rumble-with-Smartphone-Makers.htm
What Apple's and Microsoft's patent threats mean for start-ups
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10466670-16.html
Pointless Stats: Number Of Patents Held By Apple, Google And HTC
,----[ Quote ]
| A bunch of news sites have been playing up
| a minor item in a Deutsche Bank note to
| clients about how Apple has a lot more
| patents than Google or HTC. I have to say,
| this is one of the most meaningless bits of
| data out there, and it's getting way too
| much attention for its import. First of
| all, it looks like the report counted
| overall patents -- not even patents just in
| the spaces where these companies overlap.
| Second, the number of patents one holds is
| absolutely meaningless when it comes to
| actually being able to enforce the patents.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100308/2345048471.shtml
iPhone developer license lets Apple kill apps at any time
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/iphone-developer-license-lets-apple-kill-apps-any-time/2010-03-10
EFF posts Appleâs Iphone SDK licence terms
,----[ Quote ]
| How did the EFF get its hands on the
| licence agreement when developers have to
| sign in blood not to reveal any details?
| EFF spokesman Fred Von Lohmann wrote, "When
| we saw the NASA App for Iphone, we used the
| Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask
| NASA for a copy, so that the general public
| could see what rules controlled the
| technology they could use with their
| phones. NASA responded with the Rev.
| 3-17-09 version of the agreement."
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1595806/eff-posts-apple-s-iphone-sdk-licence-terms
Apple owns your soul, warns human rights group
,----[ Quote ]
| The outfit had its lawyers give the
| Agreement the once over and thinks that
| people would be crazy to sign it. The
| agreement is not supposed to be made
| public, which is a sure sign that something
| is wrong with it.
|
| Fortunately NASA wrote an app for the
| iPhone and the the EFF was able to use the
| Freedom of Information Act to ask the space
| agency for a copy of the license agreement
| dated March 17, 2009.
|
| Apple insists that the agreement âprohibits
| developers, including government agencies
| such as NASA, from making any âpublic
| statementsâ about the terms of the
| Agreement.â So it prevents developers
| telling the world+dog how bad it is.
`----
http://www.techeye.net/business/apple-owns-your-soul-warns-human-rights-group
The First Rule Of Developing For The iPhone Is: You Do Not Talk About Developing For The iPhone
,----[ Quote ]
| We've certainly covered many different
| practices by Apple that harm its
| developers, from arbitrarily choosing what
| gets approved to arbitrarily shutting down
| apps with little or no explanation. Now,
| the EFF has used a Freedom of Information
| Act request to NASA (who recently released
| an iPhone app) to get a look at the
| amazingly one-sided agreement that Apple
| forces developers to sign. The reason that
| the EFF was forced to file an FOIA request
| to see and post the document is that part
| of the agreement itself is that you won't
| make any "public statements" about the
| agreement itself, a la fight club.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100309/1830188487.shtml
Why I donât use Apple products
,----[ Quote ]
| 1. Appleâs software is not open-source.
|
| [...]
|
| 2. Apple is not open-anything.
|
| [...]
|
| 3. They are even closed about other
| software you can install.
|
| [...]
|
| 4. The final straw. Not only does Apple
| control exactly how you can use any Apple
| device, they now want to take away your
| choice to use any other device as well.
| This week they brought a lawsuit against
| HTC, the developer of the majority of
| Android phones, alleging 20 Apple patent
| violations. Many of these patents seem to
| be comprised of trivial ideas that should
| be non-patentable and/or ideas Apple itself
| stole from other companies. It is clear
| that Apple is scared of the consumer choice
| that competition brings and is scared of
| the innovation that is possible within the
| open Android framework. Patents were
| intended to promote independent innovation
| by protecting small inventors from being
| scooped by large established corporations.
| Apple is hijacking the patent system to
| protect the interests of their large
| corporation against any competition at all.
| This is an incredibly dangerous precedent
| to set that could stifle innovation for
| many years to come.
|
| [...]
|
| In the important realm of science,
| technology and ideas, I believe that the
| continual conversion of ideas and
| development effort into the private
| property of companies like Apple is a great
| threat to continued free innovation.
`----
http://www.berkeleylug.com/?p=485
Apple talks tough to handset makers
,----[ Quote ]
| Citing "industry checks," Reiner writes
| that:
|
| "Starting in January, Apple launched a
| series of C-Level discussions with
| tier-1 handset makers to underscore its
| growing displeasure at seeing its
| iPhone-related IP [intellectual
| property] infringed. The lawsuit filed
| against HTC thus appears to be Apple's
| way of putting a public, lawyered-up
| exclamation point on a series of blunt
| conversations that have been occurring
| behind closed doors.
|
| "Our checks also suggest that these
| warning shots are meaningfully
| disrupting the development roadmaps for
| would-be iPhone killers. Rival software
| and hardware teams are going back to
| the drawing board to look for work-
| arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts
| to gauge potential defensive and
| offensive responses. And strategy teams
| are working to chart OS strategies that
| are better hedged."
|
| [...]
|
| Why pick on HTC? Reiner speculates that as
| the earliest and most aggressive user of
| Android, HTC was the perfect proxy for
| Apple's real target: Google (GOOG). It
| helped that Apple and HTC didn't have any
| supplier relationships that could be
| disrupted by a protracted legal battle.
`----
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/09/apple-talks-tough-to-handset-makers/
UPDATED: All Your Apps Are Belong to Apple: The iPhone Developer Program License Agreement
,----[ Quote ]
| The entire family of devices built on the
| iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have
| been designed to run only software that is
| approved by Appleâa major shift from the
| norms of the personal computer market.
| Software developers who want Apple's
| approval must first agree to the iPhone
| Developer Program License Agreement.
|
| So today we're posting the "iPhone
| Developer Program License Agreement"âthe
| contract that every developer who writes
| software for the iTunes App Store must
| "sign." Though more than 100,000 app
| developers have clicked "I agree," public
| copies of the agreement are scarce, perhaps
| thanks to the prohibition on making any
| "public statements regarding this
| Agreement, its terms and conditions, or the
| relationship of the parties without Apple's
| express prior written approval." But when
| we saw the NASA App for iPhone, we used the
| Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask
| NASA for a copy, so that the general public
| could see what rules controlled the
| technology they could use with their
| phones. NASA responded with the Rev.
| 3-17-09 version of the agreement.
`----
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/iphone-developer-program-license-agreement-all
Apple, Siemens and Sisvel patent infringement leads to CeBIT booth raid
,----[ Quote ]
| Mama always said that some folks just never
| learn, and we reckon there's plenty of
| wisdom to be had from that very statement.
| Year after year, German police are called in
| to raid select booths at CeBIT (and IFA, to
| be fair), and yet again we've seen a booth
| cleared out at the request of powerful
| lawyers from a few companies you may have
| heard of. Word on the street has it that
| Apple, Siemens and Sisvel were all kvetching
| over patent infringements made by an unnamed
| company exhibiting at last week's show, and
| within an hour or so of the fuzz showing up,
| the whole thing was stripped and a hefty
| fine (â10,000) was levied. Unfortunately,
| the exact details of who was violating what
| remains clouded in mystery, but for whatever
| reason, we get the feeling that something
| extremely similar will be going down in
| Hannover next year. We blame KIRFers
| determination.
`----
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/07/apple-siemens-and-sisvel-patent-infringement-leads-to-cebit-boo/
Apple calls in the German police for CeBIT raids
,----[ Quote ]
| WHAT DO YOU get when you cross Apple,
| Siemens and Sisvel with the German police at
| CeBIT? Raids of course, with lots of police,
| lawyers, and people stripping booths clean
| of everything electronic.
|
| Walking around Hall 17 at CeBIT a few hours
| ago, there were several German police
| walking hurriedly through the crowd, talking
| into walkie-talkies. Where police are
| agitated, stories are likely to be found.
| Sure enough, when the police got to their
| destination, there were about 15 more of
| their colleagues surrounding a 5 by 10 meter
| booth of a netbook and e-reader manufacturer
| who explicitly asked not to be identified.
`----
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/03/05/apple-call-german-police-cebit-raids/
Apple vs. HTC: Itâs About Chrome
,----[ Quote ]
| You have likely heard about the lawsuit
| Apple has filed against HTC claiming patent
| infringement. Kevin offered a good analysis
| of the suit and how it claims HTC is using
| Apple technology from the iPhone. Basically
| Apple doesnât like what HTC is doing with
| Android on the phones it is selling in the
| U.S., as they claim it uses various
| technology developed in Cupertino for the
| iPhone. Much has been said that the real
| target of Appleâs suit is Google Android,
| as the smartphone OS is growing at a fast
| clip. I suspect that is true, but I think
| Appleâs fears go even deeper. I think the
| scheduled appearance of the Chrome OS later
| this year has Apple tied up in knots.
|
| Chrome OS is the operating system based on
| the Chrome browser that has generated a lot
| of interest from both enthusiasts and
| companies producing hardware since the
| Chrome OS announcement. It is intended to
| be an alternative OS for cheap netbook-like
| devices, and is aimed squarely at the
| mainstream consumer. Google expects to
| capitalize on its familiar brand, and use
| the Chrome OS to push its online services
| into the device category.
`----
http://jkontherun.com/2010/03/04/apple-vs-htc-its-about-chrome/
Apple Suing the âGreat Artistsâ of HTC
,----[ Quote ]
| There is no doubt that Google is a big
| reason Apple has gone after HTC. In our
| eyes, this shows us that Apple views
| Android and the coming wave of smartphones
| as a threat to their business. Will there
| be a counter suit against Apple? Probably.
| HTC has been making smart phones of their
| and likely has a few patents they could
| dust off.
`----
http://www.androidguys.com/2010/03/03/apple-suing-htc/
Google Most Likely Apple's Real Target in HTC Lawsuit
,----[ Quote ]
| When Apple filed suit against HTC Tuesday
| for infringing patents Apple owns on
| technology used in the iPhone, it wasn't
| clear which particular HTC devices were at
| issue in the case. Observers surmised the
| Google/HTC collaborative effort known as
| Nexus One was somewhere in the mix, but
| Google isn't named in the suit.
`----
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/bentley/google-most-likely-apples-real-target-in-htc-lawsuit/?cs=39803
Patently Stupid
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple's multitouch lawsuit is both dumb and
| dangerous.
`----
http://www.slate.com/id/2246902/
Lawsuit stokes Apple, HTC fans' passion
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10462203-260.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
The Apple/HTC Lawsuit: All About Chrome OS?
http://ostatic.com/blog/the-apple-htc-lawsuit-all-about-chrome-os
Google Backs Its Boy, HTC, In The Apple Lawsuit Ring
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/google-htc-apple-lawsuit/
Announcement concerning Appleâs lawsuit regarding alleged HTC patent infringement
http://www.corpasia.net/taiwan/2498/irwebsite/index.php?mod=announcedetail&id=293
Apple patent case 'could affect all android phones'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8547230.stm
Apple vs. Google: The smartphone smackdown
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2010/03/03/apple_versus_google_smartphone_smackdown/index.html
An Explosion of Mobile Patent Lawsuits
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/an-explosion-of-mobile-patent-lawsuits/
Apple's HTC attack is a very dangerous game
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002982,40067878,00.htm?s_cid=260
What is Apple up to?
,----[ Quote ]
| Then I read this article in CNET that says
| Apple wants to cut a deal with the
| entertainment industry to store all their
| content on Apple servers. There's a
| chilling comment in the middle of the story
| saying they want to get rid of hard disks.
| That, my friends, is Hollywood's dream. The
| real culprit, the real cause of their
| economic problems isn't the Internet, it
| isn't the wires that connect computers.
| It's the under-$100 terabyte hard drive.
| With a terabyte you can store hundreds of
| hours of movies and TV shows. That enables
| you to do your own programming.
`----
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2010/03/03/whatIsAppleUpTo.html
Popularity is killing Android
,----[ Quote ]
| AS ANDROID SWEEPS across the smartphone
| market like a wave of locusts over a land
| that is strewn with Windows Mobile devices
| cast by the wayside, Google's idealistic
| open source, embrace all attitude is
| starting to look naive.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/1594673/popularity-killing-android
Would 2010 Steve Jobs Sue 1996 (Or 1984) Steve Jobs Over Patents?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...Steve Jobs noted how Apple was
| "shameless about stealing great ideas."
| But in the announcement about the HTC
| lawsuit, he has a different perspective:
| "competitors should create their own
| original technology, not steal ours."
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100302/1303598369.shtml
Eversheds comment: Apple sues HTC for patent infringements
,----[ Quote ]
| Commentators suggest that this action by
| Apple is actually targeted at Google's
| open source Android operating system,
| rather than relating just to HTC's
| smartphones. HTC is one of the most
| prominent handset manufacturers globally
| to have developed products based on the
| Android operating system, using it in its
| Hero and Nexus One phones.
`----
http://press.eversheds.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=1571&NewsAreaID=328
Steve Jobs, 1996: "Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal"
,----[ Quote ]
| Oh, hello! A trip to the YouTube wayback
| machine shows that 1996's Steve "Great
| Artists Steal" Jobs might have taken issue
| with Steve Jobs 2010, and his patent
| lawsuit firebombing of HTC. Irony!
|
| The comment was made during a 1996 PBS
| documentary called "Triumph of the Nerds,"
| and looks a smidge hypocritical in light
| of today's events. As does this one...
`----
http://gizmodo.com/5483914/steve-jobs-1996-good-artists-copy-great-artists-steal
Steve Jobs: Good artists copy great artists steal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU&feature=player_embedded
Apple Goes Offensive On Patents: Sues HTC
,----[ Quote ]
| It's usually a sign that a company is
| worried that it can't keep up with the
| competition.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100302/1031458365.shtml
An Open Letter to Steve Jobs Concerning the HTC Lawsuits.
,----[ Quote ]
| But when you sue someone for doing
| something you do yourself, you become one
| of the bad guys. Can you name a company
| you admire that spends its time enforcing
| patents, instead of innovating? Remember
| the pirate flag you flew over Apple's
| headquarters when you were building the
| Mac? Is Apple part of the Navy now?
`----
http://wilshipley.com/blog/2010/03/open-letter-to-steve-jobs-concerning.html
Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch: Letâs Sue the Internet
,----[ Quote ]
| So Apple is suing HTC, the premier
| manufacturer of Android-based phones,
| including Googleâs Nexus One. And Rupert
| Murdoch is suing Googleâor so he says.
|
| [...]
|
| Itâs a Steve thing. Not just a temper
| tantrum. But an operatic one. Itâs Steve
| Jobsâ signature: pride and paranoia.
| Behind it, too, is the motivation of all
| great competitorsâthey really donât want
| to compete, they want the market for
| themselves. Now itâs Google, rather than
| Microsoft, copying him. Itâs Googleâs
| phone heâs out to get. Heâs pissed off:
| Google controls the Internet and all he
| controls is his rotten phone.
`----
http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/410/steve-jobs-and-rupert-murdoch-lets-sue-the-internet.html
Apple sues HTC over phone patents
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8545976.stm
Apple sues HTC for patent infringements in Android phones
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Apple-sues-HTC-for-patent-infringements-in-Android-phones-944567.html
Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple is using its strong patent portfolio
| to fight iPhone competitors in court. Its
| latest target is HTC. Apple has filed a
| patent infringement lawsuit against the cell
| phone manufacturer. The suit involves â20
| Apple patents related to the iPhoneâs user
| interface, underlying architecture and
| hardware.â
|
| Steve Jobs is quoted in a press release
| saying: âWe can sit by and watch competitors
| steal our patented inventions, or we can do
| something about it. Weâve decided to do
| something about it. We think competition is
| healthy, but competitors should create their
| own original technology, not steal ours.â
| The lawsuit itself is not available yet
| online. Weâve asked Apple for a copy.
`----
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/apple-goes-after-htc-in-lawsuit-over-20-iphone-patents/
Apple Taps ITC to Kneecap Google
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple has enlisted the patent court and the
| U.S. International Trade Commission in an
| effort to kneecap Google. The company this
| morning filed a lawsuit against HTC â which
| makes Googleâs Nexus One, among other
| Android handsets â claiming the Taiwanese
| manufacturer has infringed on 20 of its
| patents ârelated to the iPhoneâs user
| interface, underlying architecture and
| hardware.â But the move may have more to do
| with Androidâs rapid growth than actual
| patent sins.
`----
http://gigaom.com/2010/03/02/apple-taps-itc-to-kneecap-google/
Apple Sues HTC For 20 Patent Violations In Phones
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/03/02/1557212
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