IntellectualProperty -- Engadget

IntellectualProperty posts

Intel shells out $1.25 billion to settle all AMD litigation

by Darren Murph posted Nov 12th 2009 at 10:38AM

Intel sure sells a lot of chips, but man -- it sure blows a lot of that profit on lawyers. Just months after it got nailed with a $1.45 billion fine from the EU in an AMD antitrust case, nearly two years after AMD hit Intel with another antitrust probe and nearly 1.5 years after the FTC sparked up an investigation of its own, Intel has finally decided to pony up in order to rid itself of one of those back-riding monkeys. In an admittedly brief joint announcement released simultaneously by both firms today, Intel has agreed to cough up a whopping $1.25 billion in order to settle "all antitrust and IP disputes" with AMD. In fact, the pair went so far as to say the following:

"While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development."

Aside from AMD's coffers filling up with cash, the agreement also gives both firms patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement. Of course, we're betting that this isn't the end of this exceptionally bitter rivalry, and we highly doubt Intel wrote a check this large while grinning from ear-to-ear. That said, we're eager to see what AMD does with its newfound cheddar, and if we had our druthers, we'd sit back and watch it invest heavily into beating Intel to the punch with its next few platforms.

iPhone facing potential trademark issues in China?

by Donald Melanson posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 3:34PM

Apple's on-again, off-again deal with China Unicom to officially bring the iPhone to China may still be up in the air, but it looks like it could now also be facing some trademark issues that could potentially further hold up its release. Apparently, China's Hanwang Technology owns the trademark for "i-phone" in the country, which could force Apple to make a deal with 'em before it enters the market (sound familiar?). Interestingly, Apple does actually own an "iPhone" trademark in China, but it apparently only covers computer hardware and software, while Hanwang's trademark covers mobile phones. According to Hanwang, however, the two aren't actually in talks just yet, and it's not saying what it plans to do if Apple decides to go crazy and announce a move into China without its blessing.

[Via mocoNews.net]

Palm responds to Apple's veiled threat: "we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves"

by Thomas Ricker posted Jan 23rd 2009 at 6:57AM

We've been waiting for this. Ever since Tim Cook made his non-specific, veiled threats in response to a direct question about how the Palm Pre "almost directly emulates the kind of touch interface" found on the iPhone, the entire tech community has waited for the next move. Now Lynn Fox, a Palm spokesperson has stepped into the fray. In a response given to Digital Daily and presumably crafted by a team of lawyers over the 2 days since the Apple analyst call, Lynn says the following:

Palm has a long history of innovation that is reflected in our products and robust patent portfolio, and we have long been recognized for our fundamental patents in the mobile space. If faced with legal action, we are confident that we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves.

The gauntlet is thrown. Now, will Apple risk the ire of a million new and middle-aged fanboys and crush Palm's Cinderella comeback by forcing the Pre into some state of unreleased legal limbo? Or will Rubinstein and Jobs quietly sort it out over a yoghurt parfait in some strip mall in The Valley? Oh boy, this is going to be good.

Video: Meizu M8 prepped for full-scale launch, IP battle with Apple

by Thomas Ricker posted Jan 23rd 2009 at 3:26AM

Meizu's been on a tear since our last M8 update. Sitting atop a new 0.9.0.1 firmware release complete with working copy and paste, Outlook calendar synchronization, and a "full backup system," the M8 is now supported by a published SDK and licensed to ride the Chinese airwaves for what looks to be a March, mainland China release. With all the passion it could muster, Meizu posted the following announcement to its English website:

Let's bear witness together, to the great moment of MEIZU formally entering the big stage of mobile phone industry!

Currently, the M8 handset with its iPhone roots (but a WinCE core) is only available to an abiding Chinese press and die-hard Meizu fanatics -- a population said to rival the intensity of Apple's own sheeple elite. Having watched the M8 make the transition from art to part over the last few years, we're mighty stoked at the prospective launch to say the least. And while Meizu has clearly trumped Apple's spec sheet (not user experience) in terms of software (copy paste, background task management, video recording, and plenty more) and hardware (720 x 480 pixel display and beefier silicon), we'll bet there's still enough "inspiration" to get Tim Cook and Apple's legal counsel whipped up into a frenzy of Intellectual Property defense. Latest video after the break.

Read -- Mobile license approval
Read -- SDK release
Read -- firmware 0.9 release

Continue reading Video: Meizu M8 prepped for full-scale launch, IP battle with Apple

Sony loses patent suit, ordered to pay $18.5 million

by Tim Stevens posted Nov 20th 2008 at 9:13AM

Way back in 2006, Lucent-spin off Agere Systems filed a lawsuit against Sony, claiming the electronics behemoth had infringed on not one, not two, but eight of its patents. As it turns out a prior deal with Lucent gave Sony the rights to use seven of those, but that one unlicensed patent became Sony's weak point, allowing Agere's lawyers to inflict massive damage(s). The jury's findings state not only that Sony wrongly utilized Agere's intellectual property in the mylo, Network Walkman, and the PSP, but that there was "clear and convincing evidence that such infringement was willful." In other words: big payout, in this case an eye-opening $18.5 million. Don't blame us Sony, we told you to settle! [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Microsoft facing patent violation accusations in China

by Evan Blass posted Jan 18th 2008 at 1:11PM

In the second such incident in as many months, Microsoft has been accused of using a foreign organization's intellectual property without proper compensation, this time over a proprietary method of inputting Chinese characters called ZhengMa. Following last month's copyright suit in the Philippines, Redmond is now facing accusations from Chinese tech firm Zhongyi Electronic that it has been using the latter company's technology "without commercial agreement for a decade." Microsoft, for its part, denies the claims, stating that there was in fact an agreement in place and that it was fulfilling its fiduciary duties as laid out in that agreement. According to Reuters, a lawsuit may be in the works once Zhongyi figures out how many infringing copies of Windows are in the wild.

TomTom and Garmin settle disputes, not down

by Thomas Ricker posted Nov 15th 2007 at 3:57AM

Finally, it's over. TomTom and Garmin have settled their intellectual property dispute in courts spanning the UK, The Netherlands, Wisconsin and of course, Texas. No details were provided, this time. Of course, they're still battling for Tele Atlas in the courts of the free market so we're not expecting to see the two shacking-up in the suburbs anytime soon.

CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XLVI: Ballmer still wants compensation from Red Hat users

by Darren Murph posted Oct 10th 2007 at 8:38AM

If you'll recall, it was around this time last year when ole Steve Ballmer fessed up and stated that Linux users probably owed him a nickle or two, and apparently, he's yet to get over it. Reportedly, Mr. Ballmer was speaking out last week "at a company event in London discussing online services in the UK" when he proclaimed that "people who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us." Furthermore, he went on to "praise Novell for valuing intellectual property, and suggested that open source vendors will be forced to strike similar deals with other patent holders." Of course, we're sure he means well and all, given that all he "really" wants is "an intellectual property interoperability framework between the two worlds." And a few dollars too, right?

[Via TheInquirer]

AMD licenses graphics technology to Qualcomm

by Darren Murph posted Oct 2nd 2007 at 11:24PM

We first got wind of AMD's wishes to boost the graphical prowess of handsets way back in February of this year (and saw it reaffirmed in March), and now it seems that the firm is making it happen. Apparently, AMD has agreed to license "cutting-edge graphics core technology to Qualcomm" for next-generation chipsets. The deal will reportedly bring AMD's Unified Shader Architecture (introduced in the Xbox 360) to Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem chipsets, which both firms hope will boost the adoption of 3D gaming and graphic-intensive applications on mobiles. Sadly, we're still left to wonder when we'll see a device actually take advantage of the horsepower, but at least it's in motion.

[Via ExtremeTech]

Sony and 3M settle intellectual property dispute

by Darren Murph posted Jul 30th 2007 at 5:03PM

The bickering that boiled over into a patent dispute earlier this year between 3M and Sony has finally ceased, but it seems like Lenovo and friends may actually still be fighting their own battles with the innovative giant. Nevertheless, Sony Corporation and Sony Electronics are now "licensed sources of batteries containing 3M's cathode technology," and while specific terms of the settlement shall remain confidential, we're sure it was no small sum that Sony was ~~asked~~ required to pay out. One down, several to go.

Lonestar sues Nintendo over Wii capacitor design

by Conrad Quilty-Harper posted Jun 18th 2007 at 10:47AM

A Texas-based company called Lonestar Inventions has sued Nintendo, claiming that the company copied one of Lonestar's patented capacitor designs and used it in the Wii. As is usual with intellectual property related lawsuits, there's a fair degree of shady business surrounding the lawsuit. For one, Lonestar didn't contact Nintendo before filing, and hasn't told the company precisely which capacitor breaches the patent holder's rights. For two, Lonestar has apparently sued other companies -- including Kodak and Freescale -- in recent times, in a similar style. It's probably not a coincidence that Lonestar's offices are located in an Austin law firm, either. Yet more evidence that the patenting system is well and truly messed up.

[Via Wall Street Journal (Paid Subscription Required)]

Publishing exec 'steals' Google laptops in silly demonstration

by Darren Murph posted Jun 7th 2007 at 1:32PM

We can't say that we'd recommend a CEO steal property from Google in order to prove a point, but the head honcho of Macmillan Publishers pushed his superego aside and did just that at a recent BookExpo America in NYC. It's no secret that a number of publishers have been up in arms about Google's approach to digitizing their works, but Richard Charkin went so far as to recruit a colleague and swipe a pair of laptops from a Google Books kiosk at the event. About an hour later, the booth attendants actually noticed the missing goods and presumably began to panic, and the haughty executive then had the nerve to return the machines to their rightful owners whilst dropping the "hope you enjoyed a taste of your own medicine" line. He justified the bizarre behavior by suggesting that "there wasn't a sign by the computers informing him not to steal them," apparently referencing Google's controversial tactics when scanning books. That'll show 'em, Mr. Charkin.

[Via TechDirt]

Hitachi and Oracle introduce anti-piracy tags in China

by Darren Murph posted Jun 5th 2007 at 8:33AM

Considering the sensational amount of knockoff gadgetry and counterfeit software that manages to emerge in China, it's only surprising that it has taken this long for a company (or two) to unveil a legitimate solution to at least curb the amount of black market goods that leave the country. Reportedly, Oracle will be teaming up with Hitachi to "jointly market wireless IC tags in China that can be used to identify whether products are real or not," meaning that tagged goods can now be easily identified as authentic when placed over a reader. The tags will be made and distributed by Hitachi and the duo of firms will promote the usage of said anti-piracy measures with the Tokyo-based Ubiquitous ID Center which issues and manages IC tags. Initially, the tags will purportedly be used with tickets for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and Expo 2010 in Shanghai, but there was no word on any planned rollouts or potential takers outside of these two events. Still, for Japanese wares makers that operate in China, ¥10 ($0.08) a pop for these piracy-thwarting tags sounds like an awfully fair deal. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Via Yahoo]

Microsoft briefy ignores beef with Linux, signs IP deal with Xandros

by Darren Murph posted Jun 4th 2007 at 4:24PM

It seems the love / hate relationship between Microsoft and all things open source is swinging back to the mushy side of the equation, and while this isn't exactly the retaliation we were expecting after getting blasted by Linus Torvalds, it's intriguing nonetheless. In an agreement that eerily resembles that drawn up with Novell, Microsoft has reportedly "announced a broad collaboration agreement based on a set of technical, business, marketing, and intellectual property commitments" with Linux platform provider Xandros. The deal seeks to provide customers working in mixed operating system environments with "enhanced interoperability, more effective systems management solutions, and intellectual property assurances," and the four major focal points include systems management interoperability, server interoperability, office document compatibility, and intellectual property assurance. Interestingly, that also means that Redmond won't be suing Xandros for so-called patent infringement anytime soon, and the partnership even suggests that Microsoft will be "endorsing Xandros Server and Desktop as a preferred Linux distribution." So while we may never know Microsoft's true feelings towards the passionate open source community, there should be a whole lotta love spread to Xandros customers over the next five years.

[Via InformationWeek]

Target Technology sues Sony for Blu-ray-related patent infringement

by Darren Murph posted May 25th 2007 at 8:12AM

As if Sony's legal team hasn't dealt with enough this year already, they're getting dialed up yet again for alleged patent infringement, and this time the California-based Target Technology Company is the one pointing the finger. Apparently, the firm is suing several segments of Sony for "deliberately and willfully" infringing on a patent that Target was granted in 2006. The plaintiff claims that products "marketed under the Blu-ray name infringed on a patent for reflective layer materials in optical discs," and more explicitly, "specific types of silver-based alloys with the advantages (but not the price) of gold." The suit was actually filed as an "intellectual property" matter rather than one of chemical imbalances, and while Target Technology is purportedly seeking a "permanent injunction preventing Sony from violating its patent rights in the future, as well as damages with interest," we won't be surprised if a sizable check from Sony's wallet makes this all disappear.

[Via GameSpot, thanks Evan]