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Tim Cook meets Chinese Vice Premier in Beijing, talks IP law, worker rights
Tim Cook's visit to China this week marks his first as Apple's CEO, but what originally appeared to be a casual jaunt to Beijing with possible carrier meetings on the agenda, has turned out to be a carefully orchestrated visit, including appointments with top government officials to talk economic development and intellectual property rights. Xinhua, the country's official press agency (and therefore not the most objective of sources), reported that Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang stated that the country will "strengthen intellectual property rights protection" and "pay more attention to caring for workers." Typical of state-sponsored releases, the report failed to expand on either statement, but even if nothing comes of this particular meeting, Keqiang is in line to take over as Premier next year, making him a solid addition to Cook's rolodex. There's a Chinese-language video of the encounter waiting just past the break.
Supreme Court rules public domain isn't permanent, says Congress can re-copyright some international works (update)
If you've been enjoying the fireworks over PIPA and SOPA these past weeks, get ready for more intellectual property ugliness. The US Supreme Court handed down a decision in Golan v. Holder Wednesday granting Congress the power to restore copyright claims on works that had entered the public domain. The six to two decision (with only the conservative Samuel Alito and liberal Stephen Breyer dissenting) was issued primarily with an eye towards bringing the country in line with an international treaty known as the Berne Convention. The plaintiffs in the case included orchestra conductors, educators, performers and archivists who rely on public domain works such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis and compositions from Igor Stravinsky. Many orchestras, including that of lead plaintiff Lawrence Golan, will now be forced to stop performing works that are a regular part of their repertoire due to licensing fees. Hit up the more coverage link for the complete (PDF) decision.Update: To be clear, this decision upheld a statute granting copyright protection to a bundle of international works that were placed in the public domain (and therefore denied copyright protection) under previous US laws.
Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent settle decade-old patent spat
It's no secret that Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft have a long and somewhat litigious relationship, but today the two companies are letting bygones be bygones. CNET is reporting that A-L and MS have reached a "confidential settlement" in a patent dispute dating all the way back to 2002. Originally targeting Dell and Gateway, then-Alcatel alleged that information entry techniques used by Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Money and Windows Mobile violated a portion of its patent portfolio. Microsoft stepped in on the OEMs' behalf, and in a 2008 ruling, a court granted the newly formed Alcatel-Lucent over $350 million in damages -- subsequently reduced to $70 million in July of 2011 and further reduced to just over $23 million upon appeal. The final settlement is, as we said, unknown, but a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying the deal is "to the satisfaction of both parties." No word on when the two will file their next multimillion dollar blockbuster lawsuit, but apparently both counsels will be sleeping easy tonight.
Watson now hunting down patent trolls, plans Ken Jennings' elaborate demise
The Watson supercomputer used its speech recognition, natural language processing, machine learning and data mining abilities to crush puny human Ken Jennings' dreams of winning at "Jeopardy!", but now Big Blue has it chasing down medical patent trolls for fun. Incorporating the Strategic IP Insight Platform, IBM has now programmed Watson to scan millions of pharmaceutical patents and biomedical journals to discover, analyze, and record any info pertaining to drug discovery. SIIP can then look for the names of chemical compounds, related diagrams, the company and scientist who invented and works with the compounds and related words to determine a patent's rightful owner. The SIIP function can also highlight which patents could be targeted for acquisition by trolls looking to control a property via a lawsuit or licensing agreement. Click past the break for a video outlining the project, along with Watson's announcement of its engagement to "Skynet".
Sony files for 'PS Vita' trademark in Europe, intends to do something Next Generation with it
The words "PS Vita" and "PlayStation Vita" have just made their way through the EU Trademarks and Designs Registration Office, courtesy of a set of new applications from none other than Sony Computer Entertainment. The name PS Vita showed up in some source code on an official Sony site late last week, though it's still not certain that it'll be the official branding for the company's Next Generation Portable. "Vita" means "life" in Italian, so a literal translation would be PlayStation Life. For now, all we know is that the NGP will be large and in charge at E3, and the best way to find out how this Vita moniker relates to it will be to tune in to our Sony keynote liveblog later today, which can be found right over here.
Nokia keeps the lawyers well fed, returns to the ITC with fresh complaints about Apple
Like a desperate suitor unable to take "no" for an answer, Nokia's come back to the ITC with fresh allegations about Apple using its patented technologies without proper authorization. On Friday, the International Trade Commission made an initial determination that Apple wasn't actually making use of five patents held by the Finnish company -- a ruling that has yet to be ratified by the Commission itself, notably -- which Nokia predictably "does not agree" with and is now countering with the addition of seven more patents it believes have been infringed. Those relate to multitasking, data synchronization, positioning, call quality, and Bluetooth accessories, and affect "virtually all products" in Cupertino's portfolio. Rather boastfully, Nokia informs us that a total of 46 of its patents are now being actioned in some sort of lawsuit against Apple, whether you're talking about the ITC, US, Dutch, German, or British courts. As the old saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, send in the lawyers. See Nokia's press release about this latest legal activity after the break.
HTC seeks EVO View 4G trademark, all but confirming WiMAX tablet for Sprint
Not that we were doubting the veracity of our tipster's info, but here's a nice fat slice of pseudo-official confirmation of what we were told a couple of days ago. HTC has laid claim to the trademark of "HTC EVO View 4G," confirming our indications that an EVO View tablet would be coming to Sprint's Now Network. That postulation is also supported by the fact that the EVO branding has only ever appeared in association with Sprint as well as some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence. There is an interesting new piece to the puzzle, however, in the 4G appendage to the device's name, which would imply that we're looking at our first WiMAX tablet -- something Sprint promised for this year and looks set to unveil at the upcoming CTIA 2011 trade show. Our expectation is that the EVO View 4G moniker will be attached to HTC's1.5GHz Flyer, a 7-inch Android Gingerbread slate with aspirations for Honeycomb glory in its near future. Only one way to be sure though, keep an eye on our CTIA coverage and we'll let you know as soon as the official bird chirps out the official word.
Samsung acquires 'Android' trademark for mobile hardware sales in Korea
As it turns out, Korea operates two separate trademark systems for hardware and software. So while this doesn't affect Android OS and its distribution, Samsung's recent acquisition of the Android hardware trademark does forbid other manufacturers from releasing Android-branded devices -- whether they be a mobile phone, a PMP, PDA, GPS, DMB, or any other snappily titled mobile computer -- into the Korean market. This will be felt by local competitors like LG, who has an Andro-1 OEM handset in the works that would infringe Samsung's newfound rights. The trademark previously belonged to local supplier Triplex, who'd held it since before Google's OS came into being, and apparently using just four characters of "Android" will be sufficient to offend the authorities. Sammy's clearly decided to aggressively pursue being the premier supplier of Android phones in its backyard, and rubbing LG's nose in it must've been the chocolate frosting atop that eclair. [Thanks for the translation, Didier]