You'll never work in this industry again - Microsoft 1994
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Microsoft sues Motorola over its Android phones
UNABLE TO COMPETE successfully in the mobile phone market with its Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft has sued Motorola, alleging patent infringement by its Android-based smartphones.
The Vole has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US federal court in the Western District of Washington to press its claims.
Microsoft thinks that Motorola nicked its patented methods related to "synchronising email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power".
Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft said that the patents were important to the "smartphone user experience".
"Motorola needs to stop its infringement of our patented inventions in its Android smartphones," he said.
Similar lawsuits have been flying in the Android market almost as soon as the phones came out. Motorola was sued by Blackberry maker Research in Motion. Meanwhile Nokia has sued Apple over the Iphone and Apple has countersued Nokia, along with suing HTC.
Strangely few, other than Oracle, have targeted Google as the inventor of the Android OS, but rather they have gone after the hardware outfits that make the phones. µ
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Just giving back a small proportion of their extremely ill-gotten wealth.
Suing Motorola over cellular phones. Mistake. BIG mistake. Freaking huge.
Microsoft is the largest charitable organization in the world. More than one billionaire giving away their wealth to better life around the world.
You cant say that for Google and Apple.
The recent timeline goes something like this:
1) First Apple (control monger of the IT world) and then Microsoft (an unsuccessful mobile OS provider) attack HTC (a very successful mobile manufacturer), as "infringing" on their "intellectual property" (an oxymoron when applied to Microsoft, and slightly less so to Apple). Both cases apparently ask for injunction on the distribution of said "infringing" products, thereby threatening business operations, which is judged as an "OK thing to do" by Microsoft).
2) HTC then caves to Microsoft to get protection from the Apple Fuhrer, and makes a tidy sum on each sale of successful Android phones as a result ("just in case WinPhone7 crashes like the Kin").
3) Then Google (perhaps the only "nice guy" company) apparently decides to yield to Microsoft's begging and support them in appealing the i4i XML patent case against Microsoft (as it asks for an injunction against the sale of MSOffice -- which is apparently only OK when done BY Microsoft to others, not the other way around).
4) Microsoft then rewards Google for their support by once again attacking Android as used by Motorola (and asking for an injunction against sales of the "infringing" product).
Hypocrisy in action, and we might think Google foolish to continue to support the aggressive corporate bully Microsoft. But, Microsoft's (and Ballmer's) greed seems to be making them foolish...one of the arguments they are using in the i4i appeal centers around software patents like i4i's being unenforceable. They also ask for a "level playing field"...now how is a company who is not forced to disclose the content of its code -- and which presently has the luxury of sifting through the open-source code of its competitors -- operating on a "level playing field"? Now, which company uses open-source exclusively and thus has the most to gain by the abolishment of software patents...you may begin to see the picture here why Google may not be acting foolishly at all.
So hopefully Microsoft's greed for short-term profit has caused them to paint themselves into a corner, along with Apple and all others that choose to litigate, instead of innovate and share ideas for the benefit of all. The latter option is what open-source is all about.
It is about time Micr0$uck$ finally got off their butts and sued someone for infringing upon their vast intellectual property. Those chumps at Motorola have no right to have their software interface to something like Exchange without paying HUGE royalties. They spent a helluva lot of time and $$$ trying to keep that interface under wraps.
Next they should go for those thieves at Oracle / Sun for allowing that Open-Office software to handle M$-0ffice documents. Pay up you crooks!
Microsoft must be daft,
If Motorola built Outlook/ Exchange synch technology into the Droids without paying a license fee, then Microsoft's legal department is likely to win this one. And yes, it's easier to sue a competing firm that is selling product and making money rather than produce a compelling product that someone cares about.
Microsoft is behaving as the thug of the tech world.
This is just a form of protection money, just like the Mafia does.
If Microsoft was serious, it would have sued Google 2 years ago. But it didn't. Microsoft is putting a gun at OEM's heads, and telling them to make Windows Phone 7 handsets.
If you look at the patent complaints (in the article above), it's all frivolous stuff, like syncing email or developing contextual menus (the drop-down menu was developed by Apple in 1984).
It's time for the US Department of Justice to reopen its court trial into Microsoft's thuggish behaviour.