The latest development in our neverending saga of worldwide patentwarfare is a decision by a Mannheim judge banning Motorola’s Android devices on the basis that they violate a FAT storage patent owned by Microsoft.
At this rate, they should change Android’s name to Cloner.
The Verge has some interesting statements and facts from the evidence to be used in court:
In February of 2010, an email suggests that Google had concerns that Samsung’s “P3″ tablet — the Galaxy Tab 10.1 — and requested design changes. “Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3.” Google went so far as to ask Samsung to make it “noticeably different starting with the front side.”
In May of 2010, after Google I/O, internal emails reveal that some of the iPhone-related comments from the developers in attendance were circulated within the company. “The GalaxyS [sic] looks very similar to iPhone.”
At Best Buy:
The most common pattern is that a customer returns the product which was purchased because the customer thought it was an Apple iPad2 [sic]
Two plus two is four, no matter who says so.
A U.S. judge on Tuesday backed Apple Inc’s request to stop Samsung Electronics selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the global smartphone and tablet patent wars.
Java pioneer James Gosling has criticized Google for the tactics it used in going without a Java license for Android. He argued that, despite former Sun chief Jonathan Schwartz saying Sun couldn’t sue Google, the decision to skip a license still hurt the company. Google “totally slimed” Sun, and even Schwartz was tolerating the action rather than endorsing it.
“He just decided to put on a happy face and tried to turn lemons into lemonade, which annoyed a lot of folks at Sun,” Gosling said of the executive.
Gosling had at one point worked with Google but left the company after just months.
CNet
In Wednesday’s episode of the Oracle-Google trial at U.S. District Court here., a November 2006 presentation outlining a vision and plan for a Google phone came into evidence. (CNet)
So, before they copied Apple, they did a half-assed imitation of a Blackberry, but much uglier.
When asked if he believed Android was a critical asset to Google around 2010, Page said: “I believe Android was very important for Google. I wouldn’t say it was critical.”
Is this guy serious? Looks like the Adult Supervision is still needed.
“You do know that Google never got a license from Sun, right?” Boies asked at one point.
“I know we worked hard to negotiate a business license with Java,” Page said.
At that point, Judge Alsup broke in. “That’s a yes or no question,” he said. “Is it true that you never got a license?”
“I’m not sure whether we ever got a license,” Page said.
Shortly afterwards, Boies asked again: “Did Google ever get a license from Sun, or from Oracle, for Java?”
“I don’t think that we did, no.”
“Can you name a single company that uses Java APIs that has not taken a license from Sun or Oracle, except for Google?” asked Boies.
“I’m not an expert on that and I don’t know.”
Yeah Right.
Apple Inc wants to go to trial to defend itself against U.S. government allegations that it conspired with publishers to raise prices of electronic books, a lawyer for the Silicon Valley giant said in court on Wednesday.
Oracle and Google are set to face each other in court in San Francisco on Monday.
The dispute hinges on Oracle’s allegations that Google’s widely used Android software for mobile devices infringes on copyrights and patents that Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.3 billion in 2010. The technology in question is Java, a programming language that has been around since the 1990s.
The saga begins.
The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore. [Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr]
