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Apple Wins a Round In Patent Battle With Nokia
An anonymous reader writes "Apple [Friday] won a battle in an ongoing legal war with Nokia over patents that touch on pretty much all of Apple's product line. Since 2009, Apple and Nokia have sued and countersued each other into oblivion. In one particular legal action from May 2010, Nokia filed suit against Apple with a complaint to the ITC (International Trade Commission) alleging that Apple's iPhone and iPad 3G infringe on 5 of Nokia's patents."
They may have been suing each other ad nauseum, but I assure you both Apple and Nokia still exist and are still considered rather relevant in their particular segments of the industry.
#DeleteChrome
The patents in question relate to technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing smaller and more compact devices
Yes, apparently Apple did not copy anyone else when they made their iPhone 4 antenna. And yes, there is a joke in there.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Usually it is pretty clear whether there is infringement or not. Of course, there are the odd-ball cases where it is possible to quarrel over meanings of terms in the main claim (and that's what is usually done in court but if the arguments aren't good you're not going to win). But to imagine that Nokia's attorneys made 5 out of 5 wrong judgement calls is, well, strange.
Patent matters being handled in the US by non-specialized courts is not the best of things. If the ITC is equally competent then that is not the best of things too.
The reasoning behind the ruling is not yet available, according to TFA.
Bert
The Apple vs. Nokia patent battle began far earlier than Nokia chose the MS sockpuppet as its CEO, which then led to Nokia becoming MS subsidiary.
Apple clearly invented everything and Nokia didn't. Apple has existed since the 50's when they signed the Beetles then became a computer company in the 70's once John left the band. Nokia didn't start to exist until they invented Snake in the early 90's and coasted on that fame up until snake 2 and diminishing returns on their Snake based empire. I'm glad that lawyers exist to punish companies that aren't Apple for stealing from Apple.
The Sith are always acting behind the scenes. Elop's rise at Nokia was merely the unveiling -- the Palpatine usurpation of the Emperor title.
If you want to know why smart phones are $600+ a pop, crap like this is why. The patent arsenals these companies amass are there to destroy competition and nothing else. It isn't like Apple or Nokia would stop innovating if suddenly they didn't have patent protection. What it would mean is that 600 Silicon Valley startups could also jump into the cell phone game and drive the price into the dirt and innovation through the roof.
Smart phones are red hot. Everyone and their dog should be making these things using Chinese foundries. The fact that you need to be a multi-billion dollar company that can buy up patents and create your own arsenal (as Apple did) to touch the market means that patent law has effectively made this something only massive companies can do... not because of any great competitive advantage, but just due to government created legal blocks. Hell, even the companies currently in the game right now couldn't be in if they were not all cross licensing this crap, effectively making sure that no nasty upstarts can jump in offer up competition.
I'm happy Apple didn't lose, but the problem remains. Anyone without a few billion to their name an arsenal of patents is prevented from even putting a toe in the market. What a horrible waste.
Since Nokia has been turned into a puppet company for Microsoft does anybody really give a shit?
Which they would have never made if Nokia had just been reasonable and in fact treated Apple like every other mobile manufacturer on the planet. The fact that Nokia can no longer make a "free" phone that sells as many units as Apples "$200" phone, probably upset them.
Now that Nokia has given up on QT, Symbian and Linux and adopted Windows Mobile, fuck them to hell. May they die and may they destroy apple along the way. FOSS is the only way.
There is NO way Apple has the patents to make a phone from scratch. If this judge has an iPhone, how likely is he to rule in Nokia's favour, even if Nokia's patent claims are correct? Who has more marketing support?
It's a popularity contest. Even a "professional" like a laywer or a judge is a layperson as far as computers are concerned. It's like trying to tell people Facebook is bad.
Apple has accumulated > 3,000 patents of which 90% are related to iOS and iPhone/iPad/iPod hardware. You're not being very bright making lame ass comments. Apple was designing the idea for the iPhone [phone technologies] at around 1999, in-house. I guess you had to have been there.
They didn't make a phone from scratch. They bought their iphone GSM radio from Infineon, and Infineon licensed the patents from Nokia (and others). So Apple already did pay Nokia for the phone portions. As for "small handheld device," remember Apple invented the Newton, so they have a lot of patents in that area. Also, maybe you are the type of person who would not rule against Apple if you are an iPhone owner, but I sure would. Be careful not to project your views on everyone else.
(PS. If you haven't already read it, might consider the Martian Chronicles).
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."