Slashdot Mirror
German Court Issues Injunction Against iPhone & iPad
angry tapir writes "A German court has ruled that Apple's iPhone and iPad devices infringe a Motorola patent and issued an injunction against sales of the products in Germany, in the latest move in a long series of legal battles between the companies. It's the latest stage in the international patent conflict that's been raging over mobile devices, which has included the recent Samsung victory over Apple in an Australian court and a defeat for Samsung in a Dutch court."
Apple's about to get their ass handed to them by Google.
Maybe if _all_ the big players suffer enough then there will actually be some support for real patent reform.
(Not to mention of course that it's nice to see Apple get nailed after all the patent crap they've pulled on others.)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
It seems like things have turned sour for Apple,(no pun intended) I know these patent wars have been going on for some time but in the last 2 months I have seen a lot more anti Apple articles than I recall ever reading before.
The timing of it is most likely coincidence, or maybe not.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
If it was not yet obvious to someone that patents and litigation do more damage to free commerce than blatant and slavish copying, the abyss of ridiculosity that ha ensued in the wake of the recent Apple vs. * and * vs. Apple cases should have proved it once and for all with vengeance. Alas, the business leaders of the world and their political clients will continue to be oblivious to the issues. In the meantime, Florian Mueller and the rest of them patent "experts" rub hands in satisfaction in the background.
Don't read this... it is a curse...
In 2007, a little boy named Timothy was standing in the hallway inside of his house. He then turned towards the place where the hallway connects with his mom's bedroom and spotted a box of graham crackers. This made him realize that there was a new rule in his house: anyone who walks past the box of graham crackers must allow the large black man standing near it to fuck their ass! Then, for some reason, he tried to run past the box of graham crackers and was grabbed by the large black man. The large black man looked at his bootyass naked ass and screamed, "There is no hole!" Timothy then escaped and ran into his mom's closet, and the black man followed. The black man then bumped into a cabbage patch kid in the closet and angered it. Timothy managed to escape outside while the black man's ass was turned into a rumblehouse. Then, Timothy noticed that a close friend of his had his car parked in front of his house and was signaling him to get inside. Timothy did so, and the car took off down the road at great speed while Timothy explained his situation to his friend.
While Timothy was celebrating the fact that he escaped, the car began slowing down; his friend then said, "Now, now, now's the time right now!"
Timothy asked him what he was doing. His friend grinned evilly and replied, "What slowness can I offer you? I'm copyright owner Madow!" and turned into an old man wearing a butler's outfit.
The car continued to slow down, and the cabbage patch kid was catching up to them. Timothy then got out of the car (since he could run faster than it was moving) and began running. However, what seemed to be an invisible entity lifted him into the air and thrusted him ass-first around the world at a speed greater than the speed of light! Eventually, Timothy's bootyass naked ass crashed directly into the very cabbage patch kid he was trying to escape from! The cabbage patch kid was then sucked into Timothy's ass as if his ass was a spaghetti noodle (just like grandma)! At that point, his ass became a bouncehouse for the cabbage patch kid, and major tickle was inflicted upon it!
Now that you have read this, the very same cabbage patch kid will get sucked right up your ass as if your ass is a spaghetti noodle, and major tickle will be inflicted upon it!
You can prevent this by doing the following: post this comment in three different threads.
i guess they are about to get a sweet taste of their own medicine :)
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
If these patent wars continue the map of Europe will look like a checkerboard. White country gets the Google product while black gets the Apple product
Just ban all mobile phones and tablets and be done with it.
Marconi vs Telsa was also ridiculous, as was Edison against a lot of people. The US patent system has degenerated a lot since that time instead of improving.
Slammed ...
Even better considering that apple was caught flogging off their patents to a patent troll, hoping to hurt as many "competitors" as possible.
Every article written will hopefully include all the stories together to paint the apple darling in a new light.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/09/apple-made-a-deal-with-the-devil-no-worse-a-patent-troll/
Will this era in tech history be known as the "Phone Wars"?
dies by the sword.
Apple will soon learn.
Ever wonder why you see so few patent lawsuits from IBM relative to their portfolio? IBM uses their portfolio like a scalpel. Apple has uses theirs like a shotgun.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
They not only tried to prevent samsung on grounds of 'rectangular shapes', but they also transferred their patents recently to a proxy company to sue ALL mobile phone providers.
All is the result of the strategy jobs laid out. 'theft' my ass. theft of rectangular shapes that is.
anyways. what goes around, comes around.
Read radical news here
Did Apple seriously think that they could get away with their asshole-ish behaviour forever without any repercussions? It was seriously short sighted of them to think that there wouldn't be an eventual backlash, or that they underestimated how much of a backlash once it got up some momentum. Just my own observations too, the backlash seems to be trickling down to the consumer level, I've heard quite a bit of talk around the office of jumping ship to Android when phone contracts expire from people who previously wouldn't part with their iPhone. YMMV.
http://xkcd.com/865/
I hope at some point the entire mobile market is frozen solid with injunctions dependent on a infinite loop of IP/Patent cases. I will probably die from laughing too hard. Not sure if my guts will explode or if I'll have a aneurysm. On second thought, I'd rather not die. I'll have to carry some emergency Valium just in case.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
At what point will we finally reach the realization that certain design features are NOT original to anyone, and simply required to obtain basic useable function from a smartphone? At some point, this stupidity has to stop, right?
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
At first, I was like 'damn patent laws', but then I was like 'what if Apple did steal the technology?'.
This ruling implies that Apple stole the technology from Motorola, and the lawsuit is Motorola's attempt to force Apple to relent.
Congratulations. I've passed patent trolling 101.
What concerns me most is that there are enough of these rulings being made at the moment to suggest that all the large technology houses are simply stealing each other's technology on the basis of saying 'prove that I stole it'. Its kind of like the schoolyard bully saying 'make me'. It occurs to me that these injunctions are too much about cash changing hands and not enough about providing a disincentive to the company that stole the technology.
Perhaps some more novel punishments need to be dished out by the judges. For example: indict all current and past company directors on criminal charges, and proceed with extradition orders. That might put the frighteners into some of them.
why can't we just all GET ALONG?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I think this is part of a cross licensing strategy that could finally make Apple stop being so stupid. The rest of the phone world has patents on tech that Apple employs. The rest of the phone world has FRAND'ed those patents. My guess is that this stuff is trying to force Apple to give up it's own small improvements related to iPhones and iPads as being world-changing tech available only to them.
We'll see.
The linked article refers to Florian Mueller as a patent expert. What exactly constitutes one?
When it comes to this particular case, this "expert" predicted Motorola's doom by fronting the ideas that it (Motorola), was suing over what he termed as "standards essential" and therefore "weak" attack or defense patents.
No wonder he sounds humbled by this development on his blog.
... is a poetic, totally awesome bitch.
Have you seen the Samsung tablet designs before the first iPad come out and the designs after the iPad came out (including the packaging)? Pretty obvious they copied Apple and it wasn't obvious to them (or anyone else) how to design an "obvious" tablet or packaging for it.
Lawyers+patents=Cluster fuck. The only winner is chaos.
Can't wait until Microsoft starts leveraging FRAND patents against Google.
This is patent MAD at work. Funnily, or sadly even insanity like this will not diminish support from big companies to tightening patent rules and laws even further.
Why? Because as long as patents can be enforced like this even against big names, no one small or new will ever be able to even try to enter the same business to compete.
apple vs. everyone flamewar in 3... 2..
My Android is awesome . Buddy's iPhone is awesome. Guy at work says his Storm2 is way better than my old Storm. They are all so close with minor differences that people chose to harp on. Get real, you love them cause they cost more than a decent laptop and you need to justify it to your self.
Don't read this... it is a curse...
In 2007, a little boy named Timothy was standing in the hallway inside of his house. He then turned towards the place where the hallway connects with his mom's bedroom and spotted a box of graham crackers. This made him realize that there was a new rule in his house: anyone who walks past the box of graham crackers must allow the large black man standing near it to fuck their ass! Then, for some reason, he tried to run past the box of graham crackers and was grabbed by the large black man. The large black man looked at his bootyass naked ass and screamed, "There is no hole!" Timothy then escaped and ran into his mom's closet, and the black man followed. The black man then bumped into a cabbage patch kid in the closet and angered it. Timothy managed to escape outside while the black man's ass was turned into a rumblehouse. Then, Timothy noticed that a close friend of his had his car parked in front of his house and was signaling him to get inside. Timothy did so, and the car took off down the road at great speed while Timothy explained his situation to his friend.
While Timothy was celebrating the fact that he escaped, the car began slowing down; his friend then said, "Now, now, now's the time right now!"
Timothy asked him what he was doing. His friend grinned evilly and replied, "What slowness can I offer you? I'm copyright owner Madow!" and turned into an old man wearing a butler's outfit.
The car continued to slow down, and the cabbage patch kid was catching up to them. Timothy then got out of the car (since he could run faster than it was moving) and began running. However, what seemed to be an invisible entity lifted him into the air and thrusted him ass-first around the world at a speed greater than the speed of light! Eventually, Timothy's bootyass naked ass crashed directly into the very cabbage patch kid he was trying to escape from! The cabbage patch kid was then sucked into Timothy's ass as if his ass was a spaghetti noodle (just like grandma)! At that point, his ass became a bouncehouse for the cabbage patch kid, and major tickle was inflicted upon it!
Now that you have read this, the very same cabbage patch kid will get sucked right up your ass as if your ass is a spaghetti noodle, and major tickle will be inflicted upon it!
You can prevent this by doing the following: post this comment in three different threads.
Then that explains it !!
Put that in your Bundesloch and it essen my moeglicher frau !!
Google was trying to defend it's business partners against Apple's hyper-aggressive bogo-patent lawsuits.
It was plainly obvious that Apple was trying - in a nasty under-handed way - to compete unfairly against Android. Apple found it easier to sue companies that use Android, instead of suing Google directly. Microsoft does the same scam, all the time.
Don't kid yourself, Apple is 100% to blame for all of this.
according to Florian Mueller, who has been closely following patent lawsuits in the mobile industry. Mueller is a patent expert who sometimes does consulting work for companies including Microsoft.
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
European patent law is just as screwed up as American patent law.
And Australian patent law is just as screwed up as European patent law.
#DeleteChrome
Slashdotters told me over and over that Google would never use patents offensively and that their acquisitions were purely for defensive purposes. You sure can't make that claim anymore.
simple rectangles, shiny surfaces and similar other bullshit -> these are not 'facts', these are total morondom.
once you start letting people claim ownership of BASIC shapes and colors, you enter the nutjob realm. but appallingly, that realm is already being traversed by millions in usa as something 'normal' and 'legal'.
whats next ? claiming ownership of basic syllables ? oh wait - apple is already doing that.
Read radical news here
When you see "expert" where you expect "lawyer", "engineer", "doctor" and so on, it's a sure sign of incoming bullshit.
I should have become a patent lawyer instead of an engineer. (FACEPALM)
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I bet lawyers worldwide are rubbing their hands together in greed.
Not participate in views around! Welcome to visit!
No Weihnacht for Apple!!!
na-na-na-na-na-na-na
bleeeehhh.
Make it like jury duty. Select leaders at random. Maybe have a test for specialized positions, or a general civics exam.
I'm not sure I believe in this myself, but it would have advantages over the current system.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So Motorola, which came up with part of the GRPS standard, gets to use its patents to shut down a competitor? How is that not a massive anti-trust violation?
I was under the impression that they were required to license all the standards-related patents under RAND terms.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
Watch for when Apple turns around and sues Motorola over LTE patents it bought from Nortel.
I'm not sure who got a bug up their ass first, but it seems FRAND patents regarding GPRS violates something more major than a simple licencing agreement. the AND part means that Apple, if they were to licence it, should pay exactly the same amount as HTC, Nokia, etc.
And this responsibility seems like it should belong to Qualcomm since their chips implement GPRS/EDGE/HSPA+/etc and they own a buttload of CDMA patents which are used in UMTS (HSPA) and LTE as well.
As far as Germany is concerned, German patents are ignored ... frequently when it comes to software. Just look at Fraunhofer and MPEG. If anyone remember's the advent of mp3 and music piracy, and Franhofer going after every software implementation of mpeg1-layer3. At some point you have to realize that if it can be implemented in software, it shouldn't be patentable, and everyone will work around it until the patent expires if you're too much of an asshole about it. (Which is the current problem with the MP4 standard being adopted for the web, too many of the IP holders are dicks. End result? Nobody adopts MP4 except those who already have MP4 available in hardware.)
I don't expect too much from this, what will happen is that the injunction will last a short amount of time, anyone who wants an iPhone/iPad with 3G will just go next-door to France and fuel the grey market. The stupid thing is, this patent concerns GPRS, which is the now obsolete method once LTE becomes available. Apple could just go "f you, LTE now thx", and it doesn't have an effect on the CDMA models used in the US.
It's not like Apple has no options. Everyone who urgently wanted an iPhone bought one on black friday in the US or Canada, this news just means that everyone else will buy their phone now, it's not going to mean they're suddenly going to buy a motorola phone.
Has anyone considered the fact that Steve Jobs is a quite capable, intelligent visionary who seems to know what he wants and what he needs to do to get there? Perhaps he felt the patent wars were an experience required in order for our society to technologically mature. Perhaps there is good intention here. He's always been quite the radical.
I can only imagine all the copyright mumbo-jumbo the Apple development teams have faced while trying to build the iPhone. I can just see Steve planting a bomb of hope right before making his final bow
rea1l1.
...so much for free trade.
Don't read this... it is a curse...
In 2007, a little boy named Timothy was standing in the hallway inside of his house. He then turned towards the place where the hallway connects with his mom's bedroom and spotted a box of graham crackers. This made him realize that there was a new rule in his house: anyone who walks past the box of graham crackers must allow the large black man standing near it to fuck their ass! Then, for some reason, he tried to run past the box of graham crackers and was grabbed by the large black man. The large black man looked at his bootyass naked ass and screamed, "There is no hole!" Timothy then escaped and ran into his mom's closet, and the black man followed. The black man then bumped into a cabbage patch kid in the closet and angered it. Timothy managed to escape outside while the black man's ass was turned into a rumblehouse. Then, Timothy noticed that a close friend of his had his car parked in front of his house and was signaling him to get inside. Timothy did so, and the car took off down the road at great speed while Timothy explained his situation to his friend.
While Timothy was celebrating the fact that he escaped, the car began slowing down; his friend then said, "Now, now, now's the time right now!"
Timothy asked him what he was doing. His friend grinned evilly and replied, "What slowness can I offer you? I'm copyright owner Madow!" and turned into an old man wearing a butler's outfit.
The car continued to slow down, and the cabbage patch kid was catching up to them. Timothy then got out of the car (since he could run faster than it was moving) and began running. However, what seemed to be an invisible entity lifted him into the air and thrusted him ass-first around the world at a speed greater than the speed of light! Eventually, Timothy's bootyass naked ass crashed directly into the very cabbage patch kid he was trying to escape from! The cabbage patch kid was then sucked into Timothy's ass as if his ass was a spaghetti noodle (just like grandma)! At that point, his ass became a bouncehouse for the cabbage patch kid, and major tickle was inflicted upon it!
Now that you have read this, the very same cabbage patch kid will get sucked right up your ass as if your ass is a spaghetti noodle, and major tickle will be inflicted upon it!
You can prevent this by doing the following: post this comment in three different threads.
Don't like a taste of your own medicine?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
There was NO INJUNCTION. German court has decided on behalf of the plaintiff, that's all. No injunction had been submitted at that time.
I think it was even done by ancient greek : democraty by lottery. Any adult at 20 is forced to pass a small test (nothing great, and certainly the test must not be allowed to filter out the population majority, only that you can count, basic litteracy stuff, and mental healthy, aka no life breaking psychose). Once the test is good, you are OK for the next 40 years to be in the lottery (forced in the lottery). Then each 4 or 5 years at election, a college of people is elected at random under hefty surveillance that no cheating happen with sheets of paper thrown at random and taken out for each seats of representative. Then those people are given a 2 or 3 hours refresher on constitutionality of law, the constitution , bill of rights etc... After that they are thrown in to vote for laws. For the next 30 years after their investiture they are looked at by tax, law representative, anti corruption team, whatnot to make sure there is no "gift" coming after their investiture.
There would still be cheating and corruption, but it would be a tad bit more difficult than with the elected pigs aristocraty we have right now.
Another solution would be that laws are not anymore voted by representative, but open for the whole folk to vote for/against electronically.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Out of bunch of Apple's claims Dutch judge agreed only on minor detail about gallery app, and to fix that (doable by simply firmware update), Samsung had about 2 month.
Doesn't quite qualify as "Samsung's defeat" in my humble opinion.
Where Samsung was defeated, was Dusseldorf, where brilliant German judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann agreed that "minimalistic design" is, in fact, patentable, hence Samsung, as all other rmanufacturers, must add some whistles to it, for look to be a bit cluttered, not to look as Apple's registered community design of rectangular shape with rounded corners.
AHA HAHAHAHAHAHA - Fiiinally.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Seriously? OMG why don't these little boys agree to play nice and let the customer decide who wins? This is a great way to kill innovation. Why create a new product if you have Apple or Samsung just waiting to sue you out of the market. The court needs to see the bigger issue and throw both of their claims out.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
I about spewed Diet Coke all over my Air as I read this...
yes, it wasn't cheap (to put it kindly) but I'm not aware of another laptop in the same ballpark - I ain't even aware of one that's playing the same sport (apologies to Tarantino & Samuel L Jackson).
Maybe if _all_ the big players suffer enough then there will actually be some support for real patent reform.
Yet another trickle-down theory that doesn't work in practice. The current patent system is an amalgamation of LFEA (Lawyers Full Employment Act) and BCPFCA (Big Corporation Protection From Competition Act). As lawyers run the government, and corporations believe that business needs to heed lawyers' council, LFEA will override BCPFCA when in conflict. Thus, don't expect patent reform to trickle-down from this.
What will cause patents to hit the fan is the discovery that well-financed patent trolls can pillage corporations. Expect the wonderful new business-creating tax savings of the uber-rich to go into financing giant patent-troll corporations who have no products -it's too risky to actually have a product.
{Your choice whether to tag this “funny” or “insightful”, I’d tag it “sad”.}
Don't people forget that patents tend to be awarded to people who actually... create new things? There is a reason Apple is five years ahead of the competition, and there is also a reason there has never been malware found on any iDevice that hasn't been jailbroken.
The MP3 player market solely exists because of Apple. Same with tablets. Without the iPhone, you will still be on that Motorola RAZR v5 that might allow a person to download some MIDI ringtones for $3 apiece or maybe even a crappy MP3 song or two that only can come from VCast.
So, all this talk about patents reminds me a lot about thieves justifying a shoplifting expedition. Apple innovates; others duplicate.
As far as I'm concerned, whatever Apple has has accomplished is completely overshadowed by Apple's non-stop, hyper-aggressive, disgraceful, legal scamming.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Apple could buy Motorola with ease.
Patents – everyone gets hurt.
What's the point?
Reinvent the system already!
This ruling implies that Apple stole the technology from Motorola, and the lawsuit is Motorola's attempt to force Apple to relent.
No. Depending on the country the patent in question was issued in, it implies that Motorola was either the first to visit the patent office, or first to make the discovery.
Stealing would imply reading the patent, or other sources associated to Motorola, and acting upon it.
It also would imply that all of the patent is valid, in the sense that other requirements for a patent apply, as required by the various jurisdictions (that is practically none except prior art in the USA, but a certain level of inventiveness in the EU, and the exclusion of some fields in the EU, for example mathematics.).
Hey don't blame me, IANAB
>> It's the latest stage in the international patent conflict that's been raging over mobile devices, which has included the recent Samsung victory over Apple in an Australian court and a defeat for Samsung in a Dutch court.
Sounds like a game of RISK. I hope they're not spending any more to decide these battles than the cost of a few dice! I trust that since it's all just a pointless game played for fun, that there won't be any real consequences for people in the countries that these companies are fighting over.
Fuck Occupy Wall Street, what we need is an Occupy Main Street. As in when are consumers rising up against patten idiocy. Just give me my god damn technology already. I don't give a crap about patten this or copyright that. Why the hell shouldn't I be able to just buy what I want. Let the best product at the best price win! And I'd guess if they stopped paying all the lawyers, there'd be plenty of profit to go around.
The republicans are right. Let the rich be fucking rich already. I don't care if .01% control 99.99% of the money, as long as I can go buy shit at a reasonable price compared to my salary. Maybe government wealth redistribution is the only way to go, but let's first try making the big corps stop their stupid "why can't I have a monopoly on this, that and the other" whining already and see if we can't innovate our way to cheap food, cloths, housing, consumer electronics and media (you know, the bare essentials) for everyone!
The only people being hurt by all of this nonsense is the consumer. The threat of litigation is stifling innovation. If these companies are that worried about losing sales to their rivals then they should put their money into building a better product than their rivals and not into the coffers of some fat slimy lawyer. Most people would rather spend their hard earned cash on a better, faster, more feature rich product than one that has a shinny logo or nice rounded corners.
At least in my country , and I bet in yours too, the expert PROPOSE solutions which are then filtered through lobbyist and maybe voted on if it advantage local corportations.Proof ? If expert had any say in, the politcs would be devising solutions on global warming. but that is not what happens : the expert are quasi unanimous, and the politics/lobbyist break with all 4. None the less the method I proposed , could also take that into account by allowing expert to present their version of advantage / disadvantages of all methods.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org