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Preliminary ITC Ruling: Motorola Not In Violation of Apple's Patents

SpuriousLogic writes with a preliminary ruling in the ITC case between Apple and Motorola. Quoting eWeek: "Motorola is celebrating an initial triumph over Apple, after a U.S. International Trade Commission administrative law judge issued an initial determination (PDF) finding that Motorola Mobility has not violated any of the three patents listed in an October 2010 lawsuit Apple filed against the Droid maker. ... The determination isn't the final say ... in March, the ruling will be reviewed by a six-member ITC panel that will announce the ultimate ruling. However, according to Zacks Equity Research, it's unusual for the ITC panel, which has the power to block device imports, to contradict a judge's determination."

10 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Mebbe Tim Kooks won't get the 378Million after all by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hope that this will be the first of many many defeats Apple will face in the future

    I've had enough of patent trolling, no matter if it comes from Microsoft or Apple

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  2. Paging Florian Mueller by symbolset · · Score: 5, Funny

    Florian Mueller to the white courtesy phone. One order of crow to go for Mr. Mueller.

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  3. Courts are becoming more efficient. by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I remember a time where companies would get 3 or 4 years of quality FUD out of a false patent claim. All Apple got were a few months and some Florian Mueller posts. I'd be asking for my money back, at least from Mueller.

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    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  4. iLawyer 4G by omganton · · Score: 5, Informative

    The intellectual property lawsuits are getting out of hand. The constant litigation between Apple and [insert every other phone manufacturer] is not only holding back innovation, it's passing the costs on to the consumer. The amount of money these companies spend fighting over small print, legal wording, and patent technicalities is atrocious; in the end, we pay for their lawyers and court fees. Apple should be encouraging competition, not trying to crush it. Let the consumer decide if Motorola deserves to compete with Apple, not a court.

  5. Re:iLawyer 4G by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The constant litigation between Apple and [insert every other phone manufacturer] is not only holding back innovation

    Really? Because I see a whole bunch of new phones at CES. Do you have any evidence that innovation is being held back, or is this just a gut "but it must be so" feeling?

    There are/were a bunch of countries with Samsung tablet unavailability because of Apple-requested injunctions. It's usually hard to point at the status quo and make a good case for what would have been if only something else had happened, so I think that's pretty solid evidence for the GP's claim.

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  6. Re:Motorola is in the cable industry and they can by symbolset · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear Motorola invented this "cellular phone" thing that might prove popular some day. You should look it up on Wikipedia. But not Wednesday. Wednesday Wikipedia will be down.

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  7. Re:Mebbe Tim Kooks won't get the 378Million after by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apple, unfortunately, escalated the patent cold war which turned them into a target for all other companies as pre-emptive defense.

    Microsoft, despite its bluster, hasn't been willing to take an active role in suing other corporations, and is instead resorting to a less profitable extortion which keeps them in the black without dangerous risk. The companies they're dealing with also aren't willing to be the first to go into court about this and just pay off Microsoft.

    Sure, Microsoft might be able to win in court for greater profits compared to their current extortion fees, but that also has the risk of backfiring as it did for Apple. Microsoft isn't willing to run the risk whereas Apple, in their arrogance, tried to prevent their competition from taking the field. And now Apple is paying for it.

    I expect Apple to keep taking the hits for the next few years while Microsoft continues playing "nice" until a smaller company, with arrogant stupidity, decides to poke the sleeping lion. After which Microsoft will slaughter them and hang them out to dry before going back to playing nice with everybody else.

    Of course, unless Microsoft actually creates something new enough to bring in the big bucks, they're going to slowly waste away while dragging everyone else down with them thanks to their chokehold on patents.

  8. Typical Apple zealot by walterbyrd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apple is always right. Evidence, and logic, are irrelevant.

  9. Re:Bribes? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    How much Google paid for the judge for his "honest" ruling?

    Did you really register as a Slashdot user just to post that?

    I see that you registered your account when the story went "red" and made some random comment in another story while you were waiting for the Apple story to turn "green", so you could be the first post. This is well-known sock-puppet troll behavior. Around here we tend to not look so kindly on people who are paid trolls.

    Which of the "New Media Strategies" companies do you work for, "HankMoody"? Don't they train you guys to do a little better job of setting up your sockpuppet accounts?

    Are you going to make the Slashdot community embarrass you and your bosses or will you just come clean? Tell us who you work for and we'll go easy on you.

    Look, we all know that it's hard to find a job these days, and a lot of people are doing all sorts of demeaning things to put a little bread on the table. I'm not unsympathetic to your situation, but you've got to understand that when paid shills like yourself start to overrun an online community, it corrupts everything. People no longer feel comfortable discussing serious topics when the user base is seeded with shills.

    If you're effort is to undermine a thread about sleazy Apple behavior, when you post as a shill it just makes people hate Apple all that much more. And once you're outed, you're placed on a permanent pay-no-mind list and then your work is for nothing. We realize that you're only here to disrupt the free exchange of honest opinions and all of your efforts backfire. At worst you'll be outed and your minimum wage job as an internet shill will be over. It's happened before.

    Now I'll ask again: Which of the new media strategies companies do you work for? Think carefully before you answer. Accept the fact that this "HankMoody" account is burned up. Your cover is blown. It's over. Might as well come clean. We'll be watching for you now, HankMoody.

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  10. Re:Bribes? by elashish14 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Slide to unlock

    Showing pictures on a phone

    Placement of status buttons and progress bars (on a phone)

    These are all software implementations, not algorithms. They should all be thrown out as patents.

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