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Technicolor Takes Aim At Apple, Samsung, Others for Patent Infringement

Posted by Soulskill on from the apparently-technicolor-is-still-around dept.

Master Moose sends this quote from a Bloomberg report: "When Apple's next iPhone hits store shelves, Technicolor's engineers will rush to get the handset — not to make calls or play games, but to rip it apart. Technicolor, an unprofitable French company that invented the process for color movies used in The Wizard of Oz and countless other classics, plans to cash in on its 40,000 video, audio and optics patents to turn its fortunes around. The company has a team of 220 people dissecting every new smartphone and tablet from industry goliaths such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and HTC for patent infringements. Although Technicolor signed its first licensing deal in the 1950s, de Russe [executive vice-president of intellectual property at Technicolor] said, 'it feels like the rest of the world has just woken up to why patents are interesting.' Patent licensing is the most profitable business of the company."

7 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Face Palm by Tapewolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not that Apple, et. al., are innocent by any means, but WTF has Technicolor contributed to humanity in the past twenty years??

    From the article: Technicolor, which made the first colour movie 90 years ago, holds key patents in digital audio and video.

    ...I have to wonder if it's related to H264...

  2. Re:Face Palm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Prior to a name change, they were Thomson SA.

    Have you listened to an MP3 lately?

    Yes, its technically right at the edge of twenty years, but I bet the most benefit came in the past ten.

  3. Re:Technicolor was American, not French by cpu6502 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Do all dead or dying American corporations end-up French?
    - Technicolor
    - Atari
    - Commodore
    - Amiga
    - ???

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  4. Re:Technicolor was American, not French by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You left out:
    - Alcatel-Lucent (as in Western Electric and Bell Laboratories)

  5. Re:Announcing the iPhone B&W by sootman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the few times I've ever wished stock iOS were skinnable.

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  6. BBC Interviewing a Patent Troll by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you want to know what the Patent Trolls really think of themselves?

    BBC happens to interview Paul Ryan, top dog of Acacia Research Corp, a very well known patent troll

    Podcast available at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/bizdaily/bizdaily_20120530-1006a.mp3

    You tube carries another interview on the same guy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwpGWT_LdDw

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  7. You make this 30-something geek weep... by Powercntrl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pure black and white with perfect contrast? No visible pixel matrix? LCD screens didn't look like that in the 80s. They looked liked this.

    Now if you're talking about the 90s, the iPhone probably would've looked something like this.

    It makes me wonder if this anachronistic retro hipster who drew this "80s iPhone" art was even alive in the 80s,

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