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Google Files Antitrust Complaint Against Microsoft, Nokia
x0d writes with news that Google filed an EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft and Nokia on Thursday, claiming they are using proxy companies to make smartphone-related patent claims in an attack on Google's Android business. From the article:
"Google also plans to share its complaint about patent 'trolls' with U.S. competition regulators. The Internet-search giant alleges that Microsoft and Nokia have entered into agreements that enable entities such as Canada-based Mosaid Technologies Inc. to legally enforce their patent rights and share the resulting revenue. Google, which hasn't been sued by Mosaid or related firms, described its filing with European regulators as a pre-emptive measure against a developing legal hazard for Android partners. The threat is that if phone makers perceive a significant legal risk in using Android, they may opt instead for Microsoft's Windows Phone software."
Hi pot, my name is kettle. You are black!
sudo make me a sandwich
(Posting AC because I'm at work, not because I'm going to get modded into the stone age for what I'm about to say...)
Too bad: your post deserves to be modded up +5 Insightful.
Google ... described its filing with European regulators as a pre-emptive measure against a developing legal hazard for Android partners. The threat is that if phone makers perceive a significant legal risk in using Android...
Um, if there's a legal hazard in using Android, maybe that means Google/manufacturer's should license patents from Microsoft (or others). I know the current belief on /. is that everybody should be able to make whatever they want, even if they copy someone else's work but, ignoring whether or not I agree with that view, that's simply not how the world works. Sorry - it isn't. The world works such that, if you invent it and you patent it, you have the right to get paid when someone else uses it (or outright block them from using it for a time). You may not like that, and many don't, but that's how the world works. Not just the US - the world. Google may view that as a problem but the solution is simple - build Android so that it doesn't infringe on any patents or license the patents so that there's no legal risk.
I know I'll be in the minority on this one but, sorry - the system is what the system is. It's simple, design around the patent or license it. Or don't and deal with the consequences.
Google, as of late, you're just as f*cked up as microsoft.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Your Google employee badge is showing...
On a more serious note your post might have had some merit if you didn't fill it with such bias.
There are patent suits going on right now that shouldn't be (FRAND patents) and there are patent suits going on right now that should be (pretty much everything else).
If a patent is crap, as some of the patents are, they should get revoked in the process. The patents that aren't crap deserve to be defended.
If it (the number of lawsuits) becomes a problem for either the legal system or the companies then reform will happen. Until then, things are pretty much working as intended with the only people getting offended about it being people who can't leave their biases at the door.