Nokia Seeks More Leverage In the Forever Mobile Patent War

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Nokia Seeks More Leverage In the Forever Mobile Patent War

Posted by timothy on Saturday June 16, 2012 @05:44AM from the gonna-live-forever dept.

ericjones12398 writes "Struggling cell phone manufacturer Nokia launched a recent attack in both German and U.S. courts, filing lawsuits against HTC, RIM, and ViewSonic, alleging a laundry list of infringements on 45 patents pertaining to mobile software and hardware. Nokia also filed a meaty complaint against HTC at the International Trade Commission in Washington requesting select mobile devices be banned from sale in the U.S. According to Louise Pentland, Nokia's chief legal officer, 'Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed.' Chief among the ITC complaint was patent 5,570,369, a power saver designed for the GSM system and based on TDMA technology. Although, on the surface, '369 appears to have been tossed in the recycle bin with other 2G relics, the 1996 patent helps serve as a warning shot to competitors recycling Nokia's technology. At the same time it reveals a possible ulterior motive to stop Google's momentum. HTC seems to be straight in the crosshairs of Nokia's legal assault, with three relevant – and curious — phones singled out in the ITC complaint. HTC's Sensation 4G, Amaze 4G and Inspire 4G are all driven by Android. While similar phones based on the Windows Phone platform were missing from Nokia's accusations."

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Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 05:55 · Score: 2

Another failing company handed over to it's lawyers
1. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:38 · Score: 1
  
  Yep, when you can't compete anymore and litigation is all you have left you know it's over.
2. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:31 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  You want to know the real reason Nokia is failing? Because they jumped off the dock when the SS Windows Phone was just poise to sink anyway. Windows Phone is a pile of shit. Here's why:
  OS LIMITATIONS
  1. No true multitasking for 3rd party apps - they re frozen in the background.
  2. No Divx/Xvid video codec support. Zune will convert with loss of quality.
  3. No mass storage mode.
  4. No micro-SD card support.
  5. Only support up to 16GB storage .
  6. No filemanager. Directory system is totally opaque.
  7. Need Zune to transfer files. Zune will only transfer photos, videos & music. All other files need to email/upload to yourself.
  8. Your contact details are automatically uploaded to cloud service whether you like it or not.
  9. Limited to 800x480 resolution.
  10. Voice search is hardwired to Bing.
  11. Cannot use any MP3 file as ringtone except those with strict constraints.
  12. Cannot set static IP address so no connection to ad-hoc networks.
  13. No VPN support for this âoecorporate enterpriseâ phone.
  14. Cannot sync directly with Outlook without syncing to Cloud
  15. Totally closed OS, cannot sideload apps outside MS Marketplace.
  16. System font size cannot be changed.
  17. Images and photos cannot be renamed in the phone.
  18. Windows Live ID account cannot change country once set.
  19. No centralized notification page.
  20. Alarm clock cannot work when phone is turned off. All Nokia Symbian and Meego phones can do this.
  21. The idle screen is completely blank and cannot display time or notifications.
  22. Only photos allowed as email attachments, documents not allowed.
  23. No way to stream audio to the majority of car audio systems as the most common Bluetooth rSAP profile is not implemented.
  24. Cannot stream audio from video playback to Bluetooth devices as A2DP profile is not implemented.
  25. No support for full on-device encryption required for secure applications like mobile banking and online payment.
  26. Cannot use Bluetooth keyboard (no HID profile)
  27. Cannot silence ringtone or alarm by flipping the phone.
  28. Very limited customization option.
  29. Cannot be upgraded to WP8 (Apollo)
  USABILITY ISSUES
  30. No always visible status bar for battery life, signal strength, carrier ID, 2G/3G wi-fi, Bluetooth on.
  31. Taskmanager has no option to shut down apps you donâ(TM)t want running in the background.
  32. Search and Back button cannot be de-activated in apps or games and easily touched by accident which interrupt your user experience.
  33. Lockscreen need to be activated to show missed call/sms notification.
  34. No way to close an app except pressing back button all the way to the first screen.
  35. Tiny fonts in messages is very hard to read for those over 45.
  36. Cannot create and save playlists on the phone.
  37. Playlist can only be edited when you are playing it.
  38. Cannot search your music collection on the phone, only in the Marketplace.
  39. Cannot close music player, can only pause. Music player on lockscreen will stay until you reboot. Be careful not to touch it in a meeting.
  40. No draggable progress bar for current track playing and no indication which track in an album is currently playing
  41. Cannot lock screen orientation.
  42. Online and phone contacts are mixed together with no ability to filter.
  43. Search button in dialer does not search contacts for dialing, but search call history.
  44. Cannot save draft sms messages.
  45. Call history only show phone number type. If a contact has multiple phone nos. for a type the number used is unknown.
  46. Cannot recognize phone numbers in sms or email to save or use as calling number.
  47. Text messages can only be deleted
3. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:31 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  ...But Nokia's phones are fine. In fact, that new Lumia phone is pretty awesome. I used one for a few minutes and it makes my phone look junky.
  This comment was brought to you courtesy Waggener Edstrom, a Microsoft marketing partner.
  
  We help clients understand who their audiences are and where they can be reached. Monitoring conversations, including those that take place with social media, is part of our daily routine; our products can be used as early warning systems, helping clients with rapid response and crisis management.
  http://waggeneredstrom.com/how-we-do-it/
  http://waggeneredstrom.com/clients
  If your business could use professional reputation management services, please contact us at http://waggeneredstrom.com/, the digital PR firm of the year.
4. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  Jebus, it's really that bad? If that list is true then it makes their decision to ditch the N9 even more dumber than it already was, since the N9 can do most of those things. Unbelievable. How on earth MS ever managed to get their 5th column Elop as Nokia boss I'll never know.
5. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 10:30 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  So f***ing true.
  The n9 is STILL a better phone.
6. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 12:56 · Score: 0
  
  Sco/Nokia's paymasters never intended them to compete. That's why their only products on the market were low value and rushed. All they needed was some junk on sale so they could claim loss.
  Microsoft only knows one way to compete, and that's by driving away innovation from their markets.
7. Re:Sad... by drkstr1 · 2012-06-16 13:05 · Score: 1
  
  Funny how it's always the AC with this claim. I've never used a windows phone, or know anyone who has, so I can't speak to its quality. However, i have seen quite a number of faceless shills who support it. It seems the platform is very popular with the shills... which always makes me a bit leery.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
8. Re:Sad... by drkstr1 · 2012-06-16 13:12 · Score: 0
  
  Your post was interesting until, I got to point 22, which contradicts your point 7. I wrote the rest off as BS after that.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
9. Re:Sad... by oakgrove · 2012-06-16 14:00 · Score: 1
  
  I think he's saying you can only send photo attachments but you can receive things other than photos. No contradiction at all.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
10. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 15:04 · Score: 0
  
  you do know most of those can be said about the iphone as well right?
11. Re:Sad... by jimmyfrank · 2012-06-16 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  I have one and it works great. I got it because it's fun to write apps for. If I had to write apps in java for Android I'd shoot myself. iOS wouldn't be to bad, the painful part is not being able to do stuff as fast as I can in .NET but that would probably get better over time if I used it everyday. Using MonoTouch wouldn't be bad either, I have a project planned and want to get MT a try.
12. Re:Sad... by drkstr1 · 2012-06-16 16:59 · Score: 0
  
  Ahhh... well... carry on then.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
13. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 18:49 · Score: 0
  
  Excellent astroturf; I almost believed you were a real person!
  You:
  * praised a Microsoft product for "working great" - there is no such Microsoft product, sir, unless you are talking about the things that MS Office 2010 can do that LibreOffice cannot, and this list is starting to decrease
  * made a subjective call in favor of a Microsoft product - what's fun for you will not be fun for all
  * attack a sound design decision of a competitor - coding in Dalvik/Java for Android is not that bad, given the thousands (millions?) of apps available for it; furthermore Java is not a bad choice for a phone if the OS is coded in it (this was one of Java's features even on dumb phones, but their OSes weren't coded in Java, so you had to wait for the JVM to fire up before you could do anything - this is no longer the case)
  * elevate one competitor above the other - in order to appear like you have made a thorough review between the two and appreciate the nuance
  * complement a technology that has nothing to do with the phone itself - "as fast as I can in .NET" is a statement that is only true for you, as there are plenty of people who can code apps quite fast in Javascript and HTML, Obj-C, and Dalvik/Java just fine, you also leave out specifics, making it impossible for anybody to refute you
  So, you could very well be somebody who really gets off on coding in C#/.NET, but the way you wrote your post, it sounds (at least to me) to be astroturfing. If you are an astroturfer, please fuck off and die, no sane person is going to try Microsoft shit. But, if you are truly an intersted person, then I suggest you learn a bit more about Obj-C, and iOS/Mac frameworks before you declare it to be painful in comparison to .NET, also the same about Java.
14. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 21:49 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed but only a few of those negative points are applicable to the N9, the phone they stopped further development of to make way for the WP handsets. The N9 received universally rave reviews, I have one and it's every bit as good as the reviews have said. It's staggering to think that they threw that away. If Nokia they had stuck with it they would have a winner on their hands, but they are now a MS puppet.
  Hell, if they were going to ditch the N9 they should have gone with Android instead. They'd have had a chance at nearly half the market instead of WP's 3% and falling share. What was that about a burning platform again?
15. Re:Sad... by rtb61 · 2012-06-16 22:03 · Score: 1
  
  Take a deep breath and consider that the commenter did that detailed layout of faults for 'FREE'. How much effort do you demand they do. Obviously two things are going on here M$ has had to cripple the OS to squeeze it in due to infamous Windows bloat and you can just imagine Uncle Fester screaming upgrades, upgrades, upgrades, features left out on purpose to be sold in the next upgrade.
  I remember when people said all these bullshit patents were defensive patents. Well guess what, douche bag lawyers are douche bag lawyers and they ain't making any money without patent wars, hence, we now have patent wars and the only winners are lawyers. The USPTO wins again as managed by corrupt US administrations, largely run by lawyers for lawyers.
  Nokia seems to be in it's death throws as seemingly done on purpose by it's current executive team, being turned into a cheap patent sell off company likely to create a worthless bidding war, big bonus for psychopathic executive team and everyone else is looking at being fired over the long run.
  
  --
  Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
16. Re:Sad... by rtfa-troll · 2012-06-16 22:33 · Score: 1
  
  I used one for a few minutes and it makes my phone look junky.
  This comment was brought to you courtesy Waggener Edstrom, a Microsoft marketing partner.
  It's true these astroturf fanboi posts are tedious and pathetic, and it's definitely worth pointing out; if nobody does they seem to keep coming and coming. However, the main weakness of Windows Phone is that it looks great in the shop, but when you actually take it home and use it it turns out to have fundamental basic features missing (beware; Tommi Ahonen articles are long and have detailed analysis sometimes even a bit too much for the casual reader. They may be difficult to read but definitely repay study and reading around his site.). Think about thinks like forward facing cameras and bluetooth file transfers being missing from all the early Lumia models for example. Think about the short battery life and WiFi failures. These are the kind of things you just assume have to work on any modern smartphone and would never test in the shop.
  An astroturf which points directly towards this weakness seems a little improbable. Maybe you are right and they are trying to fly below the radar, however?
  
  --
  =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
17. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-17 00:00 · Score: 0
  
  You're missing a crucial point:
  (n+1). No OpenGL ES (1 or 2) support.
Missing Story by busyqth · 2012-06-16 05:57 · Score: 2, Interesting

I was just going to post on the story "Single Day Exploits Largest Customer: U.S. Government", posted by timothy, and suddenly it wasn't there anymore.
1. Re:Missing Story by Samantha+Wright · 2012-06-16 06:26 · Score: 1
  
  Mysterious music plays as the dark hand of censorship (or just retraction; this is Slashdot, after all) descends upon us all.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
2. Re:Missing Story by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:33 · Score: 0
  
  you weren't hallucinating - if you search for the title, google saw it as http%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F12%2F06%2F16%2F1736239%2Fzero-day-exploit-markets-biggest-customer-the-us-government%3Futm_source%3Drss0.9mainlinkanon%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26sbsrc%3Dyro&ei=D9HcT9-9D6mw2wXnxpjHDQ&usg=AFQjCNHpVMJaD_xd7tCe0jtNfBzx5ow3TA&cad=rja - but it's definitely gone now.
3. Re:Missing Story by Yvanhoe · 2012-06-16 06:49 · Score: 1
  
  I first saw the story there : http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4120837
  
  --
  The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
4. Re:Missing Story by ColdWetDog · 2012-06-16 06:55 · Score: 1
  
  Mysterious ASCII (not unicode) letters play across the terminal as the dark hand of Slashcode messes up something else again.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
5. Re:Missing Story by Idbar · 2012-06-16 08:12 · Score: 1
  
  Odd stuff happening. Yesterday Slashdot had an outage for like 30mins, today some storied pop up, some others are missing from the RSS Feeds (They show up on Slashdot's main page, but never appeared on the RSS).
6. Re:Missing Story by drkstr1 · 2012-06-16 13:23 · Score: 1
  
  Haha, I was looking for the same thing, and thought I was going crazy. What gives?
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
Patent Attacks by TaoPhoenix · 2012-06-16 05:58 · Score: 4, Insightful

"Has Been" launched a patent attack against "who" "Who" and "Who".
I don't trust anything Nokia does anymore now that Elop is there.

--
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
1. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:12 · Score: 0
  
  R&D costs; those "who" "who" and "who"s are late comers, use existing innovation and put it in branded plastic covers, it's okay if they pay up.
2. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:41 · Score: 0
  
  Too bad Nokia's products suck so bad that they don't have any customers left to "pay up". If they'd concentrate on delivering what people want instead of sucking up to the MS teat, they might have a viable business. Instead, we get patent trolling. Sad.
  Captcha: embroil
3. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:01 · Score: 0
  
  Patent trolling in /. is just double-talk for "I don't like them and I always buy brand X".
  So, when somebody disagrees with you it isn't that they might be speaking the truth or that they have a valid opinion, it's must be that they are being dishonest and have an ulterior motive. Have you had your tinfoil cap refitted lately?
  
  Nokia is going 100% windows phone and while I don't really like it I think it's still better than them trying to create their own new OSs vs the established ones; there'd be no end to the constant complaints of how there's less than 50,000 apps for this phone and it's already out two days.
  Windows Phone isn't "established", that is the problem. The day that Nokia announced they were going all in on Windows Phone, their stock dropped 20 percent. It hasn't recovered. When Elop passed his "burning platform" memo signaling the end of Symbian, customers jumped ship. It is classic Osborne effect and now that the customers have left, they aren't coming back and Nokia stock, financials, and future is in the future. All they have left is patent trolling as you see here. Now go on living the fanboy dream that everybody else is wrong and only you know the real truth.
4. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:19 · Score: 0
  
  If you haven't noticed we're not really arguing about the merits of the patents here are we? It's always just a few cathy phrases and rarely do we see actual talk of validity or prior art. Personally think calling a firm with literally thousands of patents which enable GSM and WCDMA is asinine, you could them too much engineering oriented maybe.
  Never did say Windows Phone is established, but it has more in common with Apple/Ios than android... there's room for growth especially for business users.
5. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:25 · Score: 0
  
  If you haven't noticed we're not really arguing about the merits of the patents here are we? It's always just a few cathy phrases and rarely do we see actual talk of validity or prior art.
  
  If the patents are so great and "valid", why didn't they bring them up a long time ago? I presume that the people they are accusing didn't just start violating them yesterday. Face it, Google and Android are getting trolled again and again and again and again by haters that can't stand to see somebody else be successful when they couldn't. Hopefully more of this shit will go to trial so Nokia, Microsoft, et al can take their place in the loser line right behind Oracle.
6. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:40 · Score: 0
  
  World class argumentation if you want everyone to know your bias...
7. Re:Patent Attacks by Urkki · 2012-06-16 07:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Too bad Nokia's products suck so bad that they don't have any customers left to "pay up".
  Latest incarnation of Symbian did definitely not suck (and they're still available and supported). N9 is one of a kind, the only current real phone which can use "Linux software" as it is commonly understood. Lumia line... well... it's not Nokia's fault MS still can't make a mobile OS, even when they have tried for so many years. Despite this, they're pretty ok actually, having used one for a few months.
  But the future of Nokia, as well as future of MS mobile ambitions, lies in WP8. If they manage to fix even half of the WP7's problems, it'll make great phones, even if it's "MS inside".
8. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:20 · Score: 0
  
  ...But WP7 is praised by critics and have high satisfaction ratings.
  Your post makes the same logical error that many posts do in regard to WP7 - that it sucks and that MS sucks and can't make an OS.
9. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:24 · Score: 0
  
  This is too funny to be sad. You are arguing in favor of Nokia's strategy, the strategy of a company that has taken a nosedive into irrelevance with every step they've took in the last two years but the people who disagree with you are "biased". You seriously need to look up the definition of that word.
10. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:27 · Score: 0
  
  But the future of Nokia, as well as future of MS mobile ambitions, lies in WP8.
  Oh my freaking God, how many times do we have to suffer hearing this shit? First it was wait for Windows Phone, then it was wait for NoDo, then it was wait for Mango, then it was wait for Nokia, then it was wait for better advertising, now it's wait for the latest savior in WP8. Do you people even listen to yourselves?
11. Re:Patent Attacks by green1 · 2012-06-16 09:37 · Score: 1
  
  and yet nobody is buying it...
12. Re:Patent Attacks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 10:01 · Score: 0
  
  I'm not arguing for their strategy (I said I don't like it, bias is yours as is the inability to represent other peoples opinions correctly), just pointing out that it's been on the whole a great company and the absurdity of automatically calling them patent trolls without even reading the patents or having a clue what they are. Going MS made the share drop because everyone knew it meant a leap of faith, would delay their "comeback" - and then they royally fucked up the transition.
  But OTOH my guess is that they saw that android/iphones had huge traction (Google doesn't give a fuck how much they have to spend as long as they have the "highway") so Nokia trying to create and maintain a similar ecosystem on their own would've been an uphill battle... what phone is worth owning if it doesn't have those 100,000 apps these days. So MS had the pockets and the desktops in their corner, add Nokia and they figured you have at least the same parts as Apple has.
13. Re:Patent Attacks by JAlexoi · 2012-06-16 12:17 · Score: 1
  
  It's obvious that the satisfaction rating within a dedicated following is higher than in general population.
14. Re:Patent Attacks by drkstr1 · 2012-06-16 13:29 · Score: 2
  
  Again with pro WP7 AC. For the love of god, can we hear one good thing about WP7 that is not from an AC? It's almost comical at this point.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
15. Re:Patent Attacks by ozmanjusri · 2012-06-16 15:40 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  For the love of god, can we hear one good thing about WP7 that is not from an AC?
  It's unlikely.
  Microsoft spent an enormous amount of money (half a billion dollars) with online and MSM reputation managers trying to generate a buzz around the "brilliant but misunderstood" WP7, but the reality for just about everyone who used one was that they're limited, corporate-kindergarten ugly, and shallow. I've tried a couple of their phones, including a recent Lumia and decided they bring nothing new to the table. Certainly nothing to attract people away from Android or iOS.
  Now that the deluge of astroturf is subsiding, real reviews are rising to the surface. This was one discussed here recently.
  http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/03/brutal-truth-about-lumia-cannot-sustain-even-1-to-1-replacement-of-symbian-windows-phone-strategy-do.html
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
16. Re:Patent Attacks by ozmanjusri · 2012-06-16 15:44 · Score: 1
  
  Do you people even listen to yourselves?
  That's the only people they ARE listening to.
  They've saturated the tech discussion sites with so much astroturf it's like an echo chamber.
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
17. Re:Patent Attacks by Urkki · 2012-06-16 19:29 · Score: 1
  
  If you read what I wrote again, you notice I said it is pretty ok. But many things in it suck, starting from browser UI and browser's tendency to crash often (the built-in browser works around this by restarting, so user might not even notice, but it makes alternative browsers unusable). Text input is something important, that could use a lot of polish too (writing this with WP7 browser, so acutely aware of the problems with that...). The list goes on. Small, fixable things, yet they're not fixed, thank you very much MS.
18. Re:Patent Attacks by Urkki · 2012-06-16 20:58 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it certainly looks likely, that future of Nokia and to lesser degree future of MS mobile ambitions lies in WP8. They're committed, there's no turning back, there's no time to bring anything else to the table. It may be a hopeless future, but we don't know that.
  A lot will depend on how current WP7 phones get treated with software updates. Especially if they don't get full WP8 update, then preventing fragmentation some other way will be critical. That will create or destroy a lot of customer loyality.
  For what it's worth, for "average consumer" who can live with MSN Messenger and Facebook chats, and who wants a product instead of a gadget, I'd recommend WP7 over Android (even ICS) any day. iPhone, not enough experience to comment, but price can be a deciding factor there, and at least for me "breaks if dropped on stone floor" is a deal breaker with iPhone.
Struggling by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:24 · Score: 1

If your company is sturggling a legal battle would be the last thing you would want to spend your time on. Even winning wont make people buy your products.
1. Re:Struggling by Deorus · 2012-06-16 06:44 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Yeah, but it could allow you to capitalize on the royalties and settlements like a true patent troll. Rumor has it that Nokia earned more from its patent settlement with Apple than from selling Windows phones, just like Microsoft earns more collecting royalties from Android vendors than from actual Windows Phone 7 licensing.
2. Re:Struggling by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 06:59 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, but it could allow you to capitalize on the royalties and settlements like a true patent troll. Rumor has it that Nokia earned more from its patent settlement with Apple than from selling Windows phones, just like Microsoft earns more collecting royalties from Android vendors than from actual Windows Phone 7 licensing.
  Yeah baby, creating standard essential technologies is what patent trolling is all about... /. should've been taken down when it still mattered.
3. Re:Struggling by Deorus · 2012-06-16 07:44 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah baby, creating standard essential technologies is what patent trolling is all about... /. should've been taken down when it still mattered.
  Read my post again. You will eventually realized that I never claimed that Nokia was a patent troll, only highlighted the similarities between what's happening and true patent trolling.
4. Re:Struggling by Urkki · 2012-06-16 07:58 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, but it could allow you to capitalize on the royalties and settlements like a true patent troll.
  Patent trolling requires bogus patents, and is based on it being cheaper to pay up, than to challenge the bogus patent with risk of losing. I didn't check, but it's more than likely that these patents are actually results of genuine research, actual innovations, just the stuff patents are supposed to protect.
5. Re:Struggling by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 10:18 · Score: 0
  
  It would appear they killed off further development of the Nokia N9, an awesome phone people actually want to buy, in order to use the savings to fund the legal department. It was nice knowing you, Nokia, see you in history books.
6. Re:Struggling by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 12:41 · Score: 0
  
  Hmm, this week's finnish newspaper says that Nokia uses 14.5% of it's money to some kind of research which was 5612 millions in year 2011. I think that kind of money buys them a few patents.
No Windows Phone by jesseck · 2012-06-16 06:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

While similar phones based on the Windows Phone platform were missing from Nokia's accusations.
Of course not... Nokia and Windows are in a partnership. I imagine the *official* reason Windows Phone isn't mentioned is because Nokia already "licensed" Microsoft (and therefore Windows Phone) to use said patents, and Nokia is allowing Microsoft to indemnify Windows Phone manufacturers from prosecution for using those patents.
Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by bmo · 2012-06-16 06:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

So Elop is taking a former powerhouse of a company and turning it into a patent troll. I'm so fucking impressed. It's as if Elop is *deliberately* trying to sink the company by making stupid decisions and avoiding core competencies.
This is the most rapid "controlled flight into terrain" that I've seen a large company do.
The "Burning Platform" memo went out in February of 2011. Look at the chart before - Nokia was slowly digging itself out of the hole. Look at the chart after. Just look at it.
http://ompldr.org/vZWQzcw/charting.the.charts.png
Source: Yahoo Finance NOK chart. Linear scale. 2 year.
That's right, Elop, there's your fuckin' record.
Good job destroying a company.
--
BMO
1. Re:Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by SpzToid · 2012-06-16 08:37 · Score: 2
  
  Elop never fails to disappoint. Elop's strategy never fails to disappoint.
  The Elop era reminds of the Spindler/Amelio era of Apple, and you should have seent he stock price and value of Apple at the time. Look up Michael Spindler or Gil Ameilo in wikipedia, as a way to 'document' the return of Steve Jobs to Apple.
  It is easy to take a great company straight into the ground, it has been done many times before. At least history has also shown us clear examples of what is possible under the right leadership and strategy. Exhibit A, Apple corp. and the stock price to proves it.
  Hope for Nokia is all I got. Hope for Finland is all I got. And a really nice Nokia N95, N900, and N9 and use them all, all the time, (they all support SIP/VOIP right in the OS so battery life is really good. Some people have extension phones around the house, mine support email, calendars, web-browsing etc. With SIP baked into the OS for great battery life. http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/VoIP_support_in_Nokia_devices.)
  
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  You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
2. Re:Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by bmo · 2012-06-16 09:26 · Score: 2
  
  Meanwhile, Moody's gives Nokia a kick in the teeth, deservedly.
  Nokia downgraded to junk
  HELSINKI (AP) â" Moody's ratings agency on Friday downgraded Nokia's debt grade to junk status, citing greater than anticipated pressure on the struggling cellphone maker's earnings after it announced plans for major cuts and global layoffs. It kept the outlook negative, meaning it could downgrade it again.
  http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06-15/moodys-downgrades-nokia-to-junk-status
  (Just read that on another board).
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  BMO
3. Re:Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:48 · Score: 0
  
  Elop isn't turning it into a patent troll. He's turning it into a target for a Microsoft buy out, after which he will head back to Microsoft - which I predicted back when he was appointed.
  Microsoft just wants Nokia's patents... and Elop's reward will be a position at Microsoft... maybe even Ballmer's.
4. Re:Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by bmo · 2012-06-16 10:08 · Score: 2
  
  >maybe even Ballmer's.
  Unpossible. Ballmer owns too many voting shares to be kicked off.
  How do you think he's lasted this long with a down/flat stock price since the DotBomb?
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  BMO
Slashdot... by Covalent · 2012-06-16 06:59 · Score: 1

News of patent filings...do they matter?

Seriously, when will this patent mess be fixed (or will only 3 companies be left standing...Oceania, Eurasia and East Asia?)

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Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
Deja vu by gmuslera · 2012-06-16 07:10 · Score: 3

When was the last time a Microsoft used a proxy to attack a rival in the past? Well, at least Nokia have more letters than SCO to complain about.
1. Re:Deja vu by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 09:44 · Score: 0
  
  What's new about windows phone? They took the grid of icons from Apple and replaced the icons with Android widgets. Nothing new under the sun.
2. Re:Deja vu by ganjadude · 2012-06-16 15:12 · Score: 1
  
  and every "smart phone" is unoriginal for stealing the palm pilot form factor and functions, simply added a radio..... where do we do say enough is enough
  
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  have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Elop and Balmer are going to prison by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:17 · Score: 3, Insightful

The board of Nokia will be in there with them. This is multi billion dollar fraud.
Nokia was increasing sales prior to Elop. It was losing market share yes but was increasing sales and had credible alternatives to Symbian to switch to.
Now, symbian phones are still outselling windows phone despite the advertising but they are bundling the figures together to hide the failure that is WP.
thus Microsoft by proxy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 07:50 · Score: 0

It all seems to be Microsoft fighting Android(Linux) by proxy. They did this a few times more in the past. If you can not win on technical merits.....
Where are shareholders? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-16 08:11 · Score: 0

How much incompetence at a senior level will shareholders tolerate? It seems a lot, given that the current Nokia chief executive still has a job, and is still being allowed to push a platform that nobody wants. There needs to be some level of oversight over people like Elop, who is clearly more than a few marbles short of a full set, betting the company future on a piriah platform that Microsoft has alienated by attacking just about ever major hardware manufacturer. Industry insiders have already remarked that they will not do any business with Microsoft, given their dubious patent attacks. What a way to do business. What a shocking lack of respect for your competitors. This kind of behaviour will only come back to haunt you later. For Nokia, this might not matter, since there is unlikely to be a 'later', given Elop's crazy suicide dive.
Last gasp by Citizen+of+Earth · 2012-06-16 08:14 · Score: 1

Former producer turning patent troll is the last gasp of a dying company.
Seeking cheap advertising for their patent sale by daboochmeister · 2012-06-16 08:58 · Score: 1

They just offered up patents for sale - this may be a move to prove to potential suitors the value of their portfolio.

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"Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh ... never mind." Dave Bucci
On the Micro^w SCO way... by Lisias · 2012-06-16 09:43 · Score: 1

Nuff said.

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Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org