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Nokia Seeks More Leverage In the Forever Mobile Patent War

Posted by timothy on 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."

42 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Another failing company handed over to it's lawyers

    1. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · · 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 · · 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 · · 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 · · 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 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So f***ing true.
      The n9 is STILL a better phone.

    6. Re:Sad... by drkstr1 · · 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
    7. Re:Sad... by oakgrove · · 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.
    8. Re:Sad... by jimmyfrank · · 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.

    9. Re:Sad... by rtb61 · · 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
    10. Re:Sad... by rtfa-troll · · 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();
  2. Missing Story by busyqth · · 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 · · 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 Yvanhoe · · 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.
    3. Re:Missing Story by ColdWetDog · · 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!
    4. Re:Missing Story by Idbar · · 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).

    5. Re:Missing Story by drkstr1 · · 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
  3. Patent Attacks by TaoPhoenix · · 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 Urkki · · 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".

    2. Re:Patent Attacks by green1 · · Score: 1

      and yet nobody is buying it...

    3. Re:Patent Attacks by JAlexoi · · Score: 1

      It's obvious that the satisfaction rating within a dedicated following is higher than in general population.

    4. Re:Patent Attacks by drkstr1 · · 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
    5. Re:Patent Attacks by ozmanjusri · · 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."
    6. Re:Patent Attacks by ozmanjusri · · 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."
    7. Re:Patent Attacks by Urkki · · 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.

    8. Re:Patent Attacks by Urkki · · 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.

  4. Struggling by Anonymous Coward · · 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 · · 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 Deorus · · 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.

    3. Re:Struggling by Urkki · · 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. No Windows Phone by jesseck · · 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.

  6. Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by bmo · · 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 · · 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.)

      --
      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 · · 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).

      --
      BMO

    3. Re:Right, this is going to fix what, exactly? by bmo · · 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?

      --
      BMO

  7. Slashdot... by Covalent · · 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?)

    --
    Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
  8. Deja vu by gmuslera · · 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 ganjadude · · 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

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  9. Elop and Balmer are going to prison by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  10. Last gasp by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

    Former producer turning patent troll is the last gasp of a dying company.

  11. Seeking cheap advertising for their patent sale by daboochmeister · · Score: 1

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

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

    Nuff said.

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