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Apple and Google Joining Forces On Kodak Patents Bid
TrueSatan writes "Bloomberg reports that Apple and Google have partnered to make a bid of more than $500 million for the Kodak patent portfolio. The bid relates to Kodak's 1,100 imaging patents. 'Kodak obtained commitments for $830 million exit financing last month, contingent on its sale of the digital imaging patents for at least $500 million.' This is likely to be an opening bid, with the final figure being far larger. By comparison, a group including Apple, Microsoft, and RIM bought Nortel's 6000+ patents for $4.5 billion last year. 'Google lost the auction for those patents after making an initial offer of $900 million.'"
They have really lost their old ways. Before Google was the simple web search company. You used them to find things and that was it. Now they're just trying to grab even larger market share buy playing games with Android.
I know a thing or two about search that people either Google or Bing won't tell you. Google is mostly trying to sleaze their hidden tracking and platforms to play the big game. They know they need this tracking to further their services. Not their search service but their ad service. It has been getting more intrusive all the time and it's about time we do something about it.
You know what's the newest role in this? Their "AdChoices" tracking platform. Not only are you now served ads on a single page but they actually follow you around! Whatever I've searched for on Google is now advertised me on Slashdot and all the different websites I go to!
Google also has secretive deals with NSA, CSI and FBI. They have gongressman that are willing to step in for them. They played their way in to all the government agencies. They have absolutely no shame in doing this. They've started to play around with patents and are using every possible way they can do further their own goal.
I can't understand why you people defend Google on Slashdot. Yes they might use open source but only because it suits their model better! They don't care about your privacy and in fact they're largely the reason why you're losing it. Yes they're mostly free services but only because it's fueled by HUGE, and I mean HUGE, tracking platforms that sends EVERYTHING you do to Google. They are single handedly the web's LARGEST PRIVACY VIOLATION AND YOU SUPPORT THEM?
Hell, at least with Microsoft and PAID software I know I'm not losing my privacy. You might not care about your own privacy but I still do. And who will Google use it's new patent portfolio against? Microsoft and Apple, the two companies that don't leak all your stuff all over the internet!
Two behemoths fighting it out to have more power and control. Just what everyone needs.
They may take our patents... but they'll never take our Kodak Moments.
Which one is the 'anykey'?
Between Fuji Film and Kodak, who's concerned about the film photographer? I guess I could start dipping glass plates.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
It's too bad the cash from this patent selloff won't likely be seen in the local economy of Rochester, NY, Kodak's home town. We've pretty much given up completely on the once largest local employer. Too many of my friends have long since had severance packages run out. She's not sinking, rather she's already resting on the bottom of the ocean flapping a bit.
I wonder what is actually in the patent portfolio that Google and Apple can sue each other over in 5 years.
The only reason a patent can be sold during a bankruptcy is because the patent is recorded as an asset on the books. (yet "goodwill" can also be valued as an asset but cannot be sold...)
The original purpose of patents was to publicly record trade secrets so that they would not be lost to future generations. If a company goes bankrupt, shouldn't their limited monopoly be opened to the public?
Imagine an investment of 500 Million into Libreoffice development. Imagine 50 Million for Wine. That would make a real difference. The patent system is like a parasitarian economy created on top of the markets. It should be abolished. But we won't get 5 million $ for patent reformists.
High UID brand new account, anti-Google, pro-Microsoft, long first post, no other posting history shill is back again.
I guess Microsoft started paying for their subscription to Fuckface & Wankhead or whatever that PR agency is called.
Or maybe Florian Mueller is doing a bit of shilling on the side now that the mainstream press seems to have finally realised he's wrong about just about everything since 99% of the patent claims against Android would successfully win against Android, and, er, didn't. Hard times to be a shill I guess now that the world has woken up to the FUD.
I can understand Kodak owning some patents for digital imaging, but 1100? Are there really 1100 different ways of doing digital imaging, or just 1100 obvious ways of combining seven novel ideas?
The patent system is to supposed to protect ideas but what it does instead is protect monopolies and stifles creative destruction.
and delete your cookies. Don't be dumb.
As everything else that turned evil (Big Brother, Apartheid, international law, stocks), the original idea was dutch. Octroois were designed to make a design public, registered to the owner, so others could implement it AND pay for it. The idea was NOT to give a company a monopoly on an idea, the goal was the EXACT opposite. That the idea of ONE man could be used by anyone BUT they had to pay for it.
It started because people invented novel ways for water management were it was obvious the ideas belonged to one person but were of use to everyone, so it made sense to allow everyone to implement a new pump yet still reward the original inventor. It was the FRAND idea taken even further and core to the system.
This system ALSO insured something else, an octrooi HAD to be a real design. After all, the idea of pumping water was hardly new. You would ONLY play to use a new octrooi if it gave you the full design to build a new pump. Patents ARE supposed to be the same, a patent application should include all the details needed for a master in the craft to build the item. You CANNOT patent merely an idea or a business plan because there is nothing there that a CRAFTSMAN (NOT AN INVENTOR) can use to build. Collect all the patents related to the internal combustion engine, and you can build one. Collect the patents on a Apple patent, and you can build nothing but a legal case in a bought court.
It doesn't mean ALL patents are useless but a lot are. There is also a practice as done by Lego of patenting EVERYTHING you can think off just to stop someone else from doing anything. Lego made claims for all the alternative ideas they could think of to make building blocks so nobody could make anything even remotely similar. That there are patents for eternal motion machines should tell you enough, how can a craftsman skilled in the trade possibly make an eternal motion machine? Patents don't even have to work, so why not patent all your failed research just to prevent someone else from making it work?
The entire patent system lost its original goal. It was designed to SPREAD inventions while the original inventor was compensated and instead is used to limit the spread of inventions, stifle new invenstions and keep the rich rich.
But hey, good luck getting it to change. When you do, why not reform wallstreet at the same time to get the stock market to be about investment instead of speculation again? Oh and that UN thing to be about peace rather then self interests? That would be nice to if you are out fixing the world.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
This is likely to be an opening bid, with the final figure being far larger.
Bullshit. They already tried to auction them once, and failed to get bids anywhere near high enough to satisfy them. This second auction has not magically made these patents vastly more valuable.
My guess is Google & Apple decided their lawyers already have enough on their table.
Joint ownership of all these patents remove them from the war, keeping it a bit simpler and cheaper.
that ban the sale or trade of patents. patents were designed to help individuals and now they are just corporate lawsuit tools to go after anyone for anything stupid. if you could not buy patents then when a company goes under all their patents go into the open domain and new companies could profit from using them as well as old
Only 'flamers' flame!
There are going to be a lot of patents that neither Apple or Google really care about in that portfolio, but people in film photography might. First and foremost in my mind is the proprietary dyes used in processing Kodachrome film, which Kodak stopped manufacturing years ago, and the last processor, Dwayne's Photo in Kansas stopped processing at the end of 2010. It would sure be *not evil* to release these formulas to the public, and perhaps we could see something like the group who reproduced polaroid film.
br1ng your own to you by Penisbird Milestones, telling From a technical
It would sure be *not evil* to release these formulas to the public
I'm not sure you know what *evil* is. I suspect if either companies have patents that do not cover their [future] products, they can *sell* them, or *license* them, or use them as a bargaining tool etc etc. to make money back from the purchase.
What competitors? They are only competing with each other. RIM and Microsoft are not competition at this point.
Ignoring the cold war Analogy [its best to]. Rim and Nokiasoft, may not be in competition, but that is when they are most problematic to those that are. Like....Kodak was litigious during its dying days. Nokia and Microsoft have formed a Patent troll company, just to attack [Microsofts usual bride; bully tactics] the more successful companies. In fact Microsoft have been bragging about its solitary troll dealing, Apple *pay* Nokia for their patents. You are arguing that Apple & Google preserving their current duopoly is a good thing, by them colluding on the purchase of massive patent portfolios...I'm really not seeing that either.
I liked being able to take photos on non-Apple hardware. The future will suck when Apple is suing everyone about the use autofocus or worse, the use of flash. We know how bad Apple hates flash.
I thought the patent system was supposed to provide a company with a legally protected monopoly for a period of time in exchange with the invention being published so others could benefit from it and advance the state of the art.
Frankly, the more cross-licensing the better.
Once cross-licensing of patents among established companies becomes the norm, how should a startup company protect itself from patent liability?
Too many of my friends have long since had severance packages run out.
I don't get it. Was the severance package not enough to cover moving to another town?
The patent system is to supposed to protect ideas but what it does instead is protect monopolies and stifles creative destruction.
Ironically Google started its massive patent collection, by being attacked by patents from the old duopoly of Microsoft/Apple
yet "goodwill" can also be valued as an asset but cannot be sold
Today I bought some goodwill. Well, actually, I bought a stuffed toy at a Goodwill store, but whatever.
But seriously, I was under the impression that "goodwill" was equal to the value of a business's brand, or the sum of the values of all its trademarks considered as a bundle.
We know how bad Apple hates flash.
So why does Apple solder 8 to 64 gigabytes of it into every iTrinket?
In what world is Apple a monopoly?
Low uid are like college degrees. If you have one you find yourself having to defend its worth. Yes I have both and they are worth it. Got them at the same time actually.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling