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ZTE Joins Long List of Android Device-Makers Licensing Microsoft Patents
An anonymous reader writes "In its continuing march toward locking up deals with every major Android and Chrome device maker, Microsoft announced on Tuesday a patent-licensing agreement with Chinese manufacturer ZTE. This follows a similar deal last week with the parent company of Foxconn. Microsoft's Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said, 'Much of the current litigation in the so called 'smartphone patent wars' could be avoided if companies were willing to recognize the value of others’ creations in a way that is fair. At Microsoft, experience has taught us that respect for intellectual property rights is a two-way street, and we have always been prepared to respect the rights of others just as we seek respect for our rights. This is why we have paid others more than $4 billion over the last decade to secure intellectual property rights for the products we provide our customers.'"
Rent seeking is the new innovation at Microsoft.
Someone needs to stand up to these folks. Let's see these patents tossed out.
"Look, you can licence our patents, or we can sue you. It really doesn't matter if you're using our patents or not, well tie you up in court for YEARS. Your choice..."
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
"Much of the current litigation in the so called 'smartphone patent wars' could be avoided if companies were willing to recognize the value of others’ creations in a way that is fair." Most of the Android licensing deals have been based around FAT32, which has been around since Win95. What sort of credible value of that technology remains in 2013? Absolutely none.
Is the list of patents being licensed available or is this just more bullshit, like when they claimed Linux violated their patents and refused to say which ones?
They didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks!
Eventually, they're actually going to have to tell Motorola/Google (and everyone else) exactly what the patents are...
Log in or piss off.
So spamming slashdot is your method of solving this?
Your cunning plan is not very cunning. People will avoid donating because of this behavior.
For anyone curious, these are the 4 patents that Microsoft has been wielding like a club. Note: I've shortened it to list the basic claims below. Microsoft claims are repetitive legalize and go on and on repeating the same drivel over and over. Notice they are saying that they hold sole claim to the concepts of scheduling meetings, sending and receiving messages on a cellular network, storing file names in a file system, and pressing buttons. It would be laughable if they weren't successfully litigating the crap out of the entire Android industry. It's the dying screams of a company that no longer matters that has stopped innovating and wants someone else's success for themselves. Very sad and pathetic really. The truth is they could sue Apple, IBM or anyone else that even manufactures PCs out of existence with these patents if they wanted, they're so broad and there's so much prior art it's not even funny. The fact that they courts are upholding them is scary.
U.S. Patent No. 6,370,566 on "generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device" On May 18, 2012, the ITC ordered a U.S. import ban against Motorola's Android-based devices that infringe this Microsoft patent.
Claims: The present invention includes a mobile device which provides the user with the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself. The mobile device creates an object representative of the meeting request and assigns the object a global identification number which uniquely identifies the object to other devices which encounter the object. In this way, other devices which encounter the meeting request are capable of identifying it as a unique meeting request in order to alleviate the problem of duplicate meeting request transmissions. In accordance with another preferred feature of the present invention, an electronic mail application or calendar application on the mobile device obtains a fully qualified electronic mail address for the potential attendees from an abridged address book or directory stored on the mobile device itself. This alleviates problems associated with the storage capacity of the mobile device. In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device creates the meeting object and the electronic mail meeting request object using a set of properties which are supported by a plurality of PIMs that may receive the objects. This provides compatibility with an increased number of devices which are likely to encounter the objects. In accordance with yet another preferred feature of the present invention, localizers implement a plurality of templates on the mobile device which are used in formatting the properties of the objects associated with the meeting request. A data stream representative of the meeting request is parsed by the mobile device and placed in pre-defined fields in the appropriate templates so that the text viewed by the user of the mobile device more closely conforms to local convention. In addition, time zone information is also included in one embodiment.
===
EP1304891 on "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface" On May 24, 2012, the Munich I Regional Court granted Microsoft an injunction over this patent against Motorola's Android-based devices. This was the first Microsoft v. Google decision ever. It came down only days after Google completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The ruling is already being enforced in Germany.
Claims: A method for facilitating an application sending multiple short messages fragments, the method for use in a cellular network that facilitates the transmission of messages between cellular computing devices, the messages being multi-part messages that consist of multiple short message fragments of limited size: [either compressed, encrypted or wrapped in XML.]
===
EP0618540 on a "common name space for long and short filenames" On July 27, the Mannheim Regional Court granted Microsoft a German patent injunction against Go
I think someone hasn't heard about the horrors of impersonation through the hosts file!
So... You're supposed to just make stuff and rely on everybody's good will to avoid having your ideas ripped-off, probably never to see a single cent?
I agree it was a stupid comment but I've seen so much worse around here. I'd only give it a 2 on the 1-10 stupid scale. 10 being the most stupid comment ever.
I could debate this but choose not to. I disagree that patents and copyrights are immoral, I think they have their place but the problem is that greed has twisted and perverted the original purpose of these systems. I do believe that software patents are wrong as copyright should be sufficient protection for software.
No, the only reason I believe that patents and copyrights are "immoral" is because I've never had an idea worth stealing.
Or APK arguing against himself.
Perhaps this is a false flag operation? For this reason?
After the absolute disaster that Windows 8 was it would be good if Microsoft got out of the software business and just made money off patents.
Lets say F2FS actually makes it to production.
The reality is that every camera in the world today formats flash storage as FAT. So for about ten more years, you're going to have to support FAT anyway.
Microsoft doesn't have to mess with anything, because the giant market with which you cannot be incompatible already forces many things to happen.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Damn those Czechs! How dare they bomb Boston!!
I want to contribute money directly towards the abolition of IP. Where do I contribute?
The problem with these patent agreements with Microsoft is that the details are kept confidential. No one but Microsoft knows what the patents cover, the conditions or fees, and which patents Microsoft is licensing in return--which is more likely to be the case. Microsoft releases these puerile press releases announcing something that probably happens in the business world on a daily basis, yet only they feel the need to do this. I have my doubts that these agreements are as one-sided as Microsoft brags, especially since ZTE is a telecommunications giant in China.
All these companies signing "secret" agreements with one another are colluding (and perhaps even forming a cartel) such that no one can enter the market without paying them. This has the direct result of setting a base line price below which *all* products in the market cannot be manufactured.
Has antitrust action ever been taken by the DOJ against a corporation on the grounds of patent abuse or the amount of intellectual property that a company claimed? Would there be any valid basis in the law for such an action? I imagine that the sheer size of Standard Oil, and the sheer size of its assets involved with oil production must have been a factor in the decision to have it broken up. Could such a situation ever arise with patents, since we seem to have entered an age when the largest tech companies hold huge numbers of patents? If the judiciary can't or won't do anything, what kind of legislative possibilities are there? Is there a lawyer in the house?
It is well known in the industry Microsoft likes to place artificial barriers to competitors. They either subside proxies to create precedents and vicious battles (hello SCO), or are eager to deal with patent trolls because they have deep pockets, and thus create precedents and problem for others.
... after M$ found lots of pirated Windows software in ZTE offices
China is one of the world's top country in term of pirated software, and I won't be surprised at all if many computers in ZTE offices are running pirated M$ softwares such as M$ office suites and M$ operating systems
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
50% flamebait, 50% overrated. Not even a little insightful or interesting. Slashdot, I never knew ye. It's enough to make one wonder if the mega corps really are hiring armies of downmodders.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
Ah, the presuppositions!
1. What is an idea?
2. Is there even such a thing as an original idea?
3. Who really deserves exclusive right to an idea?
4. Can ideas even be owned?
5. Should they be owned?
6. Is anyone entitled to money just because he thought of something?
7. Is one who thought of an idea entitled to more money than the one who puts in the work to develop it, engineer it, and bring it to market?
8. Is it necessary for someone who thinks of an idea to receive compensation for it without continuing to do useful work?
9. Would it be wise or good for that to be the case?
10. Can an idea even be "stolen" or "ripped-off"?
11. Is it not possible for someone to "make stuff" (ideas, not goods), offer them freely, and still be compensated for his work? Are ideas worthless if offered freely? Is the thinker no longer useful after he explains his idea openly? (In a similar way, is a singer-songwriter obsoleted when others start singing his songs?)
I think that's enough. All of those are questions whose answers are implicit in your question; without all of those presuppositions, your argument evaporates. In other words, it's not even a real argument, just a cliche.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
I heard the Czech govt. has ties to Al-Queda and are being funded by selling pirated copies of Miguelsoft to young adults in Texas who would otherwise be unable to afford to pay their $1,000 tuition. It's all being funnelled through a Cypriot money-laundering site: panhandlers.com -- Help Out a good cause $1 at a time!
At Microsoft, experience has taught us that respect for intellectual property rights is a two-way street, and we have always been prepared to respect the rights of others just as we seek respect for our rights.
ROTFLMFAOWTIME! That is the funniest thing I've read in months! If respect for intellectual property rights is a two way street, Microsoft is an 18-wheeler that has jackknifed, flipped on its side, and is now on fire, belching flames and toxic fumes in every direction, blocking all lanes of traffic in any conceivable direction!
Wow! The sheer balls it must take to have written that shit... I'm in awe, really. Or perhaps the author didn't know he was writing that FOR MICROSOFT, or has been living in a cave for the last 30 or so odd years...
Those weren't apk. They were Jeremiah Cornelius. Jeremiah Cornelius gave himself away http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3581857&cid=43276741 in that link as the one doing the spams/trollings about apk. That let the cat out of the bag. Jeremiah Cornelius obviously accidentally submitted as his registered username instead of his 100's of anonymous coward ones he did before and after that. Jeremiah Cornelius is clearly a troll. Imo, the only post in those recently where apk actually spoke in those exchanges was here and the links in it he pointed to http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3674733&cid=43530007 and the rest were Jeremiah Cornelius trolling by anonymous coward posts.
The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB, and the maximum partition size is 2TB
Large external disks do not really matter. I'm talking about the flash cards used by a variety of electronic devices that are not easily updated to support filesystems.
For flash cards, support for 4GB was overcome long ago. Look on Amazon, 16-32GB cards are common.
So again, FAT (well really exFAT as the other poster noted) is not going anywhere anytime soon, because it supports large enough storage sizes that it will last for a while as a standard (though RED is I think shipping small pluggable storage units that are custom)
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
These are the list of frivolous, prior art ridden patents Microsoft used to try and extort money from Barnes and Noble. When the trial was about to go to court a magical partnership was established between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble and the lawsuit was dropped. It's a pity more companies don't stand up to these patent trolls.
Microsoft vs.Barnes and Noble
5778372
6339780
5889522
6891551
6957233
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5778372.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6339780.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5889522.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6891551.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6957233.html
U.S. Patent No. 5778372 Remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images. A browser remotely retrieves electronic documents from a remote computer network for viewing by a user. For enhancing responsiveness, the browser initially displays an electronic document without a background image so that the electronic document is initially displayed more quickly. The browser also prioritizes downloading of embedded images of the document by their incorporation in the currently visible portion of the electronic document. Further, the browser dynamically creates additional connections for retrieving resources incorporated into the electronic document from the remote computer network.
U.S. Patent No. 6339780 Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area. Described herein is a portable computer having a limited display area. An Internet or other hypermedia browser executes on the portable computer to load and display content in a content viewing area. During times when the browser is loading content, the browser displays a temporary, animated graphic element over the content viewing area. The graphic element is removed after the content is loaded, allowing unobstructed viewing of the loaded content.
U.S. Patent No. 5889522 System Provided Child Window Controls. New varieties of child window controls are provided as system resources that application programs may exploit. The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a dynamic link library (DLL) for implementing the new child window controls as part of an operating system. The new child window controls include a header bar control for providing header bars in application programs. The new controls also include a hot key control that allows a user to view and edit hot key combinations. The new controls further include a tab control for establishing tabs that differentiate amongst pages in user interfaces provided by application programs. An image list data type is defined and functions are provided for manipulating the image list data type. Image lists include multiple like-sized images that are stored efficiently in a single bitmap.
U.S. Patent No. 6891551 Selection Handles in Editing Electronic Documents. A computer system and method for highlighting and selecting elements of electronic documents is disclosed. In one embodiment, a selection area identifies an initial selection of data, and one or more selection handles appear on the selection area to allow dynamic resizing of the selection area to select a larger or smaller portion of data or number of items.
U.S. Patent No. 6957233 Method and Apparatus for Capturing and Rendering Annotations for Non-Modifiable Electronic Content. A system and method for capturing annotations for a non-modifiable document is disclosed. Once it is determined that an annotation is to be created, the system determines the file position of the selected object. The file position of the selected object is stored along with the created annotation in another file or a non-read only po
Thank you for your support. I am bewildered by the amount of people that would rally behind patents and copyrights these days, especially from the USA. It's a case of ultimate hipocrisy, since I bet my savings that they temselves or their immediate friends or family have partaken in copyright infringement at least once, and probably continue doing it today. How many of them have downloaded pirated contents, or listened to MP3 in a Linux system without paying for a codec patent usage license? Maybe the used a DVD from another region and needed to remove region protection on their device?
Technological, scientific and cultural advances are made in incremental steps, we would be back in the stone ages if we had to reinvent everything independently of one another. Controlling innovation and creation in this way to give an unfair advantage to a group is not very different to living in the dark ages.
Government and corporate cheerleaders that will stand in favor of copyrights and patents are being just as immoral as the ones that benefit directly from these monopolies.
If the FAT32 filesystem used on cards and internal storage is the main issue, then, of course, the question remains, why all these more or less extorted companies don't switch to a free and unencumbered format.
I can't see a reason against it, since the internal format is largely irrelevant anyway to the user. One shortcoming might be card-readers (where inserted cards with free formats then presumably aren't supported by Windows), but most people use a USB connection anyway. Besides, a driver could be delivered with any such product, that would establish direct recognition even under Windows.
So why aren't they doing it and paying MySCOsoft instead?
Formalizing the act once referred to as Brinksmanship into a recognized, legitimate business practice (i.e, threatening to sue but never, ever showing any real proof).
USPTO: GRANTED