Microsoft Continues Android Legal Assault 344
shmlco writes "According to an article on AllThingsD, Microsoft is continuing its legal assault on Android. On Monday the company sued Barnes & Noble, Foxconn International and Inventec over the company's Nook e-reader, alleging patent infringement. To quote Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez, 'The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft's patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights. Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action.'"
Not Microsoft's Fault (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what happens when you institutionalize bribery in government. If our politicians weren't so easy to bribe, and the voters weren't so stupid this would not be an issue.
Garbage in, garbage out. And Americans vote for corrupt garbage.
IF they hold the patents (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is it that if they hold the patents for what the android phones are doing, then why didn't they make a decent phone themselves to start with? How is it that google took their intellectual property they dreamed up and made something so much better than their own crap?
SCO anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
SCO didn't die in vain, they were just sacrificed to make this kind of insane posturing and attitude of corporate entitlement seem normal. We got most of our shock at those tactics out of the way over the years McBride & Co attacked Linux, clearing the path for bigger fish, like Microsoft, to publicly act the same without as much backlash.
Good marketing effort. Idiots.
Wow REALLY Bad Patents (Score:5, Insightful)
While I am uneasy about patents, a case for truly innovative products can be made. But this is not innovation. This is patenting whatever one can. Like:
Enable display of a webpage’s content before the background image is received, allowing users to interact with the page faster;
You have got to be effen kidding me. That's a patent? Who was the bonehead that thought something like that is innovation?
Re:IF they hold the patents (Score:5, Insightful)
Ideas are easy, implementation is hard. MS allegedly has some pieces of paper that say "we thought of this first! you can't use my idea!" Google has an actual piece of software that works pretty well. If patents worked at all like they should, MS could only patent their actual implementation of something, not the mere concept itself.
Please don't say that. (Score:1, Insightful)
It's an insult to the gay niggers!
Re:Wow REALLY Bad Patents (Score:4, Insightful)
My old 14.4k internet connection and Netscape Navigator 2.0 are prior art.
Re:IF they hold the patents (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why patents are supposed to only cover implementations, not ideas.
Re:Wow REALLY Bad Patents (Score:4, Insightful)
It's kind of funny that they think they can patent "natural ways of interacting" too..
Re:Not Microsoft's Fault (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, and if women weren't so easy to rape then rape wouldnt' be an issue either.. it's clearly the women's fault.
A 'rape' analogy is never appropriate.
... it's clearly the car's fault"?
What, you couldn't come up with "if cars weren't so easy to steal then grand theft auto wouldn't be an issue either
Dear Microsoft.... (Score:5, Insightful)
For a very short period it seemed to the more gullible among us, that you're starting to be a decent company. Thankfully, you've show in no uncertain way that you have not changed, and are still that douchebag bully in dire need to be body-slammed on concrete [youtube.com]. I hope that one day it finally happens.
Re:SCO anyone? (Score:4, Insightful)
SCO didn't die in vain, they were just sacrificed to make this kind of insane posturing and attitude of corporate entitlement seem normal. We got most of our shock at those tactics out of the way over the years McBride & Co attacked Linux, clearing the path for bigger fish, like Microsoft, to publicly act the same without as much backlash.
Good marketing effort. Idiots.
I'm not sure it's that way. Microsoft put together the play book and placed it out there for someone to follow. SCO picked it up and ran with it. But not many others did. So the question then becomes whether SCO was the over-the-top publicity event to dull our senses or whether Microsoft is being forced to run their own plays since nobody else is.
Re:Not Microsoft's Fault (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
microsoft is saying win7 mobile is not as good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not Microsoft's Fault (Score:5, Insightful)
Not Microsoft's Fault
Nothing is ever Microsoft's fault, according to Microsoft.
Re:Dear Microsoft.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Me, I'd find that embarrassing.
Re:Not Microsoft's Fault (Score:3, Insightful)
Things like this often settle out of court with neither parter admitting they did anything wrong. Thus the racket and be perpetrated again. I don't think Microsoft really has 240 patents that will stand up in court. To bad all it takes is 1.
RAND doesn't work for FLOSS (Score:4, Insightful)
RAND doesn't work for FLOSS projects because "reasonable" is in terms of "reasonable fee" and non-discriminatory is "same price to all comers" so while it didn't present a barrier to entry when it was dreamed up, it does to FLOSS where a fee is never charged.
The inability for FLOSS to work with RAND patent licensing is why MPEG is thinking of moving to FRAND - F being Free as in Beer.