BlackBerry Files Patent-Infringement Suit Against Nokia (bloombergquint.com) 53
An anonymous reader writes: BlackBerry has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Nokia, demanding royalties on the Finnish company's mobile network products that use an industrywide technology standard. Nokia's products including its Flexi Multiradio base stations, radio network controllers and Liquid Radio software are using technology covered by as many as 11 patents, BlackBerry said in a complaint filed in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. The mobile network products and services are provided to companies including T-Mobile and AT&T for their LTE networks, BlackBerry said in the complaint. "Nokia has persisted in encouraging the use" of the standard- compliant products without a license from BlackBerry, it said.
Re:Is this the internet? (Score:5, Informative)
> Now you dont see anyone with a phone that isnt made by Apple anymore.
You lost me right there. Alternate facts?
With trivial Googling, I came up with this [9to5mac.com]. Now that is data from 2nd quarter 2016. But it was the first quick thing I found.
Market share for 2nd Q 2015: Android 82.2 %, iOS 14.6 %, Windows 2.5 %, Blackberry 0.3 %, others 0.4 %.
Market share for 2nd Q 2016: Android 86.2 %, iOS 12.9 %, Windows 0.6 %, Blackberry 0.1 %, others 0.2 %.
What that says is that from 2015 to 2016 only Android had any growth and everything else lost market share. I doubt that in the last year that trend has reversed. Less than a year ago, Android was a stone's throw from having 90 % of the market.
As for "now you don't see anyone with a phone that isn't made by Apple anymore", I would argue that you don't see a anyone with a phone that isn't Android anymore. Made by all non-Apple manufacturers. In every size, shape, color, style, feature set and price range that you can imagine. Not the extremely limited product line made by Apple. When I see someone get out a smart phone, it is inevitably Android, seldom Apple. And this is in the real world. On vacation. Traveling for work. In every day life. Dr's office. Library. Grocery store. Etc. I don't think I live in an "Android bubble". So if you really see such a large number of iPhone users, I wonder if you are in some kind of "Apple bubble" or if it is a genuine phenomena in some region where you live, or what?
As for companies engaging in litigation when they start to circle the drain, I agree completely.
In other news Apple will fight "right to repair" laws. This makes me like Apple even less. Not only would I not ever buy their overpriced products, but they are going to try to prevent me from being able to repair my non-Apple products.
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Where I work (~120 employees) I've noticed more Android phones than iPhones, probably 65/35 with Android winning out. We do have people move from one platform to the other, but I've noticed more people going from iOS to Android than the other way around.
Last few people I asked why they switched. When they went to Android it was cost. The few people switching to iOS from Android said they were given a free iPhone (as in: no contract renewal, they were literally given the phone from family/friends. They said
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Which Nokia? The real Nokia which bought Alcatel-Lucent is making money hand over fist with their network management software and routers. In fact, good luck doing carrier-grade level networking without A-L hardware. Cisco isn't bad, but there is a difference between enterprise and carrier grade. Nokia also has device management software. They also have their own "carrier grade" cloud service (Cloudband) and are doing well with that.
People think Nokia was just the smartphone company... but realisticall
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It is bad to be the loser in this case. Blackberry still has a little bit of product line left, Nokia doesnt even have one left to speak of.
It's about mobile network products, not phones and Nokia is still doing fairly well there, or there would be little reason to sue -- you don't sue someone with no money to pay up, do you?
Even the summary says "The mobile network products and services are provided to companies including T-Mobile and AT&T for their LTE networks", so you're way off-topic here.
RT.
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Can you see this, am I dfoing it right. Am I on the Web now or the Internit?
Now, wait.. You're jumping in a little too soon. After losing this suit and a troll..err...scroll of other suits, RIM/BlackBerry will declare that it created the Internet as we know it today, you know, because ummm... like... uhhhh..... there wouldn't be mobile-slanted stuff if.. they... didn't..start..it... uhhh.... and there would be...lke..no Internet without...it? *drools*
Rimmed (Score:5, Funny)
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Let me guess....this is something to do with the up-coming relaunch of the Nokia 3310?
Guess again. It's the second sentence in the summary: "Nokia's products including its Flexi Multiradio base stations". In the article it says the suit is against Nokia Oyj, and they aren't in the phone business any more. 10 seconds on Google will tell you that HMD Global owns the rights to Nokia mobile handsets, and is re-releasing the 3310.
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BB is officially dead (Score:5, Insightful)
And the inevitable conclusion of a dying tech firm: serial patent litigator.
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Oh Christ defend us from the BB apologists. It has a large pile of cash from ye olden days, and while there's some QNX growth, it's hardly stellar. The company is a shell of what it used to be and has been fucking around with cash flows for a couple of years now by selling off assets.
It is very much indeed well on its way to patent trolling, as was predicted as its hardware sales crashed.
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Peyton Manning is still a great quarterback! Look at all the money he has in the bank!
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I think BB should give investors back their money and fold up. They can spin off QNX if they really do think they have a hope in hell of ultimately outcompeting Google and the other RTOS offerings, but BB as a phone manufacturer is dead dead dead, and if all it's going to do is keep the scam going a few more years with its aging portfolio of patents, then all it really is doing is guaranteeing Chen and senior management undeserved salaries.
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Oh Christ defend us from the BB apologists. It has a large pile of cash from ye olden days, and while there's some QNX growth, it's hardly stellar. The company is a shell of what it used to be and has been fucking around with cash flows for a couple of years now by selling off assets.
It is very much indeed well on its way to patent trolling, as was predicted as its hardware sales crashed.
Blah, blah blah. It's so boring when you speak the truth. ;)
</sarcasm>
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They no longer make any phones. They just license their name out.
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You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain...
And so it begins (Score:5, Insightful)
The last phase of a dying company is that it enters the patent trolling stage to milk revenue from others. Depending on the number and quality of the patents, a company can subsist on this business model for years, leeching money from companies that actually make products. There is no known way to destroy parasitic patent trolls.
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Obviously the patent was valuable enough that it was worth inclusion in the standard, so why should the patent be nulled? The proper response is to either avoid using encumbered patents or to pay up, otherwise anyone could invalidate patents simply by writing a standard that included them.
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Of course you don't let "anyone" write a standard wiping out a patent, but you can still have unencumbered standards.
Require one of two things to happen if a patent is used in a standard: Either the patent owner joins the standard, and its patent is free to all for the purpose of implementing the standard, or the owner asserts infringement, and the whole standard dies a painful death with massive disgrace on the people who published it without securing agreement from the patent owners.
Note that use outside
Better still, and simpler, - (Score:2)
If the patents no longer protect any product the patents should be voided. Otherwise the patent system gets trolled into garbage disrepute.
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For all we know right now that's exactly what Nokia did. And now they get to spend half a million dollars trying to prove it.
*points and laughs* (Score:2)
That's like a zombie wanting to eat the brains of another zombie.
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That's like a zombie wanting to eat the brains of another zombie.
Hey now, you wouldn't be able to see what the brains of a zombie look like on your mobile phone if it weren't for BlackBerry's radio technology. They, not the service providers, Siemens, Motorola, etc made everything!!!!!!! Now where do I put the trademark symbol again, after or before the exclamation points? Do I have to use caps?
Sadness. (Score:2)
Aww, and Blackberry Looked like it was coming back. Faces certain doom now.