I think we just witnessed the seed for a whole boatload of new patent lawsuits in the mobile space. The bid for the massive Nortel patent portfolio, has been won not by Google, but by a consortium of companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Research In Motion. Sigh.
The consortium consists of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Sony, and they’ve bought the entire portfolio of 6000 patents for $4.5 billion. The patents cover wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors, and more. We don’t know all the shares just yet, but RIM contributed $770 million, and Ericsson $340 million.
“Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio”, said George Riedel, Nortel’s chief strategy officer and president of business units, “The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world.”
I’d honestly hoped Google would get it. Not because Google is better or worse than the others, but because it would’ve been better for the market. Now that Apple and Microsoft have access to these patents, you can bet your sweet bum they’re going to use them offensively – Apple in lawsuits, Microsoft in their quest to mafia Android manufacturers into paying protection money.
Sony Ericsson just saved themselves from some major possible hurt from these patents, and whatever RIM is doing I don’t know – the company is in deep trouble, so it might start suing others left and right too. This doesn’t make me happy. The deal will have to be approved by regulators.
Well, at least we’ll have enough to report on for the coming years. Lining, cloud, silver.
This action is merely a symptom of a problem. I really do not blame them.
This to me proves that while free as in freedom needs to stay free as in beer in FLOSS needs to DIAF. If FLOSS is to survive it is gonna need patent warchests of its own, not just to depend on the kindness of corps like IBM. Just imagine how much safer FOSS would be right now if someone like Red Hat would have had the money to take a shot at these? or Canonical had the money to buy up Novell and all those patents?
No in the end free as in beer simply has to go because no matter how nice you are to the community too many will be happy to f*ck you out of every last penny to increase their own profits. Who gives the most code and time back to the community? Why that would be Red hat by a long shot. What is on nearly 2/3rds of the web servers out there? NOT RHEL, but instead an OS “created” by a real scumbag company that USED to buy RHEL for their appliances but decided they would rather have RH’s code without actually paying for it. I am of course referring to CentOS.
So in the end FOSS can either get with the times and come up with a “free for non commercial use” license to keep the leeches from bleeding them dry, or as the economy continues to sour be more and more backed into a corner as those that would like to see FOSS die buy up patents by the truckload from failing companies, including former FOSS heavyweights like Novell.
In the end I bet 20 years from now people will shake their heads when talking about FOSS and say it was killed by the classic free rider scenario. As the economy circles the drain things will get worse and worse for FOSS companies and at that very moment thanks to the GPL that is when they will have the most free riders leeching off them! Mark my words it will end up the ONLY FOSS you can run is either corp approved like Android, or in some third world country that doesn’t have treaties with the USA, which numbers fewer by the day. Not a rosy future I’d say.
Concerning Apple..A lot of patents in the hands of sybarite company is not good news especially now that it’s turning into a bully to the likes of Samsung that bring affordable products to the masses across the world.
And Microsoft..bullying Android handset makers to pay per handset royalty fees.
A bad sign. Recent study shows Microsoft now make more money from Android than it’s own Windows phone. This is only getting worse.
I was hoping it would go to Google for leverage sake.
This is not good news for me, not at all.
Edited 2011-07-01 23:30 UTC
Why would you hope it went to Google? They hold intellectual property of anyone not working at Google with extremely high disregard to the point of theft.
That would be like hoping that the lost WMD in Iraq made its way into the hands of actual terrorists just so they could have something with which to bargain.
Rubin fits in quite well over there. Someone should do a story on how HipTop/Danger got caught stealing j2me and was forced to license it. Pretty apropos regarding the current Android/Oracle mess if you ask me.
Oh, you mean just like all other big companies?
If that is the argument, should the players who make their money from tangible products change tack and move their focus to giving their products away but flooding everything they do with advertising and sell everyone’s data, collected in a questionable manner, to make their income? Would that be better for the market?
Is going after someone with a patent you own after they’ve infringed on it using them offensively? Wouldn’t there be existing agreements in place on many of these patents, agreements that would have to be honored as part of the deal, so if companies already have licenses there should be no concern should there? If not, wouldn’t this consortium be within their rights to enforce the patents they now own, as the law allows, and as Nokia did recently against Apple?
If Google made the bulk of their money from selling tangible products wouldn’t they employ tactics similar to these companies to protect their income?
Is this sinister, or just business, how the big boys play?
That sounds familiar for some reason… Oh right:
http://www.osnews.com/thread?471713
Hi, hasbean/ourcomputerbloke! Created a sock puppet account to evade the ban, eh? I hope you weren’t expecting to fool anyone… if you were, then you probably should have waited more than 1 day before creating your sock.
http://www.osnews.com/user/mrhasbean
Username: mrhasbean (user 6792)
Last Active: 2011-05-11
http://www.osnews.com/user/ourcomputerbloke
Username: ourcomputerbloke (user 31069)
Date Joined: 2011-05-12
If you bought the patents to leech off competitors and undermine their ability to compete, then definitely yes.
Hope the patents are better than the final products.
(Also hoping the sysadmin at my work doesn’t read this)
welcome our new mobile-space patent overlords.
Anyhoo
Anyone have an informed opinion on the likelihood, or unlikelihood, of this deal being approved?
Why is Sony in there? Is this Sony proper or Sony Ericsson?
I would have thought that Sony Ericsson would be sheltered by Ericsson…
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/2684-google-bid-wh…
Yes only Google would be this warped.
I’ve personally lost hope of software patents being reformed in any meaningful way. Basically as I see it USA, due to not being able to compete in production anymore (american companies choose to do their production externally using cheap labour so that they can make the best possible profit) must rely on ‘intellectual property’ as their main export.
Software patents are an extremely important part of that, and as such the next major step is for USA to make their software patents enforceable outside the states aswell. And given it’s political power it seems obvious that this will happen sooner or later.
Software patents are here to stay because USA needs them, and american companies will continue to patent anything they can at an accelerated rate.
Especially since China is starting to flex its muscle as geopolitical owner of so much of the world’s rare earth supply.
I think the world only has about what 30 years supply left at the rate we are using it up in silly gadgets like smartphones that are making their way into landfills at staggering rates?
Nortel’s bankruptcy left a lot of pensions out in the cold. Is there any chance that this unexpected windfall will help them out?
There is something that I don’t understand and it has nothing to do with the topic of the news item, rather with the editing: “Well, at least we’ll have enough to report on for the coming years. Lining, cloud, silver.”
What does it mean? Is it an arcane reference that I don’t get?
I’m personally glad it did not go to Google, with as evil as Google has been being lately. And as I have said before, Google is the Microsoft of the Internet age. Way to powerful, with too much control already. And they try to get their fingers into everything and make it so that smaller rivals cannot compete.
Btw, I notice the story I submitted about Google’s problems with the FDA and the $500 million dollar fine they are facing for knowingly accepting money to run ads from illegal pharmacies selling addicting prescription drugs without a prescription never got published either. Again, seems like OSAlert is all to happy to post anything negative they can find about Apple, but is afraid to do the same thing when it comes to Google.