Google and Microsoft make patent peace

http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-and-microsoft-make-patent-peace/

by tanglesome • 11 years ago

89 55 11 years ago

proksoup• 11 years ago

"What we do know is that Microsoft makes approximately $3.4-billion a year from its Android patent licening deals. " [sic]

I guess this might be good news for Google?

From my perspective, patents are a toxic drain on morale/intelligence/innovation that we have no hope of curtailing in my lifetime.

bsimpson• 11 years ago

Seriously. It sounds a lot like a "we were here first" shakedown.

rhino3692• 11 years ago

That's sorta the purpose of patents. Incumbent companies create a ton of valuable technology that new competitors would otherwise get access to only because the incumbents invested in them.

You can disagree with rewarding it, but it's not totally insane.

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

It would be helpful to augment your perspective with multiple studies about patents based on empirical data. The situation week not appear so gloomy then, though it's certainly very complex.

doubt_me3• 11 years ago

I have always had this feeling that patent wars are only around to make the lawyers more money.

Imagine how many firms would lose millions if the major tech companies worked together

EDIT: (nothing against lawyers in general since they are obviously just doing their jobs)

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

Not a big fan of lawyers (personally seen people screwed by them twice) but there's this weird meme that lawyers can make lawsuits happen as they please. The cases where this can happen are very rare as far as I can see, yet the meme persists.

tdylan• 11 years ago

Patents seem to have a net negative effect, blatantly anti-competitive.

jupiter22• 11 years ago

This is another issue that irks me to no end. Companies like Microsoft and Apple reaped the benefits, early on, of little to no software patent protection laws. They copied and outright pilfered everything out there - and it was ok... Those early years saw tremendous competition.

It's hard to explain how exciting technology was back then - so many options. I remember learning about and trying to decide between DOS, Amiga, Commodore, Apple IIs/Mac, Atari. These were the OSes/PCs I focused on (not including Unix). Yet, this was nothing compared to the (healthy) competition among app developers. Very innovative times.

Nowadays, if you have even a smidgeon of success - you're either bought out by those who successfully gamed the system or sued into submission.

mtgx• 11 years ago

Earlier this week, Microsoft re-signed an Android patent-protection pact with I-O Data for an undisclosed amount.

You don't say? A patent protection pact. So they don't even try to hide the fact that it was a mafia-style protection racket all along now?

"Such a nice business you got there. You wouldn't want it to be dragged in Court and lose millions or hundreds of millions of dollars? Why not just pay us this tiny $5 fee per phone, forever, instead, for an OS we never participated in creating?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

TFA (perhaps unsurprisingly) does not mention this particular Microsoft-Google case:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/appeals-court-uph...

Of all the patent lawsuits that happened in all the smartphone wars that nobody won, this was the only case where a company was actually sanctioned for, essentially, abusing patents. And this happened on Google's watch. For all the rhetoric Google spewed about how their competitors were abusing patents, ironic that they were the one company that was actually found to be a bad actor. I always thought Google for too much of a free pass on that one.

Interestingly the Ars article I linked does not mention Google at all. Guess it's not so surprising they got a free pass.

nemothekid4• 11 years ago

Did you link the right article - the referenced article references a court case between Motorola and Microsoft - one that started before Google's acquisition of Moto.

It seems the patent battle was Microsoft abuse of its own patents to take a percentage of all Android sales (and Moto's revenue).

Edit: Motorola vs Microsoft, not Google

chc• 11 years ago

the referenced article references a court case between Motorola and Google

I think you mean Motorola and Microsoft.

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

It started a couple months before the acquisition but largely went through and ended (I.e. with the 14M verify against) while Google owned Motorola.

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

People may like to portray Microsoft's use of patents as "abuse", but the fact stands that they have successfully licensed their portfolio to most Android manufacturers with a minimum of lawsuits and, more importantly, without being legally penalized like Google/Motorola were.

lern_too_spel2• 11 years ago

TFA mentions that exact case.

"In return fire, Motorola Mobilty demanded Xbox patent royalties. In particular Motorola Mobility demanded higher payments for its s H.264 video and networking 'essential' patents."

throwawaykf0515• 11 years ago

My bad, was not very clear, I meant TFA does not mention the 14M judgement that Google was slapped with, marking it as the only company legally proven to be abusing patents.

ewzimm2• 11 years ago

Definitely a move in the right direction. Software companies have operated with a war mentality for too long, despite their common interests. They trade employees pretty often too, exposed no-poaching agreements aside. Competition isn't going away any time soon, but I think everyone appreciates more interoperability and cooperation. Will the Internet communities following them be able to follow this example?

drdaeman• 11 years ago

I find it the opposite. In my perception, the patent hatched buried was actually a good thing for everyone else, because the patents were fought against (with the likely outcome to be revoked as non-patentable bullshit that software patents are). With that peace treaty, nothing is against those patents and they are actually strengthened, which is not something to celebrate.

Of course, would the announcement contain something about dropping the patents (and not the lawsuits), my opinion would be surely different. But all I've read is that two giants won't touch each other and it's not something I do care about.

ewzimm2• 11 years ago

I see your point. But there will be a lot of opportunities for software patents to be tested in court. When people look at history and see companies agreeing not to sue each other, what direction will that push the argument? I hope a good one.

znemz• 11 years ago

So does this mean the next nexus will get an micro-sd card slot? Cause this is has kept me away from one due to this meaningless feud.

doubt_me3• 11 years ago

They completely avoided this question in their reddit AMA

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3mzrl9/hi_im_hiroshi_...

ycitera• 11 years ago

They make patent peace with themselves but not with the small guys?

shmerl• 11 years ago

So will MS stop demanding money from various Android manufacturers now? In general I hope they'll change their attitude from patent aggression to patent disarmament. We need more changes like this.

michaelwww• 11 years ago

I wonder if Apple enabling ad blocking in iPhones and iPads had something to do with this. Many see it as a direct shot at rival Google, which makes most of it's money from advertising. Days later and suddenly Microsoft and Google are besties. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

nobrains• 11 years ago

Do you think this handshake was partly due to the CEOs of both Microsoft (Satya Nadella) and Google (Sundar Pichai) having the same roots (India)?

utuxia• 11 years ago

Google is slowly becoming the next Microsoft.

jupiter22• 11 years ago

"Google and Microsoft agreed to work together against patent trolls in the European Union." I hope the irony of this isn't lost on anyone - especially as it relates to Microsoft.

Google and Microsoft make patent peace

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