patents

Level with me. You’re civil and fairly polite here in the comments on Windows Phone Central. But on other sites you’re a Microsoft fanboy. Don’t worry, there’s one deep down in all of us. Here’s some fodder for the next little flamewar you start with your Android frenemies – Microsoft will pocket dough for every single Android and Chrome OS device that Foxconn makes.

Nokia has made an intellectual property rights declaration to the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) with respect to Google's VP8 data format and decoding guide, listing 64 granted patents and 22 pending patent applications. VP8 is Google's dream to create a royalty-free codec, but it's reportedly not open standard and Nokia is having none of it (to see why, check quote below). The company is already seeking injunctions against HTC in Germany over two VP8 patents.

Today in Germany, the District Court of Mannheim ruled that HTC was not guilty of infringing on two patents owned by Nokia, including one involving the use of Google Play on HTC Android devices. The patent (EP0812120), which nebulously covers a "method for using services offered by a telecommunication network, a telecommunication system and a terminal for it," was one that HTC called the "flagship patent" in the suit that alleges over 45 intellectual property violations by HTC.

Our Windows Phones are great devices to keep you in touch. Either through actually using it as a wireless telephone, checking your email, chatting through text messages, surfing the web or accessing your favorite app or game. But there are some occasions where your Windows Phone, or any other smartphone for that matter, can be rather annoying.

Occasions such as a movie theater when someone pulls out there Windows Phone to check a missed call and the screen lights up the room. Or when you're in a meeting and the chime sounds for an incoming text that interrupts your bosses in mid-speech.

Although the stock market as a whole is down due to America’s ongoing blowhard budget bickering, we think investors have yet another good reason to buy Nokia (which is down today 3%). RIM will reportedly make an initial payment of $65 million to Nokia for their WLAN patent settlement from a few weeks back.

The settlement came after Nokia brought a complaint against RIM in U.S., United Kingdom and Canada claiming RIM was in violation of WLAN patents. The case went to arbitration and was found to be in favor of Nokia, resulting in an undisclosed settlement. Now information of the initial lump sum came forward via RIM's 6-K filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in addition “ongoing payments” for the right to use Nokia’s tech will also be provided.

Say what you will about Nokia but the company does have one of the strongest patent portfolios around and since money is tight right now, they are seeking to collect where they can. While $65 million won’t save the company, that’s not a bad “bonus” to add to the books at the end of the year.

Source: All Things D; via CrackBerry

Nokia has prevailed in a patent dispute the company filed against Research in Motion Limited (RIM) in 2011. Nokia filed complaints in the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada claiming RIM was in violation of WLAN patents.

Long story short, the case went to arbitration and today the Arbitrator ruled in favor of Nokia. The ruling will require RIM to pay Nokia royalties for Blackberry handsets. And until a royalty agreement can be reach, RIM is not entitle to manufacture or sell WLAN devices.

As expected, Nokia was pleased with the ruling while RIM had no immediate comment. Nokia has filed cases with the Courts of jurisdiction to enforce the Arbitrator's ruling.

Source: CrazyJoys

HTC and Apple released a joint statement tonight announcing an end to their global patent dispute. The settlement comes with a new, 10-year cross licensing deal that includes both current and future patents, though no terms were disclosed. HTC's Peter Chou and Apple's Tim Cook had this to say about the deal:

Microsoft today announced the company has finalised an agreement with RIM that provides broad access to Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) for BlackBerry devices. The modern file system from Microsoft enables a straightforward interchange between desktop PCs and electronic devices using the format.

exFAT is a vast improvement cover its predecessor, FAT. It expands both the size of files that flash memory devices can handle, as well as speed at which these files can be accessed. These are improvements RIM will likely be looking to take full advantage of in its upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS.

Samsung got served.

With a slow day suddenly getting very exciting, the jury-verdict for the Apple versus Samsung case is just coming in over the wires.

Like the trial itself, things are quite complicated as the verdict is spread over various devices, including the Captivate, Continuum, Showcase, Gem, Indulge, Infuse 4G, Mesmerize, Vibrant, Galaxy Tab and others.