Kamis, 20 September 2012

Apple and Google Slapped with 20-Patent Lawsuit


We would have hoped that the newest looming patent fight between Samsung and Apple, over the latter's use of LTE in the iPhone 5, would be the last patent fight we heard of today.

We did not bother though, simply due to having seen the lawsuit placed by Unwired Planet at the same time when we stumbled upon Samsung's preparations.

At least Samsung isn't among the ones involved this time. Instead, Google is joining Apple as a target of Unwired Planet's ire, or, more specifically, the ire of its subsidiary Unwired Planet LLC.

This is closer to a real patent troll action than Apple's and Samsung's shenanigans, as Unwired Planet does not produce devices, merely IP.

Then again, this company has existed since 1994, so we can't really say it is a sort of opportunistic upstart either. There is a reason it lasted so long and has enough resources to sue Apple and Google over 20 patents.

“Today’s actions follow a careful review that we launched in late 2011 as we began to transform Unwired Planet into an Intellectual Property company,” said Mike Mulica, CEO of Unwired Planet.

“This litigation marks a key step in our multi-pronged strategy to maximize shareholder value through the licensing of our robust portfolio of patents and to protect our IP through litigation against unlicensed parties as necessary.”

Apple and Google are each accused of infringing 10 different patents related to mobile devices, digital content stores, location-based services (mapping and advertising), cloud computing and push notifications technologies.

Google and Apple haven't commented yet, but they'll probably meet the attack in kind, unless they decide that the other wars are more important, in which case they may settle this newest issue quickly, just so they can focus on the larger fish in the pond.

“Apple and Google generate substantial revenues from devices and services that rely on the intellectual property that Unwired Planet developed and patented over the last 15 years. They should compensate us for the use of our patented technologies, which are foundational to mobility,” Mulica said.

Via: Apple and Google Slapped with 20-Patent Lawsuit

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