Motorola Mobility just announced the availability of the Keylink, a Bluetooth-powered fob that helps you find your misplaced keys or smartphone.
Samsung and Apple just announced that they have agreed to drop all patent suits against each other in countries outside the United States, Bloomberg reports. The two companies will drop suits against each other in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, the U.K., France and Italy. This agreement does not include any licensing agreements, though. This has no effect on United States battles either.
In a joint statement, the two companies had the following to say:
Korea Times (via Fortune) is reporting that Apple and Samsung are in talks designed to settle all future patent disputes out of court. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller believes that a settlement will be reached “very soon.”
“Things should come to an end during the summer. Apple doesn’t have an endgame strategy. Its agreement with Google shows that its management is looking for a face-saving exit strategy from Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear ambitions,” Mueller said …
Photo: USA Today
According to a court filing discovered by Reuters, Apple and Google’s Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle their ongoing smartphone patent litigation battle against each other. In a statement, the two companies said that this agreement does not include the ability cross license each other’s patents, but rather the promise to “work together in some areas of patent reform.”
The two tech giants have been battling it out over various patents for several years now, both directly and indirectly. It’s important to note, however, that this agreement is solely between Apple, Google, and its Motorola Mobility unit. This does not apply to any lawsuits between Android device manufacturers, such as Samsung and HTC, and Apple. Although theoretically, it would apply to patents owned by Google that device manufacturers are licensing.
A verdict was reached in the latest Apple v Samsung battle just a few weeks ago, with Apple being ruled as the victor, albeit small. The court ruled that Samsung owed Apple $119 million, which is far less than the $2 billion it was seeking.
Apple did not violate a push notifications patent held by the Google-owned Motorola Mobility according to a ruling posted today by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The International Trade Commission previously determined that Apple’s iPhone design did not violate a patent held by Motorola prompting the Google-owned company to appeal the decision, but today Apple was once again ruled clear of any patent violations.
The ruling can be read in full here.
Motorola appears to be making a play for iPhone users, launching a tool yesterday to allow an iPhone user to easily transfer their contacts and calendars from iCloud to a Google account, ready for use on an Android phone.
The option has been added to the Moto Maker customization tool for the Moto X handset, which allows buyers to choose from 32 color combinations.
Transferring contacts and calendar appointments between platforms is, of course, nothing new: both Samsung and HTC offer tools to help import data from an iPhone. We also doubt too many iPhone users will be tempted to switch to a mid-range Android handset, even if it does come with many more color options than the iPhone 5c.
But the wording of Google’s announcement suggests it may be the first step in a more aggressive move on the iOS market by parent company Google. In his Google+ post, Motorola Mobility VP Punit Soni commented:
We added the ability to migrate your iPhone contacts and calendar to the Moto X (from Motomaker.com). There is a long way to go, but its a start…
The tool was created by Mark/Space, a company with a lengthy track-record in mobile synchronization, dating back to 2001.
Via GigaOM
Last week, analysts and media began speculating the amount Apple will earn after HTC settled its patent lawsuits with the company. The 10-year licensing agreement was believed to be up to $6 to $8 for every Android-based HTC smartphone sold, according to one analyst, but HTC head Peter Chou made clear today that estimates are way too high. According to Reuters, Chou told reporters, “I think that these estimates are baseless and very, very wrong. It is a outrageous number, but I’m not going to comment anything on a specific number. I believe we have a very, very happy settlement and a good ending.”
The settlement between HTC and Apple is a first for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company. Apple has on-going patent litigations across the world with Samsung and Motorola Mobility, among others. “We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.” Chou said, “HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation.”
Reuters reported today that Congress is set to discuss whether companies that hold patents considered essential to an industry standard, “such as a digital movie format,” should be allowed to request bans on infringing devices. A hearing will take place this Wednesday with the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Federal Trade Commission officials are expected to testify:
“If they (smartphone makers) had taken the conservatively $15 to $20 billion dollars they’ve spent on this fight, imagine how much better a place the world would be,” said Lemley.
[tweet https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/217362407469748224]
Update: A report from Bloomberg Businessweek confirmed with some clarification. As we reported in April, the ITC will have to review Judge Pender’s previous ruling that Apple infringed on one Motorola patent related to industry standard 3G and wireless technologies. The date for that hearing is now scheduled for August 24 and could result on a block of iOS devices from Asia to the United States:
The U.S. International Trade Commission said it will review ITC Judge Thomas Pender’s findings that Apple was violating one of four Motorola Mobility patents. The commission is scheduled to issue a final decision on Aug. 24, and has the power to block devices made in Asia from entering the U.S.
According to several tweets from financial analyst @zerohedge, Google is apparently attempting to block shipments of the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. related to 3G patents. We do not have any more information at the moment, but we will keep you updated as the story unfolds…
[tweet https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/217362478374457345]
CNBC reported a Reuters story of the same nature.
[tweet https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/217364425290686464]
(Developing)
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According to two separate reports today, Apple is once again facing roadblocks in its attempt to win sales bans in a patent-related litigation with Samsung and Motorola.
The first report comes from Bloomberg about a court in Dusseldorf, Germany, which said Apple would likely lose its bid for an injunction on Motorola’s Xoom tablet in the country:
The German court that banned Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet sales last year is unlikely to grant Apple the same victory against Motorola Mobility’s device, Presiding Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann said at a Dusseldorf hearing. The assessment is preliminary and may change after today’s arguments are reviewed. A ruling is scheduled for July 17… “We don’t think someone sits in a coffee house using the Xoom and hopes other people will think he owns an iPad,” Brueckner-Hofmann said.
The second report is related to the ongoing United States Samsung/Apple patent case. Today, CIO claimed Apple’s request to ban Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 was delayed due to a judge in California telling the court it will hold off on a ruling:
Apple’s bid to get a ban on sales in the U.S. of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet has been delayed after a federal court in California said on Monday it could not rule right away on Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction, while the matter is before an appeals court… The judge said Apple can renew its request for a preliminary injunction once the appeal court issues its ruling.
Google just announced it closed the deal on its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, but new reports suggest that direct-competitor Apple tried to poach newly-appointed Motorola chief and Googler Dennis Woodside sometime last year.
Bloomberg, which cited two people familiar with the matter, claimed Apple’s CEO Tim Cook contacted Woodside and tried to lure him away with a flashy proposal to become head of sales at the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company.
Meanwhile, Google’s CEO Larry Page had to guarantee Woodside a better gig to keep him from jumping ship, which poised the executive to take the reigns as Motorola’s new top-dog.
According to Bloomberg:
Last August, Google (GOOG) Chief Executive Officer Larry Page fulfilled a pledge made to one of his senior executives, a square-jawed former attorney named Dennis Woodside. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook had been trying to poach Woodside to make him Apple’s head of sales, but Google had convinced Woodside to stay, in part by promising him greater responsibility at the search company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Now it was time to make good. Woodside says he was speaking with board member Ram Shriram when Page asked him to run Motorola Mobility, the company Google had just acquired for $12.5 billion. ‘He said, ‘I know you’ve been looking for a challenge,’’ Woodside recalls. ‘I want you to run Motorola. I think you’d be great at it. Can you let me know by tonight?’’
Read the full-story about Google’s acquisition of Moto at 9to5Google.
Apple suffered a significant blow in the ongoing patent battles with Android competitors today when a Mannheim regional court in Germany ruled against an Apple appeal.
The court backed an earlier decision that banned Apple from offering the service for synchronizing emails on Apple’s mobile devices that use iCloud.
The court said Apple must pay damages to Motorola Mobility, but didn’t specify the amount.
The judge adjourned a decision on mobile communication standards, which Motorola Mobility regards as standard-essential. He didn’t say when the court will rule on this patent case.
Thermonuclear.
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Apple’s latest cunning move in its Holy Crusade against Android involves getting a court order to force Google, the maker of Android software, to produce documents detailing the Android roadmap and its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility. It was not immediately clear what data Apple was exactly seeking to uncover. This is notable, because Apple is actually going after Google with this request. It is the first direct in the ongoing legal war considering Apple fought Google by proxy in the past.
According to Bloomberg, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner ruled yesterday based on a patent lawsuit Apple filed in 2010 against Motorola that both Motorola and Google must spill relevant information to Apple, as “the Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses.” Motorola, of course, opposed the request, offering the following argument.
Apple informed customers in Germany that push email on both MobileMe and iCloud services were disabled due to the company’s patent fight with handset maker Motorola Mobility. According to a support document Apple quietly published today, “Due to recent patent litigation by Motorola Mobility, iCloud and MobileMe users are currently unable to have iCloud and MobileMe email pushed to their iOS devices while located within the borders of Germany.”
Push still works for Contacts, Calendars and other items and it is unaffected on OS X. Moreover, the affected users can still access the iCloud/MobileMe email service by manually checking for messages or using the Fetch setting. Apple also wrote the following line in the support document:
Apple believes Motorola’s patent is invalid and is appealing the decision.
As you will recall, Motorola filed an iCloud-related lawsuit on April Fools’ Day. It recently won an injunction and provided a €100 million bond to enforce it. Apple detailed how the patent suit affects the iCloud/MobileMe email service:
Florian Mueller isn’t a patent attorney but he plays one on his blog FOSSPatents. For better or worse, he’s often quoted in the ongoing mobile technology patent battles where the winner is often Apple. He’s also German so he probably understands this new, disturbing ruling a lot better than us (Our German is “rostig”)
Apple knows what it’s like to win injunctions against rivals. It won four of them against Samsung (two in Germany, one in the Netherlands and most recently one in Australia; all of them preliminary). Now it seems that Apple has just come out on the losing end of a patent infringement lawsuit. I have received a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court barring Apple from selling in Germany — the single largest market in Europe — any mobile devices infringing on two Motorola Mobility patents and determining that Apple owes Motorola Mobility damages for past infringement since April 19, 2003.
If true, this would be a Hindenburg-sized backfire for Apple’s legal efforts in Europe.
The two patents and their US equivalents, Statements from Apple and Motorola and an update from Mueller below:
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Motorola teaches us the difference between the 3.5-inch iPhone 4S and 4.3-inch RAZR.
Motorola has just unveiled the DROID RAZR and it looks like it beat the iPhone in the thinness department (except the upper part housing the camera that isn’t). Motorola’s device is, according to the blurb, “impossibly thin”, measuring just 7.1mm versus 9.3mm for the iPhone 4S. This 4G LTE handset driven by Android 2.3.5 features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with an qHD resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM plus an eight-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 32 gigabytes of storage and Bluetooth 4.0. It weights a slight 121 grams compared to the iPhone 4S’s 140 grams.
But 7.1mm thin? Sure, except the part that is 10mm thin housing the camera.
They also have an optional lapdock that looks a lot like a MacBook Pro. The physical design boasts an interesting combination of Gorilla Glass and KEVLAR. Motorola is claiming up to 8.9 hours of video playback and 12.5 hours of talk time. The device is available for pre-order beginning October 27 on the Verizon Wireless network, starting at $299, with an expected launch sometime in November. Our own Seth Weintraub is live-blogging the announcement over at 9to5Google so feel free to hop over if you’re eager to find out more or check out the official RAZR mini-site. More juicy press shots, a nice teaser video and full press release after the break…
They also compare 4G LTE RAZR to 3G iPhone 4S. BTW Moto, thanks for free advertising!
Nortel decided to extend the deadline for the start of the auction for its patents until June 27 citing “significant interest” from third parties. Today we learn that two Silicon Valley giants are significantly interested in Nortel’s war chest of more than five thousand wireless patents said to be worth well over a billion dollars. They are Apple and Intel, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Other bidders include Ericsson AB and a company called RPX Corp which “defensively buys up patents on behalf of other companies to stop them from being used against them by investors”.
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