Items tagged with patents
Apple and Nokia have made nice on a patent dispute, putting an end to what could have been contentious litigation. Nokia had actually sued Apple at the end of last year after failing to convince the Cupertino outfit to renew expiring licensing agreements that were inked back in 2011. At the time, Apple accused Nokia...
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No other company is more active in securing patents in the United States than IBM. The company has led the charge each and every year for nearly the past two and a half decades and this year set the record for most patents in a single year with a total of 8,088 patents granted to its investors. Among them were over...
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Nokia, once the top seller of cellular phones in what feels like a lifetime ago, is suing Apple over claims that its popular iPhone handsets infringe on several mobile patents owned by the Finnish company. The lawsuit is a result of Nokia failing to convince Apple to renew licensing agreements inked in 2011 that are...
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Nintendo of America CEO Reggis Fils-Aime was pretty lukewarm on the idea of bringing virtual reality gaming to the masses when he lasted addressed the topic, saying last June that VR technology is too expensive and the audience too small at this point in time. That might be true, but don't rule out VR gaming on the...
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It appears that Apple is bound and determined to improve the keyboard on its MacBook Pro system in some way, shape, or form. Exactly how remains to be seen. We've heard rumors of Apple swapping out the top row of Function keys for touch sensitive control that display icons based on the app a person is using, but that...
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We may never which came first, the chicken or the egg, but if it comes as any consolation the highest court in the land has agreed to settle a longstanding and tired dispute between Apple and Samsung over smartphones. Specifically, the United States Supreme Court will decide how much of a $399 million patent...
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Apple has filed a patent application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) that could flip the script on iPhone and iPad thieves looking for a fast payday. What they'll get instead is a visit from local law enforcement—the patent involves taking a snapshot and capturing the fingerprint of the thief...
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Well this is a little awkward. Apparently Samsung invented the Apple Watch design, or so it would seem based on the South Korean electronic maker's recent patent filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent is for a wearable device and included in the filing are several sketches that...
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Microsoft has found a new partner in the smartphone sector in Xiaomi, a major player in China that's looking to expand its reach into other territories. To help it do that, Microsoft sold Xiaomi around 1,500 of its patents for an undisclosed sum. The two also entered into a cross-licensing deal as part of what they're...
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The California Institute of Technology (Caltech from here on out) has filed a lawsuit against both Apple and Broadcom claiming the two companies are using wireless technologies that infringe on various patents in its portfolio. Perhaps coincidentally, two of Apple's wireless products have since been pulled from store...
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It's probably inevitable that we'll one day be a race of hybrid humans, a cyborg-like collection of skin and bones supplemented with a growing number of electronic and mechanical devices. Perhaps the road to such a destination starts with injecting an electronic lens into your eyeball, something Google is trying to...
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Ericsson now has a vested interest in iPhone sales. That's because the two electronic firms came to terms on a global patent license agreement that will see Apple pay Ericsson a royalty on every iPhone it sells for the next seven years. It also includes an initial payment, presumably to cover royalties from iPhone...
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An administrative law judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled on Friday that Samsung and Qualcomm did not run afoul of the law by importing certain devices into the U.S., according to NVIDIA, which has sued both companies for alleged patent infringement related to GPU technologies.
This is the latest...
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Tech giants Microsoft and Google agreed to call off the legal hounds on all patent infringement claims related to a dozen and a half lawsuits filed against each other in the United States and Germany. The patents covered a bunch of varying technologies, including those uses in smartphones, Wi-Fi connectivity, Microsoft's Xbox console, and
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Certain judges in the Eastern District of Texas have dealt a blow to patent defendants when it comes to fending off patent trolls. Before we get into that, let's talk a moment about Alice v. CLS Bank. That's a case that went to the Supreme Court where it was ruled that abstract ideas implemented on a generic computer...
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Let's be honest here, GoPro pretty much owns the action camera scene with its super popular line of Hero cameras. That being the case, what's a company to do that doesn't see much competition? One option is to rest on its laurels, though a better idea is to buckle down and keep innovating. It looks as though GoPro has...
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In a Twitter post on Monday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) confirmed that Michelle K. Lee is the organization’s new director. Lee once worked as a legal counsel for Google and now goes down in history as the first woman to lead the USPTO, filling a seat that has technically been vacant since...
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Just days after winning a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple to the tune of $532.9 million, Smartflash LLC is again suing the Cupertino outfit over the exact same patents. The Texas-based company feels confident it can squeeze more money out of Apple by again claiming infringement, this time focusing on devices...
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Samsung can't seem to catch a break these days. The latest blow to the company's bottom line is a $15.7 million verdict in favor of Rembrandt Wireless Technologies LP, which managed to convince a Texas federal jury that the South Korean electronics firm infringed on two of its patents relating to Bluetooth...
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Over the past few years, Google has been somewhat of an advocate in ridding the tech industry of so-called patent trolls as it looks to foster innovation rather than stifle inventions because of legalities. That mentality continues today with the announcement that Google and Verizon Communications have entered into a...
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There are far too many headlines about Company X suing Company Y over alleged patent infringement, and Company Z spending an inordinate amount of money on patents in hopes of not being the next to be hit with a lawsuit. It's become a game of sorts, and unfortunately it stifles innovation and growth. Luckily, not...
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A big shout out goes to Amazon for forever changing the way we think about photography. You see, Amazon was recently granted a patent that, in short, describes taking photos of subjects and/or or objects against a white background. Brilliant! Wait, what's that? Photographers far and wide have long known about this...
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