back to article US judge puts freeze on Apple-Nokia patent kerfuffle

A US federal judge has sent Apple and Nokia lawyers to their respective corners until the feds get their chance to sort through the competing patent infringement claims. US District Court in Delaware signed an order staying litigation, pending decisions by the US International Trade Commission on the matter. Nokia sued Apple …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Too many fronts?

    I wonder if Apple is bitting more than they can chew - how many fronts are they going to fight at the same time? Nokia, HTC, ... is Google and Motorola next? Apple are digging their own grave.

    1. James 139

      We all know...

      ...what happened to the last person to fight on too many fronts at once, he lost WW2.

      Not that Im making any comparison between Jobs and Hitler.

  2. Lou Gosselin

    Unfortunately...

    it will take more cases like this to prove to the world that software patents are an impediment to progress rather than a driver of progress.

    "Each company has denied infringement on their own part"

    And they're probably both right in that neither company has benefited from the work of the other, which is why software patents don't work. They don't spread knowledge as intended, and they encourage resources to be spent on litigation rather than R&D.

    1. Displacement Activity

      Not software

      I don't think this is anything to do with software patents. The various articles talk about "technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN standards," "UI and hardware", "architectural design of handsets", and so on.

      I'm sure there are some crap patents involved, but that'll be down to the USPTO's unworkable definition of "invention", rather than anything to do with software. And, if you have a "real invention" that you implement in software, how does that make it any less of an invention?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Flame

        Re: Not software

        "And, if you have a "real invention" that you implement in software, how does that make it any less of an invention?"

        Software is algorithms is mathematics. Sure, people can think of clever algorithms, but this never happens in a vacuum: there's always something being built upon, and there are always people combining existing knowledge to come up with new stuff; letting someone frost/ice over the top of their "invention" and forbid anyone to move the state of the art forward isn't what mathematics or science is all about, despite attempts to "monetize" everything academic by people already dipping into the public purse.

        And why should anyone demand a blanket monopoly on any field inside software, punishing anyone who happens to have had the same or similar insights? Some of the most significant patented algorithms have been discovered independently. How fair/just is it exactly to be told that someone you've never heard of doing something you didn't hear about now "owns" a particular area and that you now have to pay them to use your own work?

        (And as for the actual case, maybe the commenter was confusing this case with the HTC one which definitely involves software and user interface patents.)

  3. Goat Jam
    Headmaster

    inferred

    I don't think it means what you think it means

  4. mhenriday

    Is their anyone who still believes

    that our present patent systems promote and reward innovation ? What a farce - but alas, it's we consumers who, as ever, are paying the bill !...

    Henri

  5. asdf
    Flame

    funny that

    >they encourage resources to be spent on litigation rather than R&D.

    Hmm are you implying that lawyers who end up writing the laws (in Congress at least in US most representatives, senators, etc have law degrees and or practices) would be parochial and impose a tax on everyone else trying to invent new things for society? How dare you sir. The fine law establishment is the only truth to ownership and damn it everything in society must be owned. How else can society function except to have %1 own %99 of everything.

  6. Ted Treen
    Stop

    It's a fact...

    that the ONLY winners in patent scraps are lawyers.

    Dick the Butcher was right....

  7. catowise
    Boffin

    business as usual

    as ted treen says, the lawyers are the only winners in such court battles.

    In my view, Apple may be better off trying to make a product which is not glued to poor isps, is robust enough to stand the knocks a mobile phone must endure, and is actually not just gimmicky but user friendly

    The most robust phone i ever had was an old NOKIA - bar putting it under the wheels of a HUMMER or the tracks of an ABRAMS, it worked first time every time.

    Japanese companies took over various aeras of technology form USA and Europe using quality improvements.

    Often they used an exercise called variously QFD or house of quality

    Aplle's money could be better spent on that than on US lawsuits if they want to keep market share.

  8. Lance 3

    Huh

    How can Apple say that they are denying infringement on the Nokia patents? Apple has admitted to using patents that Nokia has without paying for them. Some are essential to GSM and 3G implementation. At least one other deals with WiFi. Apple just refuses to license them. That is a battle they cannot win.

    Lou,

    Don't forget that Kodak has a lawsuit against Apple as well.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like