Final Week Blog 2 - Summary of Google's Losses

Since this is my last post for this class, I thought it would be nice to end with a summary of one of my primary findings, which were Google's losses. There was a nice article on Foss Patents that discusses how disastrous last month was for Google. In my blogs for the last few weeks, I have talked about how they were losing some essential lawsuits, and even if they won on some occasions their gain was much less than what they had asked for. Therefore, as the author of this article states, Google is definitely on the losing track.
Well, Google actually started off with a WIN last month, because Apple's slide-to-unlock patent was invalidated in Germany. However, this wasn't a huge win. It was just one of numerous patents that Apple holds and besides, as we can see from Android smartphones nowadays, they have come up with alternative solutions.
Next came a LOSS for Google, as the ITC ruled that Android's text selection infringed on Apple's patents. This was not a major loss, but was still bad news for Google. After this ruling, Google faced some major defeats. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, several companies signed license agreement deals with Microsoft for its Android and Chrome devices. This means that these companies admitted that such devices of theirs were infringing on Microsoft's patents. While Google has not negotiated anything with Microsoft about this yet, I think we can expect to hear something about this in the near future.
There were several other cases in which Google had "minor" wins but "major" losses. Moreover, the author of this article mentions how the previous month for Google was as bad as it was for them last month. This seriously makes me raise the question, "Was Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility a waste?" I certainly hope not, not only because I like Google, but because they spent a lot of money on that.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/april-was-disastrous-for-google-on.html

Final Week Blog 1 - A Silly Patent

Because I used to play golf, this "silly" patent immediately caught my eye. It's a linear putter device of a golf club. Basically, it is a rod that you can attach to the end of your club so that the putter becomes long enough that you can connect it to your chin. With the putter constantly connected to your chin throughout your stroke/swing, this patent inventor claims that the golf club is moved in a more consistent and linear manner.
Now, the questions to ask are: Is it
1. novel? I claim it is not. There are tons of devices out there that help improve your stroke in a similar fashion. However, I have never heard of a device that actually connects the club to your chin...
2. useful? Absolutely not. It it were useful, many golfers would be using this right now so that it would improve their scores and results. Also, using such a device when playing a round of competitive golf is prohibited by the rules of golf. Therefore, even if someone found it useful, they would be only able to use this while practicing.
3. nonobvious? It is obvious that, having the club connected to one part of your body will improve the consistency in your stroke. There is actually something called the belly putter, which is a very long putter so that you can keep the end of the club attached to your belly while you make your stroke.
I think that this patent does satisfy the enablement requirement as it does have the potential to improve your stroke. It might not help everyone improve their golf games, but it can work for some.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6659880.html

Week 13 Blog 2 - It is ZTE

Last week, I talked about Microsoft and Hon Hai signing a patent deal so that the latter would not have to worry about infringing on the former's patents anymore. In particular, this was the 20th Android license agreement for Microsoft, so I wondered when the 21st one will happen. Well, it happened today.
ZTE, a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company signed a patent license deal for its use of the Android and Chrome operating systems with Microsoft. According to the author, this Chinese company has agreed to pay Microsoft royalties for such devices, similar to Hon Hai.
This is once again bad news for Google. As I mentioned last week, Google has yet to admit that their products are infringing on Microsoft's patents. In fact, although one billion Android devices would be in use by the end of this year, the majority of those sales will be involved with Microsoft, since around twenty different companies have taken third-party Android patent licenses!
Likewise to the author of this article, I wonder when Motorola Mobility will show up on this list of Microsoft's patent deals. Microsoft is already claiming that Google is infringing on their patents, but Google keeps fighting back by making separate infringement claims of its own. I wonder how high the chances of Google are to avoid another huge loss.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/just-like-one-week-ago-when-foxconn.html

Week 13 Blog 1 - Another Update on Nokia vs HTC!

An article from Foss Patents immediately caught by eye, as it was an update on the battle going on between Nokia and HTC! What surprised me is how hard HTC is fighting. While RIM (Blackberry) and ViewSonic were quick to admit their infringement on some of Nokia's patents, HTC has been defending itself for almost a year (!), according to the author of this article.

However, this is working pretty well for HTC. Recently, some judges in Germany have announced the dismissal of Nokia's assertion on two of its patents against HTC. The first patent is the EP1581016, which is about a communication network terminal for accessing the Internet, and the second patent is the EP0792077, which is about a multi-service mobile station. Nokia has claimed that one of the most popular application on Android devices, Google Play was infringing on the first patent because it allows third-party application developers to provide date to the end-user devices. Since this assertion was dismissed, I guess this was pretty good news not only for HTC but also for Google. I think this was pretty significant for Google, since it looks like they have not been getting very good news lately.

Going back to how hard HTC is fighting, they have also countersued Nokia multiple times. Although HTC ended up losing against Nokia over a battery conserving method patent, HTC has come out strong, stating that this particular settlement would not affect them in any way, since they have come up with an alternative solution.

When I first started reading about the battles going on between these two companies, I thought HTC did not have a chance in successfully defending itself. Therefore, reading about this recent news, I am quite surprised how things have turned out so far. I will for sure be following these collection of lawsuits.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/german-court-dismisses-another-nokia.html

Week 12 Blog 2 - Microsoft's License Agreement

I read an article on Foss Patents about Microsoft and Hon Hai, a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company and who is the parent company of Foxconn, signing a patent deal for Android and Chrome devices. With this patent license agreement, their clients will now be protected from patent claims from their uses of the Android and Chrome operating systems. Thus, they will not have to worry about infringing on Microsoft's patents anymore!
Hon Hai has basically agreed to pay royalties to Microsoft for its Android and Chrome devices. According to the author, this is bad news for Google since it has been denying that their devices do not infringe on any of Microsoft's patents.
However, this was not the first Android license agreement  for Microsoft; in fact, this was the 20th one. They have also signed patent deals with LG, HTC, Samsung, General Dynamics Itronix, Barnes and Noble, Nikon, Acer, and several others. The author of the article is wondering what the 21st deal will look like. What was special about this particular agreement between Hon Hai and Microsoft was that it came out as a big surprise. No one predicted this was going to take place as no rumors existed about the deal.
Likewise to the author, I don't think it will take too long for a negotiation between Google's Motorola Mobility and Microsoft to take place...what do you think?

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/foxconn-parent-hon-hai-signs-with.html

Week 12 Blog 1 - Sony vs. Red Digital

On Patentlyo, I read an article about a battle going on between Sony and Red Digital Cinema Camera Company. While I was pretty familiar with Sony, I did not know about Red Digital. I found out that they are an American manufacturer of digital cinematography tools, and that many of their products have been used to shoot several TV shows and movies. Their stylish cameras have gained widespread attention, along with the fact that the founder of this company, Jim Jannard is also the founder of Oakley.
The battle between these two companies started when Red Digital sued Sony over two patents a couple months ago, for U.S Patent #8,358,357 and #8,174,560. In this lawsuit, Red Digital demanded Sony to stop the production and also destroy their infringing products, such as the F65, F5, and F55 models.
Well, Sony has come back this month and countersued Red Digital for patent infringement. They have actually sued them over seven patents, for U.S Patent #5,442,718, #5,523,795, #5,999,213, #6,009,233, #6,423,993, #7,138,617, and #7,304,287. These patents are all directed to digital camera technology, as  they are about "a method of and apparatus for setting up electronic device" and an "apparatus and method for recording and reproducing a video signal with camera setting data."Similar to Red Digital's demands on the Sony products, Sony has also demanded Red Digital to stop the production of their products such as the Red One, Epic, Redmote, and Scarlet cameras, and to also destroy any remaining ones in the market.
It appears like this is an intense battle. The author of this article discusses how although this case is only taking place in the United States for now, Sony is attempting to enlarge this dispute by bringing it to a global scale. This may be a disadvantage for Red Digital as Sony is a large company than them, meaning that Sony also has a stronger patent portfolio. I think that Red Digital may suffer to defend itself.

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/04/sony-v-red-digital-redcom.html
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/sony-and-red-digital-cinema-locked-in-patent-tussle

Week 11 Blog 2 - Apple's Loss

I just read about an article on Foss Patents that talked about how Apple's slide-to-unlock patent was invalidated. This was very interesting to me as it was the first time I read about such a case.

This lawsuit happened in Germany, where the court ruled that Apple's patent was invalid since it failed to meet one of the requirements under the patent laws of Europe. In Europe, in order for software to be patent-eligible, they must solve a technical problem with technical means. Thus, the court ruled that a sliding gesture to unlock a phone was not a technical innovation.

I know how different countries have totally different aspects on certain things, but I didn't know that this was the case for patents as well. In the United States, "everything under the Sun made by Man" is patent-eligible, but this certainly is not the case in Europe. How interesting.

The author mentions in the beginning of the article that this was a "win" for Samsung and Google's Motorola Mobility. I'm not too sure how this will affect those companies' products though. It seems like they are doing completely fine in the United States, where they have come up with alternative ways for users to unlock their smartphones. I'm just curious to see whether changes, if any, will be made to their products sold in Europe.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/apples-slide-to-unlock-patent.html

Week 11 Blog 1 - More on Nokia

I am going to discuss another battle that is going on between Nokia and HTC. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, Nokia has a pretty exceptional patent portfolio, making it difficult for companies to win lawsuits against them. Well, this is exactly the case for HTC.

This lawsuit is taking place in Germany over the EP1312974 patent. The author of Foss Patents describes the patent, saying that it "covers the idea of a light guide integrated into a display that leads light to a sensor. The brighter it is outside, the more the background light of the display has to be turned up so as to adjust to the needs of the user's eyes. Conversely, if you use your phone in the dark, you don't need a bright screen, since it would hurt your eyes in that scenario." Nokia is asserting that HTC infringes on this patent. In addition to suing them in Germany, they have sued their equivalent U.S Patent 7,106,293 also in the United States.

If Nokia were to win this lawsuit in Germany, HTC would have to make changes to their hardware or stop selling their products in Germany. Although it would be best if HTC could come up with an alternative method for their products, the author discusses how because that feature is expected by every mobile phone user nowadays, HTC will most likely have to start paying royalties to Nokia so they can continue using the method.

Like every other lawsuit, HTC is trying its best to defend itself by claiming that this patent is invalid. The author says that this case will come to an end by late 2014 or early 2015, so we'll see what happens!

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/01/htc-demands-132-million-bond-from-nokia.html

Week 10 Blog 2 - Another Case Involving Nokia

I've discussed several cases in which Nokia has filed claims on other companies because of patent infringement, but I found another one. Android likely infringes on Nokia's patent #5,884,190, which according to the author of this article, is about "a method for making a data transmission connection from a computer to a mobile communication network for transmission of analog and/or digital signals." In other words, this patent is basically about the tethering feature on mobile phones, which allows sharing the Internet connection of the mobile phones with other devices such as laptops.
Nokia has already defeated Google and HTC for the proper legal interpretation of this patent, meaning that it would be very difficult for both of these companies to successfully defend themselves by denying use of this patent. Thus, the author suggests how unless Google and HTC are able to prove that this patent is invalid, an import ban on Android devices may happen.
I had no idea that Nokia (Symbian) had so many valuable patents. I mean, I know that they are a major telecommunications equipment company, but nowadays, the majority of mobile device users do not use their phones! But I guess that was different several years ago...
Also, this patent is only one of 40 patents Nokia has sued HTC on (I have a discussed several of those in my previous blogs). I am getting the idea that Nokia's patent portfolio is highly exceptional, and that they will continue to make a good number of assertions against companies on their patents.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/android-likely-infringes-nokia-patent.html

Week 10 Blog 1 - Google's Pledge

Several days ago, Google announced that it would not assert ten of its patents against any user, distributor, or open-source software. The author of Foss Patents discusses how this patent giveaway for Google was not generous at all. Not only does the company own at least 17,000 patents (which means that they gave out less than 1% of its patents), other companies in similar industries such as IBM and Sun Microsystems pledged 500 and 1,600 of their patents, respectively. Moreover, the author discusses how that most of the time, these pledges do not turn out to be too helpful. To illustrate this point, the ten patents Google gave out did not include any search-related patents. Reading about the contents of those ten patents from another article, I found out that they are related to MapReduce, a computing model for processing large date sets.

An analyst of WiseHarbor, Keith Mallinson explained how Google is not a company that makes money out of licensing fees, so this patent pledge was quite unsurprising. Also, Google stated how their intention is to make patent peace without making money and also to encourage other patent holders. Thereofore, it appears as if Google wanted to make a positive image of itself to the public by making such a move. 

Like the author from Foss Patents claims, Google's pledge appears to be pretty ungenerous, after reading about those other companies such as IBM and Sun Microsystems. However, I think it is a little too quick to completely judge that their move was stingy. It might turn out that some user, distributor, or open-source software adopts one or several of those ten patents and create an innovation! 

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/googles-promise-not-to-assert-10.html

http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/google-pledges-not-sue-open-source-users-or-developers-over-specified-patents-215408

Week 9 Blog 2 - Google is in Trouble

Google faced a tough week in the beginning of this month. Google's two major applications, Google Play and Google Maps were at issue in German courtrooms.
The first problem:  Nokia claimed that the Google Play application in HTC phones infringed on the EP0812120 patent, which is about a method for using services offered by a telecommunication network, a telecommunication system, and a terminal for it. Nokia also sued ViewSonic for this patent as well.
The second problem: Microsoft claimed that the Google Maps application infringed on the EP0845124 patent, which is about a computer system for identifying local resources. What's interesting is that Microsoft originally made the claim only towards Motorola Mobility (a telecommunications equipment corporation owned by Google). However, Motorola Mobility asserted that they had no knowledge of how Google Maps works. Therefore, Microsoft had no choice but to sue Google, which has caused them troubles to protect itself from this potential patent infringement.
Since these are the two of the most popular applications by Google, the company was (and still is!) in an extremely critical situation. While Nokia actually lost the lawsuit against HTC involving the Google Play application, the case with Microsoft has yet to come to a conclusion.The author of this article discusses that a decision on this lawsuit will only come after two months at the earliest. Moreover, the situation does not appear to be in Google's favor. He explains how Google will most likely have to start paying royalties to Microsoft, as Samsung, HTC, LG, and many other Android device makers have already started doing so; they recognized that they were infringing upon Microsoft's patent.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/google-faces-critical-week-in-german.html
http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/google-about-to-lose-patent-spat-with.html

Week 9 Blog 1 - One After Another

I read an article on Foss Patents today that made me laugh. It was about another Nokia vs. HTC trial. Only three days after Nokia won one of its lawsuits for a battery conserving method patent against HTC, they have already moved on to another lawsuit. Once again, Nokia is suing HTC for another one of its patents. The author of the article explains the patent: "The patent-in-suit discussed... cover(s) the feature sending messages from a particular network to a wireless device which then activates or deactivates certain programs or features based on what the message instructs to do."
The court did not reach a conclusion yesterday. HTC is trying its best to defend itself by carefully analyzing and interpreting what a "network" is. According to the author, this is a common tactic of those companies who have been sued by Nokia for this patent. This is because the description of the particular patent Nokia is suing other companies on contains the word "network,"  but not "telecommunications network." Therefore, HTC's claim is that Nokia's patent is too broad, which is something that the court struggled to decide on.
This case was very interesting to me, not only because I was surprised to read about Nokia being involved in a lawsuit with HTC only three days after they came to a conclusion on another patent, but to realize how important and essential a description for a patent can be. I really look forward to reading about the court's decision on this case.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/nokia-sues-htc-over-feature-letting.html

Week 8 Blog 2 - Update on the Nokia vs. HTC case

In one of my previous blog posts, I discussed the battle going on between Nokia and HTC. To quickly recapitulate, Nokia filed a number of patent injunctions against HTC in Germany. One of the 32 or so patents that Nokia claimed HTC was infringing upon was the EP0673175. Basically, this patent is about conserving battery power on mobile devices.
Well, I read an article on Foss Patents today about Nokia winning the German patent injunction against HTC over this power-saving technology! This did not surprise me however, since Blackberrry had lost against Nokia over a similar case, and agreed to pay royalties to Nokia for the patent.
I found it very interesting when I read about how HTC would only be infringing this patent if this particular method of conserving battery power is actually used by the owner of the mobile devices. This makes it seem very complicated...
Thus, the author explains how the injunction could be worked around by HTC is they their devices to their customers on the condition of them taking a license from Nokia. This of course, would only work out if Nokia would offer such a thing.
Well, with this win, Nokia for now has won a sales ban and a recall of infringing devices from retail. HTC currently pays royalties to Apple and Microsoft, and I predict that Nokia will be an addition to that list. On a side note, Nokia is also suing HTC for the same case in the United States, so I wonder what will happen to that case too.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/nokia-wins-german-patent-injunction.html

Week 8 Blog 1 - Samsung vs. Ericsson

The title of the first blog post I saw on Foss Patents today immediately caught my eye. It mentioned how Samsung said Ericsson was behaving like a "patent troll." I thought this was a pretty brave comment for Samsung to make, especially since Ericsson is a well developed company as well; it is the world's largest maker of equipment for building mobile telecommunications networks.
The two companies are both accusing each other of failure to comply with their FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) licensing obligations. In November of last year, Ericsson filed a couple of federal complaints against Samsung, and in December, Samsung came back and filed ITC complaints against Ericsson about several 4G related patents.
Samsung has also responded to the federal patent infringement lawsuits of Ericsson held in Texas; it is going to countersue Ericsson over eight more patents. Those patents consists of those about methods for devices to transmit and receive information, and also about methods to compute cycle redundancy check for multiple code blocks.
Going back to the beginning, Samsung claims that Ericsson is acting like a patent troll after the company exited the smartphone industry. Ericsson seems like they are asking for unreasonable licensing fees from Samsung by threatening them to eliminate their products. Although at first, this case appears to be one of the many smartphone companies' lawsuits that we have seen so far, I feel like this is especially an interesting one to focus on, as the companies are acting quite aggressively towards one another.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/samsung-says-ericsson-behaves-like.html

Week 7 Blog 2 - InterDigital vs. Nokia, Samsung, Huawei, and ZTE

Early in January of this year InterDigital, a wireless telecommunications research and development company,  filed additional ITC complants against Nokia, Samsung, Huawei, and ZTE after extending its wireless patent licesnse agreements with RIM (Blackberry). The agreement was about coverage for 4G products, LTE, and LTE-Advanced products. Therefore, InterDigital is seeking U.S import bans against those four companies' products with 3G and 4G capabilities.
In addition to this, InterDigital had already filed complaints to the ITC in June of 2011 against Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE about seven patents. One of those patents include something about an automatic power control system for a code division multiple access, which is what we know as CDMA.
Because of this, Samsung is being accused of the their devices such as the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab II, and 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot.
In particular, Nokia has a long history of battling with InterDigital. Several years ago, they were able to come to an agreement about their 2G patents in Europe. However, they have not reached any conclusions on their 3G patents, which is probably why InterDigital is still after Nokia.
The author of this article mentions how InterDigital regularly sues mobile device makers in order to collect patent royalties. It is also important to note that, the reason why the company files lawsuits in addition to ITC complaints is because the ITC does not award damages.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2011/07/interdigital-sues-huawei-zte-and-nokia.html
http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/01/interdigital-files-new-itc-complaint.html

Week 7 Blog 1 - ViewSonic exits the European Smartphone Market

In last week's blog, I talked about how Nokia was suing a few companies for patent infringement in Germany. Of those companies, I was unfamiliar with one of them - ViewSonic - so I decided to look further into this company. Well, from one of the posts from Foss Patents, I found out that this company quit its smartphone market in Europe at the beginning of this year. ViewSonic stated that they wanted to go through a change of strategy, meaning that they will focus on other products, such as projectors, monitors, audiovisual information systems and cloud-based products to sell in Europe.
To me, this makes sense. As the author of this article suggests, the smartphone market is overcrowded. Also, since Samsung is dominating the Android market, it makes sense for the other companies to look for other opportunities in different markets.
The interesting points to focus on the company's withdrawal from the smartphone market in Europe are the existing lawsuits going on in Germany between Nokia and ViewSonic. Like I mentioned earlier, Nokia sued ViewSonic along with a couple of other companies, Blackberry and HTC, about several of their patents. Since ViewSonic no longer sells any smartphones in Europe, the best Nokia will get would be the damages for past infringements. On the other hand, since Blackberry still continues to sell their smartphones in Europe, they have paid Nokia for their intellectual property.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/01/viewsonic-which-nokia-is-suing-in-us.html

Week 6 Blog 2 - Android vs. Android

At the end of last year, an Android-Android war brought attention in Korea. It was a battle between LG and Samsung, where the former requested the Korean court to completely stop the "sale, manufacture, and importation" of Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet computers. LG claims that the this product by Samsung infringed three of its display patents.
It is interesting to note that this was a response to Samsung suing LG for the infringement of seven liquid crystal display patents. It's amazing how many patents can be involved in/on a flat mobile screen. And not to mention, they both use the same mobile software platform.
The article's author explains how even though both companies are members of the Open Handset Alliance and use Android, this patent lawsuit is acceptable. He explains how if one company believes that another company steals its hardware innovations, the only legal way to stop this would be to file a lawsuit against them. Otherwise, the company would have to allow every company to copy their innovation, which they probably would not want.
Since both companies are making a serious amount of money in the smartphone industry, this battle turned out to be fierce. As mentioned above, one has sued the other for infringing seven of its display patents, and the other has fought back by claiming three of its patents were infringed upon. Last month however, LG announced that they wanted an amicable negotiation with Samsung.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/12/android-android-war-raging-in-korea-as.html
http://www.techfever.net/2013/02/lg-drops-injunction-request-against-samsung/

Week 6 Blog 1 - HTC vs. Nokia

Last Spring, Nokia filed a number of patent injunctions against HTC both in the United States and in Germany. Nokia claimed that HTC was using 32 of their patents without a license. However, HTC has made multiple attempts to fight back, even through its own offensive actions.
As I have discussed in my previous post, HTC was also sued by Apple last year, but fought back by countersuing them. After a series of lawsuits, they came to an agreement, which proposed that HTC was responsible to pay $8 to Apple for each smartphone sold. Thus, even though HTC does not have the strongest patent portfolio like this article mentions, this company is not an easy company to get by; if a battle is brought on, they will fight back.
One of the patents in discussion is the EP2073096, which is about conserving mobile devices' batteries. HTC asserts that this Nokia patent on reducing power consumption is standard essential. If this is the case, it would enable HTC to countersue Nokia over SEPs (standard essential patents).
However, after researching further on this topic, I found out that Blackberry and ViewSonic were also sued by Nokia for the same reasons HTC. It turns out that Blackberry has already settled some of the claims, including this patent in question. The result was that Blackberry would have to start paying royalties to Nokia.
Therefore, I think it would be challenging for HTC to win this battle; especially the lawsuit involving the EP2073096. However, since HTC has filed numerous cases in Germany, it has the potential to win some of the cases, like it did with Apple.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/02/htc-hits-back-at-nokia-with-german.html
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/htc-likely-to-settle-power-optimisation-patent-case-against-nokia-106603

Week 5 Blog 2 - More Spending

This morning, I read an article from Thomas Reuters that talked about how not only the smartphone and technology industry, but other businesses located in industries such as energy, health care, and manufacturing intend to increase intellectual property litigation spending. By a survey of around 400 companies, it was found that around a quarter of those firms will be involved in more lawsuits concerning patent litigation compared to the last several years. Thus, companies have decided to increase their intellectual property litigation budget, meaning that they will decrease spending in other areas, such as development of their products.
As I have previously discussed in my previous posts, I hope this will not impede the production of new products and advancements of the companies. For companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, it is said that participating in lawsuits over intellectual property costs them at least $1 million each time.

The graph below (data only till 2010) suggests that the number of patent lawsuits will continue increasing, even at a slow rate. By further research, I found out that the number of such lawsuits slightly decreased in 2011, but rose again in 2012. Most likely, we will see another increase this year.

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/02_-_February/Businesses_plan_to_boost_IP_litigation_spending_-_survey/

Week 5 Blog 1 - More About Patent Trolls

Last class, we spent some time talking about patent trolls, so I decided to look further into it. To clarify, a patent troll is a company or person that acquires a lot of patents without having any plans to actually produce the products.A patent troll usually obtains these patents from bankrupt companies at extremely low prices, or by doing some research so that they can prove that they obtained the idea first. In other words, it is their business strategy to acquire as many patents as they can, launch lawsuits against any infringing companies, and make money off of them/disable them from producing the products. Therefore, it is clear that patent trolls are killing innovation and not valuable to the market; a study out of Boston University estimates that the direct economic damage that patent trolls cause are about 30 billion dollars a year.
Because patent trolls have been increasing over the last several years, President Obama has also brought his attention to this issue. He is strongly in favor of patent reform, saying that patent trolls simply "leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them."
I wonder how the reform will take place; the President attempted a reform a few years ago as well, but people say it only went halfway. Hopefully this time, a noticeable transformation will take place in the patent system.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/02/20/too-many-patents-how-patent-trolls-kill
http://gigaom.com/2013/02/16/obama-says-patent-trolls-hijack-and-extort-so-do-something-mr-president/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/16/the_adverse_effects_of_patent_trolling_and_what_to_do_about_it/

Week 4 Blog 2 - Apple Wins?

HTC and Apple were going under a large number of patent disputes starting in 2010. It all started when Apple filed lawsuits against HTC, claiming that they infringed upon about 20 of their patents relating to iOS. For two years, they have gone back and forth with suing each other.
However, last November, both companies were able to settle down, as they dismissed all of their lawsuits against each other. They also agreed to a ten year licensing agreement, so they will be able to use each other's patents. In other words, we should not see these two companies fighting each other anytime soon. Although details about the settlement were not released, analysts claim that Apple will receive around $8 in licensing fees for every HTC smartphone sold.
It's unclear what exactly enabled them to come to terms with each other, but it is most likely the amount of money both of these companies were wasting just because of lawsuits. Apple reportedly burned 100 million dollars against HTC just in the first round of their legal battle. But now, since Apple is going to receive those licensing fees for every HTC smartphone sold, its looks like they'll get their 100 million back: those licensing fees will add up to around 280 million dollars a year!

http://androidcommunity.com/htc-and-apple-settle-patent-issues-agree-to-10-year-licensing-deal-20121110/

Week 4 Blog 1 - A New Set of Wars?

Rumors say that Apple is developing a new product called the iWatch. It's supposed to be a wearable computer in a form of a bracelet that could double as a watch. It will be able to accomplish many different tasks, such as playing music, reviewing phone calls, and surfing the web. Just like the creation of the iPhone and iPad several years ago, people predict that this iWatch will begin a new era for the technology industry.

Well, Apple is not the only one that seems to be developing a wearable computer. Google is planning to put out a new product called the "Google Glass" on the market in 2014. This product will not be in form of a watch, but glasses; it will have a display, a camera, and the ability to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In addition, people also say that Samsung is in progress of developing a "smartwatch."

It's great that these companies are coming up with these new products that could generate huge revenues and returns for shareholders. However, just like the smartphones, I have a feeling that these products will produce a new set of patent wars. After all, there are already wearable computing products out there, such as the FuelBand from Nike, and the Flex band from Fitbit. On a side note, Apple has already filed a number of patents for the iWatch, one including a wristband that uses a bi-stable spring, similar to a snap bracelet.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/02/21/the-iwatch-as-snap-bracelet-apple-just-got-the-patent/

Week 3 Blog 2 - Many Types of Patents...

Reading about the ongoing patent wars between companies like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, LG, and others was making me a little intense, so I decided to shift my focus a bit. I did some searching on some of the weirdest and most peculiar patents ever.
The first weird patent that caught my eye was the "Anti-Eating Face Mask." It is basically a mask that people can wear so that their mouth is completely blocked. It was invented in order to help people who are on a diet. Similar to this invention, another patent is the "Thumb Sucking Inhibitor." This is just a metal device that people can wear on their thumb so they will not be able to suck on it!
An interesting patent is the "Motorized Ice Cream Cone." This was invented by a teacher; he put a motor inside a cone-shaped machine to automatically spin the ice cream, so people don't have to outstretch their tongue. Apparently, this was a success, as he sold thousands of these.

Many other interesting, weird, and/or funny patents exist. Here are a couple sites:

http://www.invention-protection.com/ip/inventor_resources/interesting_patents.html
http://www.buzzfeed.com/violas94/68-weird-american-patents

Week 3 Blog 1 - Is this really necessary?

Yesterday in class, we spent a lot of time talking about patents, particularly for smartphones. Typing in "smartphone patent war" in Google brings up millions of news about it, particularly the fight between Apple and Samsung.
I've encountered many articles that talk about how more money is spent on patent litigation than research and development for the company's products. By an analysis done by Stanford University, it was shown that more than 20 billion dollars were spent over the last two years by the smartphone industry for patent litigation and patent purchasing. It's really a shock that these companies nowadays are more busy suing each other than creating new products and innovations.
Because of such cases, some people think the patent system should be abolished. This sounds a little extreme, as I think there should be certain rules and regulations; without them, there is a  possibility for a different type of chaos. I'm not sure what types of changes and reforms will bring an end to this smartphone patent war, but hopefully companies will focus more on producing the best technologies in the near future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/10/08/in-two-years-the-smartphone-industry-has-spent-more-than-20-billion-spent-on-patent-litigation/

Week 2 Blog 2 - Funny Trademarks!

After reading about some news regarding trademarks, I began to wonder whether "anything" could be accepted as trademarks. After doing some searches on Google, I found out there were some failures in obtaining trademarks.
For example, Twitter failed to trademark its phrase "tweet," just because a third-party developer trademarked it before them. So instead, Twitter went ahead and trademarked the phrase, "let your ad meet tweets."
Former vice president candidate Sarah Palin also failed to trademark something. What did she try to trademark? Her NAME.
There are plenty of other examples of failures in trademarking, but some companies are waiting on their trademark application to be accepted.
For example, Subway has tried to trademark its phrase "footlong" for several years now, but other fast food chains have heavily opposed to this, disabling Subway to hold any rights to this phrase.

There are several more notable examples here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/15-ridiculous-trademarking-attempts-2011-4?op=1

Week 2 Blog 1 - One type of trademark

After yesterday's class, I got more interested in learning about trademarks, so I searched for some news on them. I found a very interesting article; it was about Apple trademarking its shops. In other words, they have trademarked its layout of the store.
This article stood out to me, as Apple stores are simply large rooms consisting of long tables and stools, each of them having either computers, iPads, iPhones, and/or iPods on them for display. As a matter of fact, I have seen other companies' stores having the same layout, like Windows and phone shops like T-Mobile and Verizon.
It seems like what Apple wanted to do was fight the fake Apple stores increasing in China and some other countries. Buy my question is, what will happen to those stores such as Windows who have similar layouts as Apple stores? Will they be forced to change their design? This is a little unreasonable to me, as it's not like the layout of the Apple stores are extremely unique.

http://www.winbeta.org/news/weekend-discussion-apple-trademarks-its-retail-store-design-and-layout-should-microsoft-be

Week 1 Blog 2 - Why I am taking this class

Since I am an applied mathematics major with a concentration in operations research, I have had the opportunity to take several courses in the IEOR department. Because I grew an interest in this academic discipline, I thought it would be interesting to take more classes involving IEOR. Although this particular course is mainly designed for students with engineering backgrounds, I think it would be beneficial for me to learn more about technology issues and the smartphone patent war. I look forward to learning more about this war, and also about the major shift from people using computers to using smartphones.

Week 1 Blog 1 - About Me

My name is Elisa and I'm a 4th year Applied Mathematics major. Before coming to Berkeley, I played golf seriously for about ten years, and also planned to play the sport professionally one day. Thus, I attended middle/high school and some college in Florida, a place ideal for golfers. At one point however, I figured out that I enjoyed studying mathematics more than practicing and playing golf. So I stopped playing and started focusing more on my studies, and decided to come over to California.

Climbing Mt. Fuji last year is one of my greatest accomplishments so far. Climbing it was extremely tough, but it became an unforgettable experience, so I hope to go back to it once more. After graduating this May, I plan to either work in the U.S or in Japan.