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Motorola, and HTC to some extent, are companies that were on their last legs, almost bankrupt, and the world's most profitable tech company, with half the marke

Motorola, and HTC to some extent, are companies that were on their last legs, almost bankrupt, and the world's most profitable tech company, with half the market, and $150 billion in cash, is engaged in offensive lawsuits against them trying to enact import bans. Who is the bully here? It's like a billionaire punching a street bum in the face, and then whining when the bum fights back ungentlemanly. The two biggest bullies, Apple and Microsoft, have cross-licensing agreements and a behavior of ganging up on Android. I find it absurd that FRAND patents are practically valueless, but "obvious" patents, which are effectively standards essential because wide applicability, are worth billions and import bans. Apple sued HTC over a patent which is a college algorithms homework question, the first strike on the Android was launched by Apple in 2010. I would view all suits against Apple since then, not as trolling, but as an attempt to negotiate a cross-license by forcing them to the table.

bsullivan01 13y ago
It's like a billionaire punching a street bum in the face, and then whining when the bum fights back ungentlemanly. Very touching, minus the fact that APPL was once almost bankrupt too and that the iPhone, that everyone started copying, really made them that $150 Billion. Care to tell us what Android looked before the iPhone? Oh, it looked like the market leader of that time, Blackberry. http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wild?tag=gadgetsandroidhardwareinthewild http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wi... I find it absurd that FRAND patents are practically valueless No one forced them to make them FRAND patents. At least they get a cent here or there from every phone on earth.
- pavanky 13y ago
  They made good business decisions to make that money. That does not give them the right to become ass holes and claim everything they did was original and exclusive to them. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Some better than others, some different, some identical. It is insane that this shit needs to be patented.
  - Alphasite_ 13y ago
    You know, I can't even tell who you're talking about there, Motorola's FRAND patents or Apple?
throwawaykf02 13y ago
>I find it absurd that FRAND patents are practically valueless They are not really "valueless", but are weaker simply because their holders pledged them to FRAND license terms in order to get them into a standard. Most standards-essential patents aren't "essential" because there's no other way to do the same thing, but because they're part of a standard that everyone must adhere to in order to be inter-compatible. As such, patent-holders always have the option of not having them be part of a standard. However, in these cases, they made the bet that getting a small but guaranteed royalty was better than not having it used in a standard, and likely not being used anywhere at all and thus being truly valueless.

bsullivan01 13y ago

It's like a billionaire punching a street bum in the face, and then whining when the bum fights back ungentlemanly. Very touching, minus the fact that APPL was once almost bankrupt too and that the iPhone, that everyone started copying, really made them that $150 Billion. Care to tell us what Android looked before the iPhone? Oh, it looked like the market leader of that time, Blackberry. http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wild?tag=gadgetsandroidhardwareinthewild http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wi... I find it absurd that FRAND patents are practically valueless No one forced them to make them FRAND patents. At least they get a cent here or there from every phone on earth.

pavanky 13y ago
They made good business decisions to make that money. That does not give them the right to become ass holes and claim everything they did was original and exclusive to them. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Some better than others, some different, some identical. It is insane that this shit needs to be patented.
- Alphasite_ 13y ago
  You know, I can't even tell who you're talking about there, Motorola's FRAND patents or Apple?

throwawaykf02 13y ago

>I find it absurd that FRAND patents are practically valueless They are not really "valueless", but are weaker simply because their holders pledged them to FRAND license terms in order to get them into a standard. Most standards-essential patents aren't "essential" because there's no other way to do the same thing, but because they're part of a standard that everyone must adhere to in order to be inter-compatible. As such, patent-holders always have the option of not having them be part of a standard. However, in these cases, they made the bet that getting a small but guaranteed royalty was better than not having it used in a standard, and likely not being used anywhere at all and thus being truly valueless.