Tag: patent

HTC, remember them? Now you can’t buy their phones.

Once upon a time there was a smartphone manufacturer called HTC. Nearly everyone had one of their phones, but now there’s about 15 people buying their phones each month. It’s sad to see, it really is. I reviewed the HTC U11 and I’ve had a hands-on with their …

Meizu acquires patent for in-screen fingerprint sensors

Meizu is a Chinese phone manufacturer Leigh and I have been following for a while. Leigh really liked the Meizu M1 Note, and I’ve loved using the M2 Note, M3 Note and more recently an M5 Note. Meizu have been doing some funky stuff with their mBack buttons …

Samsung grab a patent for a flip phone … sort of 

Earlier this year the interwebs was full of rumours that Samsung was planning to ship smartphones and tablets with a bendable OLED screen. In fact in June this year Lenovo displayed a prototype of its own bendable phone. Well a recent leaked patent application from the Korean Intellectual …

Samsung were paying quite a handsome amount to Microsoft

If you read the site often then you’ll probably already know that Microsoft have been making quite a bit of money from Android. Various amounts have been mentioned over the years, but now we have some concrete figures – from Samsung at least. Samsung alone was giving Microsoft …

Nvidia launch patent case against Samsung

Samsung are no strangers to the US courts, with their ongoing case against Apple the most well known. This time round they are defendants with Nvidia taking exception to some of the mobile phones and tablets Samsung sell. The mobiles and tablets in question are those that use …

Samsung design for new smartwatch leaked

In a recent application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Samsung have given some hints about what they think a new smartwatch could look like and how a user could interact with it.   The answer to the design at least, is very similar to the …

Samsung owes Apple a lot of money

In a legal battle that has been going on for the last 20 years (or so it seems), Apple have been fighting with Samsung about patent infringement in pretty much any court that will listen to them. The original and biggest case is the one that has been …

Nokia and HTC agree patent collaboration

After spending the last few years slinging mud at each other in various court rooms around the world resulting in injunctions against the sale of the HTC One mini, which was then revoked, Nokia and HTC seem to have made up. The One mini seemed to be what …

Analyst – Microsoft rake in $2 billion a year from Android

We’re never overly keen on “analysts” who “estimate” figures, but we’ve known for quite some time that Microsoft have been making a good return from patent royalties. Put simply, Google have to pay Microsoft a fee for every Android handset because of Microsoft patents used in the OS. …

Patent Trolls in the spotlight. Will the tide turn?

Patents are usually a good thing. They protect your work, your idea, your product. However, as we’ve seen happen all too often, “Patent Trolls” often abuse the system by demanding payments or licenses for patents, despite being vague and generic, have been approved. Now a growing US trade …

Apple submit patent for an intelligent battery saver

Let’s be honest here, there’s one thing holding us all back. It’s about time we talked about it openly because we all try not to mention the massive and obvious problems that we all have… Batteries. They’re a bit rubbish really aren’t they? They’re limiting the range of …

HTC in yet more bother with the One

  HTC are not having a good time of it. With they HTC One they come up with a brilliant handset, trumpet it in a massive fanfare and then realise that they are unable to deliver it Now the Taiwanese company are about to be hit with more …

Nokia patent application shows what might one day be a real thing

A Nokia Lumia tablet has been something that a lot of people have wanted to see for quite a while. It is something that I feel might improve Nokias financial situation. A patent application has appeared online showing what Nokia have dreamt up as a possible tablet and …

Apple trademarks their shop! No, it’s not April Fool’s Day

Apple are well known for trademarking and patenting their items. They’ve already trademarked the leaf of the Apple logo and even registered a patent for the shape of the iPad, so it comes as no surprise to hear they’re adding another to the list… this time… THE SHOP! …

Apple, Google, it’s time to step it up! – Opinion

So that’s it, the last of the “big” players to reveal their hand has now done so and BlackBerry 10 has been launched with a big fanfare and a promise from all the major carriers to stock the handsets. BB10 devices are out there and ready to take …

Opinion: Apple v Samsung – After the Main Event

So the dust is beginning to settle after the so-called tech court case of the decade.  Apple has come out the victor and Samsung supposedly have been crushed – or at least their lawyers have.  So what’s next? For Apple it will be business as usual, there will …

Patent Wars: Now Galaxy Nexus Sales Ban Overturned

In what could be seen as a surprise move the ban on the sales of Google’s flagship Galaxy Nexus handset has been overturned by the appeals court. No reason has been given for the overturning however Apple have until Thursday to appeal.  The full trial is due to …

Opinion: Patents

When you listen to Episode 4 of our podcast later, you’ll hear me rant solidly for about 5 minutes on patents and how they are reported. Today brings a perfect example to illustrate my point. On Tuesday Apple was granted a patent for “wearable displays” and many people …

Apple defeated in the UK

The high court has ruled that HTC have not infringed four Apple patents after a dispute between the two companies. The judge rules that the Apple “slide to unlock” feature, which has been used as ammo against other firms, was an “obvious” development and had actually been seen …

Patent wars, as seen by Dilbert

Lawsuits, appeals, injunctions, import bans. Today Apple have won a ban on the Galaxy Nexus in the USA and it now looks like Google will be supporting Samsung to get it overturned. Meanwhile, the new Google Nexus Tablet is apparently infringing patents held by Nokia. The patent scraps …

Patent Wars: US Bans Sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

We have reported many times on the ongoing wars between Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and a plethora of other mobile companies so it comes as no surprise to be writing once again about a Samsung product that has had an injunction upheld against it following an application by Apple. …

Google v Microsoft…and the wars go on

At first there was the US Department of Justice, then there was the European Union.  More recently there have been battles with HTC, Samsung, Motorola and now a war of attrition seems to be building with Google. Microsoft’s lawyers must be laughing all the way to the bank. …

Breaking: Google Wins Phase 2 of Patent Case

News just in from the courts of California says that Google has won the second phase its patent trial against Oracle. Oracle filed a suit in October 2010 alleging that Google’s Android operating system infringes on patents relating to its programming language Java.  Google responded by saying that …

Patent Application Hints at New Nexus?

No sooner has the rumour mill died down around the Samsung Galaxy SIII than the merry-go-round starts all over again, this time the handset in question is the next Google Nexus. In a patent application filed by one Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of Engineering, it would appear that …

Apple on the attack, yet again

The un-ending lawsuits look set to continue with Apple now dropping lawsuits against Samsung again. This time there’s eight patents at the heart of the legal fight, four of which have been granted since the last Apple vs Samsung fight. Sigh. Meanwhile Motorola appear to have been beaten …

iPhones and iPads removed from sale in Germany

Motorola look to have forced Apple to remove devices from the Apple online store in Germany following an injunction. A second ruling in Germany could also see push-email services getting suspended after Apple lost another court battle with Motorola. Both decisions surround patents and Apple look set to …

What’s next for Microsoft?

Yesterday Microsoft got another major Android manufacturer to licence patents from them. This time it was LG. In the past Microsoft have approached Motorola and Barnes and Noble with a ”sign up or we’ll sue you” offer. They both responded by counter suing. It is now said that …

HTC loses Apple patent case… But…

At first look this may seem pretty bad. HTC, according to the courts, are using an Apple patent and, if it’s not removed, handsets would have to be removed from sale all across America. Looking deeper into it and you be right in thinking that this is actually …

Patent pain – BT take aim at Android

In what is fast becoming a strange game show, communications giant BT have become the next contestant to start legal proceedings against Google and the Android OS. Six patents are at the heart of the lawsuit, relating to Google+, eBooks, Docs, GMail and even the Doubleclick and AdWords …

HTC Lose infringement case against Apple

With lawsuits between phone manufacturers appearing almost daily, today’s Dilbert strip is bang on the money… It’s even more appropriate because HTC have just lost their infringement case in America against Apple. It’s a big set-back for the company and shares have already taken a dive. The US …

Samsung to try and block iPhone 4S sales

The war between Samsung and Apple continues. Reuters reports that it will file patent-infringement claims to try and ban the sale of the new iPhone 4S before it even hits the shops. Samsung said preliminary injunction requests for a ban on iPhone 4S sales will be filed on …

Google attacks the opposition

In recent months we’ve seen patent wars heat up with more and more mobile companies attacking each other over intellectual property. Google have come out fighting with this statement on their blog. Google are proud of Android – they state that it’s “on fire” with more that 550,000 …