
Barnes & Noble Charges Microsoft with Misusing Patents  - wglb
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110427052238659
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grellas
Barnes & Noble is forced to fight this one from a position of relative
weakness because it does not have its own patent portfolio from which to mount
defensive counterclaims. The patent misuse theory works insofar as it goes,
assuming it can be proved, but the evidence presented is sketchy and only time
will tell on that one. This case, though, does illustrate that Android remains
the waif child of the mobile device industry, the one who gets periodic
beatings, whether from Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, or any other entrenched
proprietary player, with software patents often serving as the whip.
Meanwhile, Google is frantically scrambling to buy up its own patent
portfolios and is filing its own patents like mad to position for the future.
A fascinating spectacle, to say the least, and Groklaw once again gives us a
front-row view of some of the goings on.

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latch
Anyone have any real insight on what chance B&N has? Reading this they seem to
be asking for 1 - the entire thing to be thrown out (including the patents)
and failing this 2 - a trial by jury.

How likely is #1 (i can only assume _everyone_ asks for this..)? Are cases
like this normally heard by a jury? Are B&N's claims actually solid? Is there
any chance of other companies supporting B&N?

Everything about this reminds me of First they came...
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came%E2%80%A6>

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naner
From the layman free-software nerd point of view, this appears to be exactly
what is happening in a number of situations. This is a way to assign a cost to
your competitors who are giving away solutions for free.

1) Microsoft approaches companies using Linux. They claim they have patents
that Linux infringes. Either pay Microsoft's licensing fee (Amazon) or get
sued (TomTom). Now Linux isn't free. This has been going on for years, long
before Android.

2) MPEG-LA looks to be considering the same path with the WebM patent-pool
they are forming. I assume they will start using this same pitch on smaller
companies once WebM starts being used more.

3) Both Apple and Microsoft are going after Android in this manner.

It is a brilliant strategy that exploits shortcomings of the patent system.
You get paid for allowing people to use your competitors' free solutions or,
at the very least, the free solutions end up having legal fees associated with
them. The only downside is negative publicity among certain groups of
customers.

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mvalle
I love reading software patents. From the article:

32\. Of the patents Microsoft threatened Barnes & Noble with in the past,
Microsoft has only sued Microsoft on the ’780 patent. Barnes & Noble denies
that the accused NookTM and Nook ColorTM devices infringe any valid,
enforceable claim of the ’780 patent. The ’780 patent appears to cover nothing
more than placing a loading status icon in the content viewing area of a
browser. In that patent, Microsoft concedes that loading status icons and
content viewing areas of a browser were both known in the prior art. The prior
art placed the loading status icon outside of the viewing area, but it is
nothing short of obvious to place it in the content viewing area (since there
are only two locations for such an icon—either in or out of the content
viewing area).

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kenjackson
BN seems to want to make this something it isn't. It's a standard patent
infringement suit, with licensing opportunity. BN's motive speculations don't
add anything as using patents against competitors is common.

The whole Nokia thread is odd. They're not a party in any way of this lawsuit.
And furthermore IP cross licensing amoung partners is extremely common, if not
the flat out norm.

BN should stick with trying to invalidate the patents, and not conspiracy
theories.

~~~
rbanffy
Intent is important. Microsoft is using those patents to disrupt an ecosystem
it deems threatening to its need to (illegally) leverage its desktop OS
monopoly into the mobile space in order to gain market share there. Android is
a threat to Microsoft's desktop market because it furthers the trend away from
PCs and towards mobile devices.

Microsoft is also using its "war chest" to threaten less well financed players
with long and expensive legal battles, the costs of which it can cover rather
easily.

Oh yes, I am criticizing Microsoft. Let the karma burn.

~~~
kenjackson
That's a stretch. Especially since the largest players over to past decade
haven't been attacked in this way by MS... Apple, Palm, RIM.

In the tablet space even Android is a niche player compared to the iPad.
Additionally until recently the Nook was pretty much just an eReader, with the
most popular software client running on Windows.

My point is this is a stretch, like any good conspiracy theory.

~~~
rbanffy
The fact Android is a niche player in the current market is more or less
irrelevant. What's relevant is the desktop market will become less and less
important because of a shift towards server-based computing and mobile (or
thin) clients.

This threatens the survival of Microsoft like no previous player (like you
mentioned, Apple, Palm and RIM) did and that alone is enough to explain
Microsoft's lack of action at the time. Mobile devices and easy connectivity
signal the end of the only market Microsoft has been able to dominate
completely.

What would you do in their shoes?

~~~
cooldeal
>Mobile devices and easy connectivity signal the end of the only market
Microsoft has been able to dominate completely.

Mobile devices signal the end of PC? I see you have bought this Post-PC bs
hook, line and sinker. PCs are going to be important for quite a while, I
don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones, they seem to
be just using it as an additional device.

~~~
rbanffy
> PCs are going to be important for quite a while

Like trucks remain important today. We will have a lot of other information
processing/retrieval devices around us. Up to now, we had mostly one type.
Shortly, we'll have a far more diverse ecosystem.

> I don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones

Don't look to PCs if you want to see people replacing them. Look at people who
prefer to do their scheduling or e-mail on phones or their reading on tablets.

