
Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad - Garbage
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/motorola-secures-europe-wide-sales-ban-on-iphone-ipad/1435
======
jarofgreen
This is brilliant - but not because I hate Apple or have anything against
someone choosing to use Apple, even tho I don't myself.

But hopefully a ban on such a popular product (right before Christmas to) will
bring software patents and all the issues around them fully into the public
attention and debate.

In the past it's been really hard to explain to non-geeks why they should care
about such issues ...

Or am I being optimistic in hoping it would be reasonable debate and not just
an "Evil Motorola/Google!" hate fest?

~~~
anonmouse
I downvoted you. Here's why: It's hard to take anyone seriously when they
misspell "though" "tho". You may have made a good point, but I didn't read
past your first sentence. I'm not trying to be a dick about it-- and I hate to
clog up the comments section with a garbage comment like this one-- but you
would really be doing yourself a favor to use somewhat correct spelling and
grammar. It really sucks when people ignore what you have to say, not because
of the message, but because of the delivery.

~~~
dhughes
The HN website can do what they want but it seems anti-democratic to muzzle
opinions and debate by making comment box text unreadable making the text
colour lighter, just because some people (a few downvoters) find the words
uncomfortable.

~~~
sjs
On the contrary, the community decided that text is not worth reading. It's
very democratic. If enough disagree with the downvotes they can upvote the
comment and make it black again.

~~~
dhughes
If you can read it you may upvote it but often you, I know I often do/did,
will just breeze over it and ignore it.

------
CaveTech
Pretty big piece of FUD here. Title is "secures Europe-wide sales ban", yet
the article is littered with bits like "could be barred from sale" and
"whether Germany can enforce a Europe-wide ban on 3G-enabled iOS devices is
unclear".

~~~
robertskmiles
I like that HN tends to stay away from reddit-style sensationalist titles. I
suppose here the OP is just copying the original title verbatim, but it's
still misleading.

Regarding the article itself, hopefully this will help popularise the fact
that software patents are a bad joke.

~~~
r00fus
Copying the linkbait article title is not an excuse, the submitter (Garbage)
could have linked to a more balanced article.

------
iradik
I wonder if we could get into a situation where all leading mobile devices in
the world are banned.

~~~
zacharypinter
I wouldn't be surprised if every leading mobile device gets banned in at least
one country or another.

------
cygwin98
Ironically, these kinds of law suits remind me of a book I read long time ago
about in late nineteen century how American railroad tycoons bribed judges
against each other: one day the judge bought by Vanderbilt would ban his
opponents from operating, while a week later another judge bribed by his
opponents would side-track the order. Heck, policemen bribed by each side even
open fired against each other.

Of course, nowadays, we replace bribery with lobbying and "influence". The
same game is still on-going.

------
cezar_sl
My view is that if someone takes your idea and makes it better, it's called
progress, and it should be encouraged, not banned.

------
PedroCandeias
A german court enforcing a europe wide ban? Now that would be rich.

------
IgorPartola
How is any of this in the interest of the consumer? Can't one of those nice
gov't agencies charged with protecting consumer rights stand in and say enough
is enough?

I guess things have to get a lot worse before Apple/Motorola/Samsung/etc.
realize that this is just not good for anyone.

------
Freestyler_3
How can Germany ban something Europe wide, since patents count per country?

I don't get it, at the price they sell these Apple products why would they not
buy the right licenses?

I only have questions, no answers. Sorry for that.

~~~
jsnell
Because Motorola isn't selling them a license. Ah, so why isn't Motorola
selling them a license then? Because Apple is unique among the big mobile
phone players in that they have no interest in licensing their own patents to
others for money or for access to the other party's patents. Instead Apple are
using them just for the purpose of getting the others off the market.

Nokia apparently managed to bludgeon a cross-licensing agreement from Apple.
Motorola is presumably attempting the same.

------
fpgeek
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3333939>

------
nixxle
Lol, can't blame the writer for not understanding how Europe works. It's
actually a bunch of countries, not states.

~~~
roel_v
EU legislation doesn't use the word 'country' anywhere, and neither does
anyone working in the Commission. The EU is made up of 'Member States' in the
parlance.

~~~
seabee
Good thing too. 'Country' is a loaded word with various populations both
claiming and denying their geographic locale as a separate country from the
legal entity (or 'Member State') they're a part of.

