Monday, January 4th, 2010
I-mate was one of the pioneers of the smartphone segment, no doubt about that, but at some point they were claiming that they created the first Windows Mobile phone, a title disputed by many companies. Last we heard, they weren’t doing so well, because of some financial and internal issues, but now word’s out that they were bought by HTC.
The Taiwanese company might be in this for the useful patents owned by I-mate, or maybe for its rugged designs, but it would be nice to see a couple of products spawned by this buyout. If you remember, at some point I-mate was borrowing technology heavily from HTC, but the latter cut them loose and trouble started afterwards.
In case you’re wondering what went wrong here it is: ODM disputes, internal fraud, total closure, employees getting fired and… the end. Keep in mind that the buyout is only a rumour we found via Phonenews, so take it with a grain of salt.
[via wmpoweruser]
Posted in HTC, i-mate | View Comments
Saturday, December 12th, 2009
Believe it or not, the folks of Cupertino, who were recently sued by Nokia for infringing a bunch of patents with the iPhone have decided to sue the Finns, for a couple of patents of their own. 13 to be more precise, each more complex than the other…
Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell went out and stated that Nokia “stole” the Cupertino company’s technologies. Among the papers claming the patent theft, there were mentions of technologies like real time signal processing, display graphics, teleconferencing, power conservation and other functions of smartphones.
The American firm’s representatives say that Nokia copied the iPhone’s design and user interface and also talked about the E71, as one of the products that infringes Apple’s patents. Nokia devices with built-in cameras are also mentioned, as well as S60 devices and Symbian platform units. Damages are being required, plus the prohibition of using said technologies for Nokia.
Who’ll win this legal battle?
[via informationweek]
Posted in Apple, Nokia | View Comments
Monday, July 20th, 2009
If you thought that the patent for Nokia Cseries devices was big news yesterday, wait till you hear this: turns out that there’s also an Xseries coming, plus various other new brands, like Nokia Money and Booklet.
All the info was leaked with Finnish blog Puhelinvertailu, who managed to have a look at Nokia’s trademark database. Taking a wild guess, we’d say that the Cseries devices could be either hot cameraphones or boring mid end handsets, while the Xseries phones will be mobile computers powered by the Maemo platform.
All of these are speculations and we’re more interested in the Nokia Money trademark, that could be a new platform for mobile banking. There’s also a “Nokia Booklet” branding uncovered, a possible name for future smartphones or netbooks made in Finland. Nokia World 2009 should clear up most of these rumours, so we’ll have to wait for the September event and hope for the best.
[via BGR]
Posted in Nokia | View Comments
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
We knew that Nokia was readying a couple of new Maemo devices for this Fall, but now it turns out that the Finns are also preparing a new series of devices, under the Cseries branding. That’s the brand name recently registered by Nokia with the Finnish Patent and Trademark Office.
This application was filed on April 14th, 2009 and we’re looking forward to have at least one little glimpse of the Cseries devices. Nokia World 2009 would be the best time to announce the new series, in September and it seems that the company is not only prepping smartphones, but rather “mobile computers”.
Taking a wild guess here, but how about a Sony Ericsson approach, making the Cseries a cameraphone brand?
[via Unwired View]
Posted in Nokia | View Comments
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Samsung has just patented a new rear keyboard system, that uses two folding half QWERTY keyboards hidden in the body of the phone. Thanks to this new design, the screen will be larger and provide more viewing space.
Will this affect text entry? Sure it will and the picture above makes it look quite uncomfortable. One would need pretty big keys and lots of training to get the typing right on this innovative Samsung device.
Also, we’re worried about the resilience of the keyboard, specially since it seems so thin and clumsy users might break it. Didn’t Nokia try something similar in the past?
[via Phone Arena]
Posted in Samsung | View Comments
Monday, May 4th, 2009
We’ve seen lots of Androids before Google’s OS came up, but nothing important enough to trigger a trademark lawsuit… until now. Erich Specht, software developer and Internet app service provider in the Village of Palatine, Illinois owns a company called Android Data, for which he got the trademark back in 2002.
Meanwhile, Google first introduced the Android OS back in November 2007, 5 years after Specht got his trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office. It’s interesting to note that Google applied for a trademark for the Android brand in October 2007, but their application was denied in February 2008.
Google didn’t settle with this decision, so they countered it in August 2008, mentioning that the Android Data trademark hadn’t been used for at least 3 years and the company didn’t exist any more. The search engine giant tried once again in November and got the trademark suspended, but Specht is back and wants the Android brand for himself.
Right now, along with Google, great names like OHA, China Mobile, Motorola, Toshiba, Vodafone or Samsung are facing the same legal action. If Specht can prove that Android Data is ready to release new products and that it’s still a real company, Google and the other defendants might have some serious cash to pay, while also being forced to destroy “any marketing materials with the Android trademark.”
[via theregister.co.uk]
Posted in Android, Google | View Comments
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
HTC faces legal action, because patent holding company IP-Com, together with US private equity fund Fortress have attacked the creator of Touch Diamond for it patents regarding the UMTS implementation on some of its new smartphones.
Turns out that the technology troubling these companies is used on the baseband chipset supplied by Qualcomm and it infringes a couple of patents. HTC already lost a court case on February 27 2009, related to this issue and may see its devices affected by the patent story, including the Android phone.
To make things worse, IP-com also filed an action against Google, who worked closely with HTC during the development of the first Android phones. HTC announced that it’ll appeal the decision of the court and it will apply to have the patents.
[via wmpoweruser]
Posted in Google, HTC | View Comments
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Saxon Innovations patent holdings firm filed a complaint to the US International Trade Commission, that recently voted the investigation of some electronic devices.
The issue? According to the patent firm, section 337 of the Tarrif Act of 1930 was violated, as it states that certain electronic devices can’t be imported and sold in the US, because their infringe patents owned by Saxon Innovations.
This affects devices like smartphones, telephones and television remote controls and the companies mentioned in the complaint are Nokia, RIM, HTC, Palm, Panasonic and AVC Networks. The matter is pretty serious, as the investigation can block the imports of the products manufactured or sold by the companies mentioned earlier.
Saxon Innovations owns over 180 US patents that cover the technology created by AMD and Legerity (its spin off).
[via Cellular News]
Posted in HTC, Nokia, Technology | View Comments
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
An American inventor claims that he owns the intellectual property rights to iPhone-like web browsing on mobile phones, so he sued Apple to prove his point. Elliot Gottfurcht is the name of the man who filed a lawsuit against the iPhone’s maker and calls them to the Texan court.
It’s all got to do with the inventor’s company, EMG technology, that owns US patent number 7,441,196.
This patent deals with mobile web page resizing in order to fit the screen of a cellphone. The technology is used on Apple’s iPhone and its patent was granted in October 2006, long before the handset was launched. EMG Technology now seeks unspecified damages against Apple, claiming that the simplified interface and reformatted mobile content concepts belong to them.
The iPhone maker didn’t comment on the issue and we’ll have to wait and see who comes out victorious in the end.
[via Telegraph]
Posted in iPhone | View Comments
