“Though the smartphone legal wars have lately assumed a flavor of everybody vs. everybody, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM, as well as handset makers Motorola, HTC and Samsung—and even Oracle, owner of the Java software language—it helps to keep the focus on Apple vs. Google,” Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“In Google, you have an industry disruptor without many patents to bring to the table. Google has been disruptive because it’s giving away its Android software free. Free is a problem for the incumbents, who don’t have Google’s search advertising revenues as a way to monetize their software inventions,” Jenkins reports. “Secondly, and we mean this in the nicest possible way, Google is a patent violator. In a complicated software-hardware business, especially when so many functions are converging in a single device like a smartphone, patent violation is expected, routine and unavoidable.”
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“The ITC can… hear patent disputes, and while it can’t award damages, it can drop the nuclear bomb of blocking infringing devices from being imported. But another peculiarity of the ITC is that its rulings can be waived by the president,” Jenkins reports. “Verizon thinks it would be great if President Obama, in a blanket statement, made clear he would not let stand any decision blocking importation of consumer wireless devices. The parties then would have to recur to normal patent litigation, and whatever rights and wrongs are discovered could be settled by exchanges of cash.”
Jenkins writes, “Apple, as a patent holder, has every right to seek to preserve exclusive use of its inventions. In its eBay decision, the Supreme Court allowed that the possibility of ‘irreparable harm’ might justify banning an infringing product outright, equivalent to an ITC import exclusion. Those given to hyperbole might wonder what could be a clearer example of ‘irreparable harm’ than Google stealing an industry. We hasten to add this shouldn’t stop the president from intervening to prevent an ITC train wreck. But he should also make it absolutely and unequivocally clear he’s not trying to deny any company its day in court, nor prejudging any company’s right to seek a judicial ruling that would have exactly the same result as an ITC exclusion order.”
There’s much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s patented intellectual property should be respected or the patent system is completely worthless. Why invest in innovation if anyone can just take what they want, or if you can be forced to sell that which you do not wish to sell? Obviously, there would be no incentive to innovate. IP isn’t a commune’s garden.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jim Mol” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
U.S. ITC to review Apple patent infringement complaint against HTC Flyer tablets – August 9, 2011
Apple patent complaint over Samsung Galaxy phones, tablets earns U.S. ITC review – August 2, 2011
Apple’s U.S. ITC patent victory threatens future of Google’s Android – July 16, 2011
How Google’s Android infringes on Apple’s patents in U.S. ITC determination – July 16, 2011
U.S. ITC finds HTC infringed upon Apple patents – July 15, 2011
Apple files second U.S. ITC trade complaint against HTC, seeks to block HTC imports – July 11, 2011
Steve Jobs loads up on high-powered legal team to protect Apple’s intellectual property – April 22, 2010
Agreed, MDN.
+1
MaoBama sucks, beyond comprehension sucks! As do all liberal loons!
…and all conservative goons.
Should, Could ,Would… – Get real IP theft causes irreparable harm and is criminal.
Zero-bama
Your comment has really brought value to the discussion. Well done.
Name calling is wonderous, sweet tart.
…the word is wondrous, stale fart.
WICKED BURN!
Is there any hint that our President would do this, or merely conjecture?
But then again, based on his other economic decisions….
The hint is this- if there’s a wrong decision to be made, Obama will make it.
Don’t worry, I’m too busy bombing Libya, blaming Dubya, and getting in as many rounds of golf as humanly possible in my single presidential term to screw up this ITC shit, too!
As you can see, TT, it’s much more fun to just make stuff up.
Stuff it ChrissyZero, commie! You are part of the problem.
How do you pronounce ‘retard’? I like ru-TARD, the Hangover way. It makes me feel hip. How does it make you feel?
And what precisely shall I stuff? I have so many things… maybe this succulent game hen… that sounds good. Would I still be part of the problem if I did so?
Your whole post, with its deep, illuminating insights, has just got me flummoxed and I’m having a peach of a time coming up with a fitting response. How about this:
Nah nah nah poopie doodie head! You’re a dirty rat-fink liberal-lover and you eat poop! Go back to Sweden!!
Oh yeah… I like that.
Hey, it’s a “free” market, right—where everything is free, especially the work of others.
Do it, dummy, do it!
You need every Lib Apple users’ vote to avoid the worst landslide loss in history and I’d like to see you set the mark for refudiation almost as much as Jimmy Peanuts does.
We should also get Obama to declare that the rule of law is undemocratic and bring in communism instead. They should fly the hammer & sickle atop the White House and declare Congress unconstitutional. That way politicians can go back to what they do best, polishing shoes.
construct straw man arguments often?
The republicans could voucher for Google’s patent violations and ask the the president to support banning ITC rulings…It would happen in a blink of an eye with the rate Obama is going buckling under pressure from Boughner.
STFU, all of you. This isn’t Obama speaking. This is a writer for the rumor mongering Wall Street Journal talking about what Verizon “think” President Obama should do. You opportunistic snapping turtles are the same idiots who jump on every lame-ass rumor thrown out by hit trollers and make it so in your heads. Stop it!
I love you too man, will you scratch my back?
“STFU, all of you. This isn’t Obama speaking. This is a writer for the rumor mongering Wall Street Journal talking about what Verizon “think” President Obama should do”.
Like these TP dds would know the difference…
Too much caffeine notwithstanding, what you say….well, yeah.
Someone did not take his/her meds this morning… hmmm…
I would not put anything stupid beyond the scope of Ohbummer!
Just a few years back he admitted in a speech that he had no idea how to operate a smartphone and said that the Internet was a threat to democracy (socialism).
That actually isn’t what he said at all. But it is more fun.
C1, you are on your game today. You go girl.
You vitriolic little right-wingers should REALLY go back to junior high and learn what ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ mean. They do NOT mean ‘policies I disagree with’ or ‘having medical care for citizens like all other Western nations’.
Patents are a good idea in theory as they are supposed to protect the value of ideas, of innovation, things that cannot by physically quantified. The problem is that the patent system allows things that are common sense or physical realities to be patented, thus overcomplicating the system and allowing spurious claims to be made.
Punishments for IP theft have to actually punish the violators, if they’ve made x billions from selling something that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do, then the fine should be more than what it would have cost them to reasonably license the tech in the first place. Of course there are instances when companies would reasonably not want to license something and thus a block of sales seems perfectly reasonable.
If the patents and the system were logical and reasonable in the first place it would be far less of an issue to deal with violations.
“But another peculiarity of the ITC is that its rulings can be waived by the president,” Jenkins reports. “Verizon thinks it would be great if President Obama, in a blanket statement, made clear he would not let stand any decision blocking importation of consumer wireless devices. ”
Doesn’t anyone remember the notion of “moral hazard”? Without the ACTUAL threat of non-importation, the infringer will have no fear, just like Google’s internal emails indicate. This would be little different than having companies, “too big to fail”. Once a company is deemed “too big to fail”, there’s little to restrain the company from taking bigger and bigger bets.
I don’t see how blocking android devices from the market would help the economy at all or be a positive for anyone other than Apple, microsoft and the carriers who have been blessed to carry the iphone. everyone else would be stuck with winphone7. I’m sure thats a wet dream for a lot of morons but it wouldn’t have a positive effect on the industry.
In all likelyhood it would cause a loss of jobs.
It makes no sense so I guesd it could happen in this backwards country we now live in.
“I don’t see how blocking android devices from the market would help the economy at all or be a positive for anyone other than Apple, microsoft and the carriers who have been blessed to carry the iPhone.”
It would reassure people that their IP is safe and that it’s ok to innovate, the government will keep people from robbing you blind while you do so.
Goggle and some of the Android OEMs feel perfectly safe in stealing from Apple. This would send a message that, stealing other’s intellectual IP is not ok.
Another example of corporate socialisms spread…
You can not blame this one on Obama though. The root of much of the problem can be found in the vodo economics brought to us 30 ish years ago when the transfer of power from the people to the corporations became the emphasis of government. Now those business’s with government influence can ask their government buddies to step in and over-ride due process.
Why do you thin the AT&T/T-Mobile merger was blocked? Verizon didn’t like it. Verizon spends lavishly on their politicians. (So does AT&T, but Verizon is clearly doing it better.)
There isn’t a politician in Washington that isn’t bought and paid for, which makes the nonsense partisan hack arguments on here all the more entertaining. You are doing exactly what they want, all the while being fleeced..
Well, Obama has shown a willingness to get involved in ownership of car companies, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he stuck his fingers into the dealings of the business market once again. To him, business is something that needs to be taxed, controlled, punished and generally abused.
Many tens of thousands of jobs were saved. Those businesses are now making profits and those workers are paying taxes rather than receiving unemployment benefits. If he had not supported that bailout, you would no doubt be decrying the associated loss of jobs, increase in unemployment, and loss of domestic manufacturing.
The Government ownership declined last year and will soon be zero. I wonder what you will find to complain about then?
I am sure that Verizon thinks that would be great. Verizon and the other cell providers want to regress towards the old pre-iPhone way of doing business – charging for every conceivable cell phone function. I assume, however, that the potential patent infringement liabilities would continue to grow if the ITC block were overturned. So it would not be a slam dunk win for the parties defending against the Apple lawsuits.
Google probably favors such a decision, too, although that is a bit less certain since their move to a more vertically integrated model with the purchase of Motorola Mobile.
At this point, this is mere wishful thinking on the part of Verizon. If the President actually exercises his power in this manner, then I would be very concerned that “too big to fail” for the banks had morphed to “too large to block” with respect to imports. Either the laws apply, or they do not. Criminal activity of any type should not receive favorable treatment as the result of it being executed on a more massive scale.
Google, I believe, has a back door relationship with USA security (spy) services — US denial ability, non court data access, continuous surveillance — that any one in the White House would like to keep, so all the criminal actions of Google are glossed over and Google perseveres.
The down side is the criminalization of USA. Welcome to the Mafia state!
There is a social intellectual legal debate NOT HAPPENING here!
What are the limits of companies privacy intrusions?
What value is your daily actions to Google others?
Should you get a cut?
What is this (private) East German spy state effect on USA society?
What is privacy in such a state — talking in forests? — READ “Brave New World”
What crimes are OK to commit and free from punishment?
Congress is silent!
White House on the side of monopolist companies!
People just tools!