“Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Google Inc. CEO Larry Page are holding discussions regarding patent disputes involving the two leading technology companies, said a person with knowledge of the talks,” Brian Womack and Adam Satariano report for Bloomberg. “Cook and Page spoke by phone last week and are expected to talk more soon, said the person, who asked not to be named because the conversations aren’t public.”
Read more in the full article here.
Alexei Oreskovic and Poornima Gupta report for Reuters, “Discussions involving lower-level officials of the two companies are also ongoing… The two companies are keeping the lines of communication open at a high level against the backdrop of Apple’s decisive legal victory in a patent infringement case against Samsung, which uses Google’s Android software.”
“One possible scenario under consideration could be a truce involving disputes over basic features and functions in Google’s Android mobile software, one source said,” Oreskovic and Gupta report. “But it’s unclear whether Page and Cook are discussing a broad settlement of the various disputes between the two companies – most of which involve the burgeoning mobile computing area – or are focused on a more limited set of issues.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Based on the two quotes below, it’s tough to imagine Cook not sticking to his guns and instead settling for licensing significant defining features:
I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want. – Steve Jobs to Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt, at a Palo Alto, California cafe, March 26, 2010
I’ve always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it. We just want people to invent their own stuff. And so if we could get to some kind of arrangement where we could be assured that’s the case and a fair settlement on the stuff that’s occurred, I would highly prefer to settle versus battle. But it — the key thing is that it’s very important that Apple not become the developer for the world. We need people to invent their own stuff. – Apple CEO Tim Cook, April 24, 2012
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Will Eric the Mole be in attendance? Only he can give complete insight into how he stole patented iPhone material from Apple’s boardroom during SJ’s tenure as CEO.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man…
Mr. Cook’s defining moment has arrived.
Here’s to him making the right call, hopefully.
He will.
Isn’t this what they should have done in the first place?
If you think Apple has not been in discussions with Google prior to the Samsung deduct you have a hole in your head. If you think the verdict hasn’t altered Google’s willingness to listen more attentively to Apples position, you have not been paying attention.
This is a story from Reuters. They have a dreadfully poor record with regard to Apple stories.
It’s not exactly overflowing with verifiable facts. It all hinges on how much you are prepared to believe Reuters’ “person with knowledge of the talks”.
Apple might want to talk. Just in case:
Patent No. 5,883,580 “Geographic-temporal significant messaging”
This patent, issued on March 16th, 1999 talks about “messaging devices that process messages logically for a user in the context of space and time”. Translated from legalese – it’s about your iPhone being able to display geographically relevant messages when you are at a certain place. E.g. traffic alerts when you are near the congested intersection, ability to schedule reminders when you are approaching your workplace or leaving your home, getting a pop-up to remember to buy some milk when you are in a grocery store, etc;
Patent No. 5,922,047 “Apparatus, method and system for multimedia control and communication”
The ‘047 patent, issued on July 13, 199 is really broad and, according to Motorola, covers such basic device functionality as being able to launch and use any media application, while also being a phone. E.g. tapping on video player icon on iPhone 4S constitutes infringement, because it means that your phone switches to another operating mode (video player) among many (telephone, music player, browser, etc, in response to a first control signal (tapping on a video icon) and, after video player launches, it is controlled via multiple other control signals – e.g tap to Pause/Play, Fast Forward, etc;
Patent No. 6,425,002 “Apparatus and method for handling dispatching messages for various applications of a communication device”
‘002 patent was issued on July 23, 2002 and covers the API for routing incoming and outgoing messages to the correct applications. Motorola thinks that Apple’s Push Notification functionality, allowing your apps to automatically send and receive push messages, is covered by ththis patent and infringes on it.
Patent No. 6,493,673 “Markup language for interactive services and methods thereof”
This patent, issued on Dec. 10, 2002 covers interactive voice services delivered over the internet, and goes after Siri. Motorola does not care much about the artificial intelligence and all other fancy stuff Siri does. According to the patent claims, Motorola has invented the basic interactive dialog process Siri uses. And the way Apple renders XML files to allow you talk to Siri, is a no no without a license. “Siri, set a reminder for 2, tomorrow”, “2PM or 2AM”, “2PM” , “OK, setting reminder for 2PM on Wednesday, Aug. 22nd” . Doesn’t matter how Siri figures out what to ask and what to tell you. Simply by performing this dialog, and using a markup language to do it – Siri infringes. Or at least that’s what Motorola claims.
Patent No. 6,983,370 “System for providing continuity between messaging clients and method therefor”
The ‘370 patent, issued on January 3d, 2006 talks about seamless IM session switching between various devices, and says that all iMessage capable devices are infringing on it. Started your iMessage chat on your MacBook, then continued it on the way to work on your iPhone? Google says that the way Apple does this – by storing your chat data on its servers and then transferring the chat data from MacBook to iPhone – is Moto’s invention. This patent is also part of Motorola’s litigation with Microsoft in U.S.
Patent No. 7,007,064 “Method and apparatus for obtaining and managing wirelessly communicated content”
‘064 patent, issued on Feb 28, 2006 goes after e-mail syncing between your Macs and iOS devices via iCloud. It is a rather narrow patent, and only insists that the way Apple keeps your e-mails in sync, by deleting messages on one of your igadgets when you delete that same message on the other, is an infringing use.
Patent No. 7,383,983 “System and method for managing content between devices in various domains”
This patent covers the ability to pause video or audio playback on your iPad, and then resume playing the content from the same place on a different iDevice.
Motorola learned all that shit when they were manufacturing and selling Apple Mac Clones.
Apple has prior art up the YingYang.
I wasn’t aware Macs did any of those things back then.
And here is the problem. Patents that are WAY too broad. Motorola may have used a specific system to accomplish these patents and Apple may or may not be infringing but given that most of this stuff occurs on hardware chips, the license should be transferred to the buyer of the chip.
Another failure of the law system. I buy the car but have to license the use of tires cause Firestone has a patent on round things used to transport vehicles… Yea a broken patent system.
iOS 5 came late, with swipe down notifications?
Coping Android to some degree but not exactly.
iOS 5 came late, with Multi-Tasking?
Apple implemented this better… not copied – listened to its customers and provided a way that was responsible to the longevity of battery life.
There is a claim Android had voice control first. Before Apple bought Siri… it was available as a FREE download to the FIRST iPhone. At that time there was no Android phone even available. Plus, basic voice commands were within iOS already to play launch your song titles etc.
iOS 6 brings Apples Maps, location tracking and purchasing hot spots thats will be handled the Apple way… not WITH GOOGLEs’ plus better Maps over all. Apple does not need Google or YouTube anymore.
Android must be forced to die or be re-written stripping out any of its similarities to iOS; to show its an inferior and different platform entirely.
“I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.” – Steve Jobs to Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt, at a Palo Alto, California cafe, March 26, 2010 — a warning now almost 3 years old… 3 years of damages to be tallied up.
Try a HSPA+ Gnexus jelly bean and an Iphone 4s battery life is the same and android multi-tasking only ios preforms and looks like it was made by fisher price.
You must not use your phones or you don’t have an iPhone 4S. If you actually use both phones, eg for web browsing, the battery on the 4S lasts much longer than a GNexus.
Apple had multitasking on the iPhone 1, but only for their own apps. They also had multitasking on the Mac long before that. The iPhone is a version OSX after all.
Apple also had voice commands on the Mac for years before any smartphones were out.
NO CROWN JEWELS FOR YOU!
Google NEEDS pinch to zoom. Apple doesn’t really need anything from android.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/02/17/in-depth-analysis-androids-notification-bar-patent-and-how-apple-may-or-may-not-infringe-it/
They’ll go to court over the notification bar if they need to. It should be VERY easy to prove prior art on that one.
I don’t think Tim Cook would be out of line to offer them pinch-to-zoom license in exchange for licenses on every single android/google patent for the next ten years. Apple MIGHT find some things they might want to use of they dig hard enough.
That’s about the only fair deal I can think of. Our necessary patent for your entire collection of arguably unnecessary patents.
Actually google does not need pinch to Zoom.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/30/3279628/apple-pinch-to-zoom-patent-myth
assuming they get this all implemented and it’s true (google is the one claiming they have a work around already- I wouldn’t immediately believe anything they claim) then Apple still has the multi search patent that’s pretty fucking solid.
Actually google changed that in jelly bean too,
Maybe Tim Cook can ask Google how they reacted when they found Microsoft copying Google search results into Bing last year.
Here’s a interesting quote from that time from Amit Singhal, Google Fellow, and the head of Google’s core ranking team.
“I’ve spent my career in pursuit of a good search engine,” says Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow who oversees the search engine’s ranking algorithm. “I’ve got no problem with a competitor developing an innovative algorithm. But copying is not innovation, in my book.” [1]
Take this message and tell Google to do as they preach.
[1] http://searchengineland.com/google-bing-is-cheating-copying-our-search-results-62914
Cook and page are discussing purchase of moto set top box unit
Cook to Page: Dell, Adobe, Micrsoft. Beg for your life.
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