Legal

Xiaomi acquires swathe of patents from Nokia

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 6, 2017

Chinese consumer electronics and smartphone maker Xiaomi has acquired a swathe of patents from Nokia. According to an announcement yesterday, the multi-year patent agreement includes a cross license to each company's cellular standard essential patents.

Xiaomi also acquired patent assets from Nokia for an undisclosed sum as part of the transaction. Since its inception seven years ago, the Chinese firm has applied for over 16,000 patents, of which about 4,000 have been granted to them.

“Our win-win patent agreement with Nokia after months of negotiations is a significant milestone for Xiaomi,” Wang Xian, Xiaomi's Senior Vice President, wrote on Twitter.

The two firms will also co-operate on a wide range of strategic projects, including network infrastructure, optical transport solutions for datacenter interconnect, IP routing based on Nokia's newly announced FP4 network processor and a data center fabric solution.

The companies will join forces to “explore” VR and AI technologies, too.

The latest move gives the Chinese startup access to some cool Nokia technologies while providing legal shelter from possible lawsuits as Xiaomi looks to expand internationally.

The company's smartphone shipments declined 15.6 percent to 61 million units in 2016, down from a peak of 70 million units in 2015. Xiaomi has pledged to build a thousand retail stores in China by 2019 to ramp up sales.

In May, Nokia signed a similar deal with Apple following licensing disputes in the US and Europe which eventually led to the removal of Nokia's Withings-branded products from Apple Stores. Putting an end to all litigation, the Apple-Nokia multi-year patent license also entails providing “certain network infrastructure products and services" to Apple.

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EU hits Google with $2.7B fine for abusing search dominance

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 27, 2017

Having concluded its seven-year antitrust investigation against Google, dating back to 2010, the European Commission today announced it has imposed a record €2.4 billion fine on the company (about $2.7 billion) over search engine results.

The Commission took issue with the fact that Google has been promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results while demoting those of its competitors. The Commission said in July of last year that Google had “abused its dominant position by systematically favouring its comparison shopping service in its search result pages.”

The company now has 60 days to tell the Commission how it will accomplish the order.

If it doesn't comply with the ruling within 90 days and stop its illegal search practices in the European Union markets, the Commission can slap the company with additional fines.

According to The Guardian newspaper, European regulators have the power to fine Google up to five percent of the average daily worldwide turnover of its parent company, Alphabet.

European Commission Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement:

Google has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives. That's a good thing. But Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals.

Google is going to appeal the decision.

The company said in a statement on its official blog that it believes the decision is in error:

We believe the European Commission's online shopping decision underestimates the value of those kinds of fast and easy connections. While some comparison shopping sites naturally want Google to show them more prominently, our data show that people usually prefer links that take them directly to the products they want, not to websites where they have to repeat their searches.

We think our current shopping results are useful and are a much-improved version of the text-only ads we showed a decade ago. Showing ads that include pictures, ratings, and prices benefits us, our advertisers, and most of all, our users. And we show them only when your feedback tells us they are relevant. Thousands of European merchants use these ads to compete with larger companies like Amazon and eBay.

Google is basically saying that it's not demoting competing comparison shopping products in search results, claiming it's simply packaging search results in a way that makes it easier for consumers to find what they want.

The European Commission has been conducting antitrust investigations into Google's Android software and its AdSense advertising products and services, too.

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Dutch court rules Apple cannot replace broken iOS gadgets with refurbished or remanufactured ones

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 25, 2017

A judge in the Subdistrict Court of Amsterdam has ruled that Apple cannot replace broken iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices with refurbished or remanufactured units, Dutch outlet Tweakers reported Tuesday. That ruling arrived after a similar decision in December 2016 forced the Cupertino giant to replace a Danish man’s broken iPhone with a new unit rather than a refurbished model that he was entitled to in accordance with local law.

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iPhone modem supplier Qualcomm countersues Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2017

iPhone modem supplier Qualcomm is countersuing Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, saying the Cupertino company could not have “built the incredible iPhone franchise” without its fundamental cellular technologies. The chip maker accused Apple of contributing “virtually nothing” to the development of core cellular technologies.

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Apple sues Swatch over “Tick Different” slogan

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2017

Apple has filed a complaint against Swatch in a Swiss court after the watch maker has used the slogan “Tick different” to promote its Bellamy quartz wristwatch with built-in NFC Visa payment technology. Apple argues that Swatch is unfairly using a grammatically incorrect slogan that bears too many similarities to its “Think Different” ad campaign.

Watson explains that Apple must prove that Swatch's slogan prompts an association with Apple products in the minds of at least 50 percent of consumers.

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Apple and other companies sign Supreme Court brief in support of transgender student

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 2, 2017

After decrying U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw anti-discrimination protections for transgender bathroom use in schools, Apple and 52 other firms like Amazon, Apple, IBM and Microsoft have signed a Supreme Court brief in support of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who's fighting against his school district over which school bathrooms he may use.

The New York Times reported that the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit organization supporting gay rights, plans to file the signed brief on Thursday.

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Apple v. Samsung case sent back to lower courts to determine if damages retrial is neccessary

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 8, 2017

The seemingly never-ending legal battle between Apple and Samsung went back to its roots as a federal appeals court said Tuesday that it was up to a district court to decide if there should be a damages retrial. According to CNET, the case will return to the San Jose, California court where the trials in the long-running patent dispute originally took place.

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Apple sues Qualcomm over withholding $1B as ransom in Korean legal investigation

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2017

Apple on Friday announced it's suing iPhone modem supplier Qualcomm, which owns many wireless patents, “after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty”. The suit argues Qualcomm withheld nearly $1 billion in payments it owes to Apple as retaliation because Apple cooperated with the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Last month, Korean regulators slapped Qualcomm with a $850 million fine over its patent-licensing practices.

Apple's suit, filed in federal district court in the Southern District of California, accuses Qualcomm of charging royalties for technologies “they have nothing to do with.” Responding to the complaint, Qualcomm called Apple's claims groundless and said they “misrepresented facts”.

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Samsung seeks arbitration against Sharp and other LCD panel makers over supply halt

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 20, 2017

Samsung Electronics has filed a request for international arbitration against Sharp and two other LCD panel makers over supply panel halt, The Korea Herald reported Friday.

Owned by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, Sharp said recently it would stop supplying LCDs to Samsung.

The Galaxy maker is now seeking $492 million in compensation from Sharp and other vendors, said industry sources. Samsung reportedly filed its request with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

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Amazon and Apple end Audible exclusivity deal to avoid antitrust probe by German government

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 19, 2017

Quietly announced two weeks ago following discussions with both the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office, Apple and Amazon have decided to end their deal which made Amazon-owned Audible an exclusive provider of audiobooks for iTunes.

According to a Reuters report Thursday, the move puts an end to antitrust complaints by the German government and is likely to boost competition.

The agreement had been in place for over a decade, since 2003.

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