Posted by ipeg on July 28th, 2012
Apple this week missed earnings expectations as it faces stiffening smartphone competition from the likes of Samsung without its own blockbuster new hardware to satisfy eager consumers. Apple missed lofty analyst expectations for the fiscal quarter ending June 30. The rare miss comes at a time when Apple’s competitors are finally making inroads in the high-end smartphone market, giving consumers more products to choose from and forcing Apple to defend its once-insurmountable lead.
Even though Apple still makes far more money than any...
Posted by ipeg on January 1st, 2012
2001 showed us a world economy in turmoil, financial instability in the European Union and a looming recession in most of the major EU countries, falling prices on major stock markets. How different the market for strategic IP was in 2011. The patent market did no less than transform itself into an astounding bull market, showing a true patent monetization frenzy in 2011.
The dramatic increase in patent acquisitions should not be exaggerated, as the trend can only be seen in the mobile handset technology market, whereas more traditional...
Posted by ipeg on November 10th, 2011
The European Commission has been pretty quiet about antitrust and licensing issues surrounding standard essential patents since the Commission ended its investigations against Rambus and Qualcomm in 2009. Both Rambus and Qualcomm were accused by its competitors of violating European Competition laws by their licensing behavior towards standard essential patents. Allegedly they misused their market dominance by demanding too high royalty rates for the licensing of patents protecting standardized technology, which necessarily must be implemented...
Posted by ipeg on August 26th, 2011
Now the master of new consumer technologies, Steve Jobs, announced his resignation on Wednesday as Apple CEO, attention is also given to the intellectual property aspects of Apple’s success. Mr. Jobs’s say over the minute details of Apple’s products is legendary in Silicon Valley. A look at the patents that carry his name, for these products and others, offers a glimpse into the range of his influence at Apple. NYT did just that, worth a read:
(see original publication in NY Times August 25 edition):
When people in the technology...
Posted by ipeg on January 22nd, 2011
Maybe we could learn from Apple how to use the “market hype” tool effectively in the sales process of patents. Take the auction of Nortel’s patents. Nortel Networks, the Canadian maker of switches, wireless gear and routers (competing with products from Cisco or Alcatel) went bankrupt early 2009. Along with the company now known as Alcatel Lucent, it computerized the operation of telephone networks during the 1980s. Nortel pioneered the development of equipment and software that brought the world wireless phone networks....
Posted by ipeg on May 23rd, 2010
The Nokia vs. Apple patent dispute entered a new stage. Nokia recently brought up a fresh patent infringement action against Apple, alleging that Apple’s new iPad product infringes five Nokia patents. At a first glance, the recent lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin could be seen as nothing special. A patent holder just asserts his patents against an alleged technology “theft”. But it looks as if there is more behind all this.
We remember the first act of the dispute in October...
European IP Case Law (IPPT)