We have only just discussed Apples Chinese iPad rival ErenEben yesterday, so it is intriguing to see that Apple have stopped selling their iPad on the Chinese Amazon website, but why?

Could this be that the iPad 3 is on its way soon, or that Apple are in legal wrangles with the Chinese government over who owns the rights to the term “iPad”.

Apple in lawsuit with Chinese company Proview:

Apple are currently in legal dealings with a Chinese company going by the name of proview, this matter is related to the use of the term “iPad” which they claim Apple do not own the rights to as they bought it from a subsidiary who was not entitled to sell the name.

If a decision is made against Apple this could mean that they will not be able to sell their popular tablet in the China region, and will kick up quite a storm for the manufacturing relationships that Apple have with China.

Apple requested the pull:

It has been said in TechCruch that it was Apple who instigated the removal of the item from the store, which means that the whole situation is a bit of a mystery as proview have apparently not asked for Apple to stop the sale of the iPad in China.

With the iPad 3 release date imminent, and with proview rumoured to be seeking $1 billion to settle the dispute, there appears to be little trouble in big China right now.

We will be keeping a close ear and eye on this news.

The UK’s shadow minster for media Helen Goodman has been sharply critical of the UK governments handling of the UK 4G auction that is expected at the end of this year.

UK taxpayers losing out:

The Labour Councilor claims that UK taxpayers are losing out the longer the auction drags on, According to Goodman, money raised form the auction should be bringing in some £2 billion and £4 billion in capital, and with license fees expected to bring in some £300 million per year, the UK is seemingly short changed the longer this process drags on.

There is also a knock effect to the UK economy with improved communication and speeds meaning increased productivity and associated revenues.

In a statement related to the issue, the minister said,

“The auction could have taken place in 2010 but this government decided not to give Ofcom the backup to go ahead with the sale of 4G,”

She then went on to state that with so many mobile and internet users in rural areas looking for improved communication options, the delay was not helping these people either get online with faster speeds or have an improved mobile device that will help to bring them more freedom with communication but also more revenue for the government.

Networks to blame:

It is thought that that the battle to gain the best possible license between the networks is at the heart of the delays coupled with the delayed responses from government, as a result it looks likely that one of the biggest countries in Europe will actually be the last country to gain a 4G spectrum option.

Kettle black?:

This statement could be construed as sounding pretty rich, coming from an ex government who got some £23 billion from the sale of the 3G spectrum and to which the UK taxpayer now seems to be pretty seriously in the red despite….who cares about a few hundred million now…!?

In what looks like an attempt to tell the world that Kodak has value somewhere, Kodak has looked on Apple and HTC to get their legal guns out over patents once more.

Kodak fall from grace:

With talk of Kodak filing for bankruptcy protection last week, news that the NYSE was looking to delist the 130 year old company for trading with a value under $1 per share for so long comes as a surprise to many.

The Rochester based imaging giant has taken a fall from grace over recent years, and is looking to take a leaf out of Apples love of litigation.

The base of the claims lie with Kodak believing that both HTC and Apple are infringing some of their patents related to digital imaging, and more specifically image transmission and preview, with specific devices being pinpointed for the infringement, these include the Apple iPad, iPhones and iPods with HTC smartphones and tablets also infringing four of the key patents.

HTC also accused of the same Apple and RIM patent issues:

An ongoing two year old issue related to “image-preview” patents, and technology owned by Kodak, has now seen HTC included in the mix.

The lawsuits which were filed on Tuesday, I feel aim to highlight that the flailing Kodak Corp still has some residual value, in a bid to bump share prices up a little and make the world feel like nothing is wrong at the bad ship Kodak, the truth being far from this.

Kodak share price plummets over 12 years:

Kodak has seen its share price plummet in the last few years, and now currently sells shares at less than $1 each on average for the last month, from a much mightier $66 only 12 years ago, indeed only last week, news of the bankruptcy filing, sent Kodak shares down to a new record low of some $.36 each.

With an overall loss of 99% of market value in 12 years, that is one bad decade for Kodak.

Kodak share hike saves them getting delisted from NYSE:

Indeed only this week Kodak saw a much needed price hike sending shares closer to $1 for the first time in a long while, all on the back of an admission that they need to restructure and cut costs, but also perhaps on the back of threats from the New York Stock Exchange who have warned that Kodak’s shares will be ‘delisted’, or dropped, unless they stop looking so sickly.

If Kodak do indeed go under this year, we have provided a nice graphic for you to take a look at the once mighty company prior to their unfortunate demise.

Click here for History Of Kodak Infographic.

Talks of licensing deals worth over $1 billion are still ongoing with Apple and RIM so we will keep you posted on news related to this area.

What do you think of Kodak going under this year? Likely or unlikely?

Can you protect a persons identity after their death?

it would appear that there are only a few states in the US where some form of protection is offered to a person after their untimely departure from the land of the living, and those states include California and, Texas but not New York.

Apple will try to block Steve Jobs doll anyway:

Apple love a good lawsuit, so it was only expected that the freakish Steve Jobs doll that has been created by inicons would face some serious objections from Cupertino land, but have Apple got any basis for a challenge here?

In a letter to Inicons ahead of the expected February launch, Apple used the old chestnut that stopped the earlier figure of Steve Jobs created by M.I.C. Gadget from ever seeing the light of day, and sent a letter stating that:

“unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent […].”

However, Jeff Roberts of paid content seems to think that the doll will be legal, but only in some states:

“Apple’s legal claim is largely bogus. While people can indeed own rights to their likeness, those rights usually apply only to living people, unlike other forms of intellectual property like patents or copyrights, image rights do not survive beyond the grave in most places”

Stating that under US law “personality rights” only exist at state level, with only a few of these actually recognizing image rights after death, which includes California, Jobs’ birth state.

States that will likely ban the Steve Jobs doll:

States and countries that may see a ban base don image rights law after death:

[arrowlist]

US States that may ban sale of Steve Jobs Doll:

• Indiana
• Illinois
• Texas
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Florida
• California
• Ohio
• Washington
• New Jersey
• Nevada
• Nebraska

Countries:

• Germany
• Argentina

[/arrowlist]

What is the doll?

The doll will be made up of a number of pieces and will be a fairly realistic 1/6th scale version of the man himself. The pieces that will be included are two sets of spectacles, a movable head, a turtleneck black jumper, signature blue jeans, a black leather belt, sneekers, a pair of black socks, and a chair. There will also be two apples, and a backdrop which reads “one more thing”.

At $99 will you be buying this effigy of Steve jobs to worship and offer small Apples to on a regular basis, or will you be getting one to use it for some sort of voodoo shenanigans?

And is this doll in bad taste or is it a novel, and fun, way of remembering a man whom many consider of god like status, while others see him as a killer of all things innovation wise, while looking after number one?

Your thoughts on the matter please.

Have Kodak hit hard times and accepted that the show is over as bankruptcy looms:

Did you know that Kodak actually invented the Worlds first digital camera in 1975.

So, with Kodak having a huge list of “firsts” under their belt, it is rather a sad day when an originally innovative company such as Kodak, who had such global weight in the technology and imaging sector, looks like it will decide to file for bankruptcy as it can not compete in any of the territories it currently operates in, and in some cases dominated. Believing that Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is the way forward.

This type of bankruptcy gives a corporation some time to continue trading and hopefully find a rescue package while benefiting from certain bankruptcy rules that normally apply.

Kodak sell off patents:

When you are a 131 year old company with Kodak’s pedigree (albeit somewhat off kilter of recent years) you are likely to have some pretty juicy patents in the cupboard, and Kodak are well and truly in the market for selling some of these off.

With a rumored 1,100 patents Kodak are wanting to claw back some cash in the run up to the expected bankruptcy filing, and are hoping that they can then obtain a $1 billion package that will aid their operational requirements while they are going through the bankruptcy proceedings, with an unknown outcome at the end of this process.

Kodak bankruptcy will mean job losses?

With Kodak currently employing some 19,000 + people globally, many will be worried that this news could signal the death of the company that pays their wages in the coming months.

In a rather sombre note, Mr Eastman the Kodak founder took his own life aged 77 saying:

“To my friends, my work is done. Why wait?”

I wonder if his legacy will see Kodak the company see the same fate, or, if the raising of capital after the sale of patents and a rally for cash, will be enough to look into keeping other areas alive that Kodak operate in, though these look decidedly scary from an investors view.

With Kodak recently deciding to focus on the printer market and only managing to achieve just short of 3% market share in the months up to the end of 2011, what do you think Kodak should do?

Kodak’s Illustrious past:

Here is an infographic list of Kodak Historic Milestones achieved in their 130+ years of trading so far.

Is it likely they will find a buyer for the company while under chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, or will they slowly let the company die, while salvaging as much cash from the sale of patents on the way?

It is thought that ASUS will be revealing a new mini version of the Asus transformer prime tablet that currently sees them under scrutiny from Hasbro over the use of the words “transformer” and “prime”.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this month in Las Vegas will see the arrival of many new models and it is expected that it will be the showcase of the new ASUS transformer mini.

The new version is thought to be a 7 inch model of the 10 inch version, which will come with a smaller keyboard dock, the signature of the Asus Transformer Prime.

Asus want to be big in 2012 and distinctive:

There is expected to be a few other arrivals at the CES show and these include:

[arrowlist]

• Asus Padfone, a 4.3-inch Ice Cream Sandwich based smartphone which has the ability to turn into a tablet via a 10.1-inch touchscreen dock.
• 7-inch version of the Eee Memo Pad, with a rumoured 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon processor, 1280×800 resolution display, with Wi-Fi and 3G options.

[/arrowlist]

Will they keep the transformer name?

With Hasbro genuinely unhappy about the choice of names of the Asus transformer tablet, it may be unwise to carry on this potential legal disaster to another model even though in my eyes it seems pretty far fetched that they would have a leg to stand on, I am no lawyer and would not be the best person to pontificate on any outcome here, so if I was Asus, airing on the side of caution would be my instinct, especially as the transformers brand is growing from strength to strength currently.

Hasbro filed the action to sue in a LA court stating that the use of the term could lead to consumer confusion, and has requested that compensation be paid for damages related to the use of the term in current and future products.

Can the word “transformer” really be trademarked/patented/copyrighted?

Are you a lawyer in this field in the US?

If so, please do shed some light on the issue if you are, as it seems far fetched to me.

Barbara Finigan, Hasbro’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.

“Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products and the specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro’s willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain….the Transformers property is an incredibly popular global brand which enjoys tremendous fan support and interest around the world. The action we have announced today is in the best interests of our company and our shareholders.”

So like Apple, they are not taking things lightly and I am actually really excited to see what the outcome will be on this one.

Though if I was Asus I would counter sue Hasbro for making my new line of tablets sound like they are a kids toy….we had all pretty much forgotten the name until recently!…How rude Hasbro how rude.

HASBRO will sue ASUS over what they believe is a copycat name from their famous 1980’s television series.

We all remember the transformers cartoons from the 1980’s and the new variations on a theme, though you may not be aware that the toy firm HASBRO owns the transformers brand and line, and they have not been too happy that ASUS have decided to release a “transformer” tablet model and even worse in their eyes, added the term “Prime” onto the end.

So with the slightly random ASUS Transformer Prime release schedule rolling out in the US, we examine what areas HASBRO have issues with.

Yes, Optimus prime was the leader of the transformers, who battled the decepticons in every episode, using their ingenious and thoroughly outrageous method of “transforming”.

HASBRO are quoted saying:

“The specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro’s willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain.”

How they actually hope to prove that the word “transformer” and “prime” will have any benefit to ASUS driven from the television series or any detriment to HASBRO or the brand “Transformers” is beyond me, unless they own the copyright to very commonly used words, which they do not, then I see no way of this holding up and is seemingly an exercise in futility.

Can HASBRO really sue though?

Well they can always have go, the only real leg they have to stand on, is if they could prove that buyers of the new tablet could for one minute be under the belief that they were buying a licensed product in the ASUS Transformer Prime tablet, but it would seem a little far fetched that they would ever get anywhere as they both operate in such different markets. With ASUS hardly copying anything other than two words that are in common use anyway, but….the ASUS Transformer Prime can go from Tablet PC into Laptop in a few small moves, exactly like Optimus prime did, well…dont be stupid, its a sodding computer not a kids toy (arguably I suppose).

HASBRO you risk looking more ridiculous than if you just kept your nose out of this issue, as I see no benefit from starting another legal war related to mobile technology….spare us more of these stories for 2012 please.

BT sues Google:

The Google Android operating system is one of the most heavily attacked O/S’s we have covered, with litigation from Microsoft, Apple and Oracle all under way in US courts, all with varying issues relating to patents that they claim Google’s Android operating system has stolen or copied extensively.

Now we can add BT to the mix, formerly known as British Telecom, who have been in the mobile game since its birth with a side arm originally called Cellnet, under this guise they invested billions into technology and in total they now own some 5000+ mobile technology related patents, and in the last 5 years have invested over £5 billion into their mobile division.

In a statement relating to the claim, BT said:

“BT can confirm that it has commenced legal proceedings against Google Inc by filing a claim with the US District Court of Delaware for patent infringement. BT’s constant investment in innovation has seen it develop a large portfolio of patents which are valuable corporate assets. This is about protecting BT’s investment in its intellectual property rights and innovation.”

What do BT claim infringements on:

A number of areas are being looked into from BT and these include:

[arrowlist]

• Access to mobile services and content.
• Navigation and guidance information.
• technology related to location-based services

[/arrowlist]

Android not the only area that Google is under attack from BT:

The ramifications of these allegations for Google spread much deeper than just the Android O/S, with BT claiming that the patent issues are present in Google’s map technology, advertising platforms, and music division, as well as the Android O/S.

BT filed civil suit in Delaware court:

BT have filed their claim with a court in Delaware, claiming infringements of one or more of its six patents, and has asked that the case be trialled by jury and that unspecified damages are included.

Google claim that the proceedings are “without merit” and that it would vigorously defend itself against them.

Here is a list of the services that BT claim Google infringe from their own patents and applications:

[arrowlist]

• Storage, retrieval and delivery of location-based activities of Google’s search engine
• Android
• AdMob
• AdSense
• Gmail
• Google+
• Google Maps
• Google Offers
• Google Location

[/arrowlist]

Compensation sought from Google:

BT claim that Google have obtained a substantial benefit from these products and services, and that litigation aims to include and obtain some sort of recompense for the use of BT’s patents and applications without their consent.

Nothing new in mobile land:

The fact of the matter is that with the rise of smartphone technology being so lucrative to device manufacturers and related software owners, a patent war has broken out in almost every nook and crevice in the mobile technology industry, we have covered the issue extensively over the last 6 months, with many companies involved in serious legal challenges after rival corporations have either bought the rights to existing patents (patent trolling) or looked back at their own catalogue of patents and hoped to find some areas of similarity that they could pin point on technology or software that a rival had “copycatted” in their own design or build.

Landmark case between HTC and Apple to be finalized soon:

Android are under serious threat from Apple patents, and a new ruling could be the beginning of further issues for Google.

It is expected that The ITC (International Trade Commission) will today deliver a result on a case that has serious consequences for HTC and involves the manufacture of Android based phones, this will have implications on Google’s Android O/S which it has so far managed to avoid from previous and ongoing challenges.

Could 2012 be the year the law took down a giant?

Yes, drivers in the US could be affected by a move to ban mobile phones while driving, and we are not taking about blatantly engaging in a call with the device to your ear, we are talking about engaging on twitter, texting, updating to facebook, etc.

National Transportation Safety Board cite smartphone increase as reason:

The National Transportation Safety Board has raised their concerns after pointing out that the increased functionality of smartphones has lead to more people feeling the need to use their device when they should be more concentrated on the road ahead.

Ban on texting, tweeting and even calling on bluetooth?

I am not one for rash decision making when it affects a persons overall freedom and criminalizes more for stupid errors.

But, I can see how texting and tweeting and generally meddling with a phone while driving could be dangerous.

I do however strongly object to anyone criminalizing a driver for talking using bluetooth, otherwise it would surely have to be law that you would also have to drive without talking to your passenger, or changing your air temperature or dials for volume etc and how dangerous would that be!

In fact I would argue that excessive noise while driving was more dangerous than talking on bluetooth due to the lack of awareness that is created when deafened by loud music.

Growing concern over gadgets in general:

NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman has stated that they are worried about devices in general:

“Every year, new devices are being released, people are tempted to update their Facebook page, they are tempted to tweet, as if sitting at a desk. But they are driving a car.”

Not likely to be adopted:

There are no statutory obligations for states to adopt the recommendations, and initial polls appear to show that no state will.

But a seed has been planted, and I dare say that some measures suggested will be implemented in time.

Perhaps the economic misery of the US may have more of a say right now rather than seemingly “draconian” measures to reduce road accidents.

Current law situation on driving in the US:

Unlike the UK which banned talking on a mobile while driving years ago (Bluetooth/Hands-Free is OK), the US only sees 9 states with the same ban on talking while driving, and 35 states have made texting and driving illegal.

As a last statement against the naysayers to these proposed laws, the National Transportation Safety Board say:

“We’re not here to win a popularity contest. We’re here to do the right thing. This is a difficult recommendation, but it’s the right recommendation and it’s time.”

While many believe that the move will not be a vote winner in general, the fact that a ban on in car communication via mobiles could hurt industry in the US in terms of manufacturing products for cars and general consumer devices, seems to be one of the other main reasons that these measures will not be adopted any time soon.

International pressure mounts:

In 2010, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, had looked to address the culture of multitasking while driving. And, some 30 countries have laws restricting the use of mobiles while driving, including complete bans in Germany and Portugal, so is the US being slow in looking after its Citizens or is the rest of the world being overly cautious with full bans?

It seems that Samsung are under fire from Apple in so may territories and countries that the South Korean smartphone and tablet manufacturer can not even begin to stand up before the Apple legal team come knocking!

10 countries and 4 continents:

Yes Samsung are currently at loggerheads with Apples legal team in 10 countries in 4 continents and this includes huge wealthy territories such as Germany, UK, US, France, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Good news at last?

Are Samsung out of the legal mire?

Additionally to potentially good news for Samsung which we reported yesterday, where the Australian federal court had ruled that a prior ban on the sale of the galaxy tab was incorrect, it seems that Samsung may have won a benchmark ruling in the US also.

A court in California has ruled that the bid to block the Galaxy tab and Galaxy smartphone from being sold is not going to be upheld.

Judge Lucy Koh said:

“It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed. Indeed, given the evidence Samsung presented, it seems likely that a major beneficiary of an injunction would be other smartphone manufacturers.”

The preliminary injunction which would force Samsung to remove their Galaxy products from sale was deemed to be an excessive and extraordinary measure to take at this stage.

The lawsuit started in April and surrounds three design and one software patent that Apple disputed. This ruling may not see Samsung win the cases it is currently involved in, but may see a halt to the “guilty before verdict” precedents that seem to have been set in many areas.

Make no bones about it, the following article is potentially one of immense concern to many users of mobile devices.

And centres around a little known mobile analytics’s company called Carrier IQ.

So what exactly is Carrier IQ?

Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher and other mobile security personnel and firms have found information about Carrier IQ that seems to suggest that the unknown software sits very quietly at the back of devices and is pretty difficult to remove.

In this video Trevor Eckhart explains his findings and concerns:

Carrier IQ runs hidden in the background of a users mobile device and does not require any current authorisation to function.

On the Android operating system the software can track and report on the following:

Keystrokes, storing text messages, location tracking, recording telephone calls, and other areas.

What the software looks to do is to record users movements and actions under the pretence that this will be used by manufacturers to solve bug issues and other device specific manufacturing issues relating to the 140,000,000 devices that the software is already installed on.

140 Million devices have the Carrier IQ software installed on them:

So as you may imagine the company and it’s software are not particularly in the good books of the likes of mobile security researchers, legal critics and privacy advocates.

Partners allegedly include:

[arrowlist]

• Samsung
• Verizon
• RIM
• Nokia
• Sprint
• HTC
• Apple

[/arrowlist]

Which phones and carriers have Carrier IQ installed?

So what do the carriers and device manufacturers think of this technology and how open are they all about using it?

HTC blames carriers:

In a shrewd move by HTC, they simply pass the buck to the carriers. But have said that they will now look to an opt out option, which possibly should have been always available.

“It is important to note that HTC is not a customer or partner of Carrier IQ and does not receive data from the application, the company, or carriers that partner with Carrier IQ. HTC is investigating the option to allow consumers to opt-out of data collection by the Carrier IQ application.”

“Carrier IQ is required on devices by a number of U.S carriers so if consumers or media have any questions about the practices relating to, or data collected by, Carrier IQ we’d advise them to contact their carrier.”

Sprint and AT&T statement:

Sprint and AT&T have confirmed that they do use Carrier IQ on their handsets, and cite “network” performance as the sole reason for it’s adoption.

Microsoft statement:

Joe Belfiore has stated that Windows phones do not use carrier IQ.

Apple statement:

“We stopped supporting CarrierIQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.”

VZW corporate communications statement:

Jeffrey Nelson of VZW corporate communications has confirmed that Carrier IQ isn’t on any of its handsets.

UK device owners not affected:

Apparently UK device owners are not affected by the Carrier IQ software we will report more on this in a later article related solely to the UK.

Opt-In Policy missing:

Wiretap laws have been violated according to one legal professional.

Paul Ohm was a former prosecutor for the Department of Justice and is currently a professor at the University of Colorado Law School.

Mr Ohm has stated that based on the companies “assumed” prior (all things being so hush hush) collection of users text messages data, then there could be calls for a class action related to privacy, especially taking into account the lack of an opt in option:

“In the next days or weeks, someone will sue, and then this company is tangled up in very expensive litigation. It’s almost certain.”

What you can do to remove the software:

Trevor Eckhart has released an application called TestApp (pro and free), which requires your phone to be rooted. Once done, there appears to be quite a good chance that you can remove the software entirely, another way you can halt Carrier IQ is to install a custom ROM.

Now check out the dislikes on this company video:

Thank to Engadget a little more clarity can be obtained related to the information contained in the above video:

“it is not recording keystrokes”

Apparently contradictory to Carrier IQ’s assertion that it “does not collect keystrokes” is the company’s patent application #20110106942, published May 5, 2011. An excerpt of the claims follows:

2. A method for collecting data at a server coupled to a communications network, comprising: transmitting to a device a data collection profile, wherein the data collection profile comprises a plurality of parameters defining a set of data to be collected by the device, a first condition under which the set of data is to be collected, and a second condition under which the set of data is to be transmitted; and receiving from the device the set of data collected in response to the second condition.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of data relates to an end user’s interaction with the device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interaction with the device comprises the end user’s pressing of keys on the device.

We will keep you posted on the future legal wrangles of this company and assess outcomes as and when they occur.

After reporting about the U-turn the other day, news in has confirmed that the FCC has granted approval for the withdrawal of AT&T’s $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA.

Not without drama, it appears that two public bodies going by the names of “Public Knowledge” and “Media Access Project” both asked for the documents related to the deal to be published, this was in order to prevent AT&T from revoking its application.

This however did not stop the decision being made.

AT&T to focus on law suit:

When AT&T informed people that they were looking to withdraw from the purchase of T-Mobile USA people wanted to know why.

The reason given is that they are looking to focus on a law suit brought against them by the Department of Justice.

This issue is likely to see a February start in the courts, and once competed, and should AT&T win, it is thought that they will pick up where they left off and reapply for the takeover of T-Mobile USA.

Meanwhile both Media Access Project and Public Knowledge argue that AT&T will have “unfairly exhausted the resources of it’s competitors” by this time.

Yes the litigation season sees no end in the tech world.

We will keep you up to date with the goings on between these two companies as and when news occurs.

Well it has been a bit of a debacle since its inception many months ago, and now the strong opposition to the proposed takeover coupled with other factors are now likely to lead to the collapse of the proposed takeover.

US regulators oppose the anticompetitive nature of the takeover:

One of the main issues that presents corporate takeovers in the US is when they decide to takeover or merge with similar companies. In these cases the anti-trust legislators, and other Government bodies set up to ensure that monopolies and oligopolies are not stifling job growth, and reducing a marketplaces overall competitiveness at the detriment to consumers starts to make life tough, if they suspect the issues raised will be a factor should the desired outcome go ahead.

A number of key opposer’s to the takeover:

There is a couple of key bodies who oppose this move and they are affecting the takeover, they include the Department Of Justice (DOJ) and The Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC is quoted saying:

Any such merger….“would result in a massive loss of U.S. jobs and investment”.

This is backed up by the fact that there would only be three main carriers left in the US, with a lack of competition in such a huge marketplace thought likely to lead to job losses.

Application removed for now with $4 billion charge:

With approval of the $39 billion takeover still in the balance, both companies still look to pursue the sale eventually, though both have decided to remove the application for now and look to a later date to resubmit this. It has to be said that this is not guaranteed until the FCC has approved the removal of the application, and even if it does get approved the DOJ could block the resubmission at a later date.

The actual decision to postpone events comes at a cost of $4 billion to AT&T who appear to have lost confidence that the deal woudl get approved and perhaps looked set to lose more money the longer the process went on.

Though both companies would go back to the FCC process if approval was granted from the DOJ

“AT&T Inc and Deutsche Telekom AG are continuing to pursue the sale of Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. wireless assets to AT&T”.

Chief Executive of AT&T Randall Stephenson was seen to be very optimist back in March when the deal was first muted, and taking this charge shows just how shaky the US recovery is right now, if the talk of job losses as a result of this merger was to be believed.

Some talk of AT&T selling its wireless spectrum before full collapse:

There is however some talk that AT&T may look to sell some of it’s existing wireless spectrum to MetroPCS Communications (PCS) and Leap Wireless (LEAP) to appease competitive issues .

Samsung bowed down to a court ruling related to the sale of their popular tablet in Germany after a ruling many weeks ago declared that the tablet was rather too close to the Apple iPad, the result of which has meant that the South Korean firm have gone away and after withdrawing their tablet from this huge market, have now come back with a revised design that has an altered metal frame and a shift of speaker position to counteract copycat claims.

New Galaxy tab specifically for Germany:

The new design will be released to Germans on the 21st November just in time for Christmas and should allow Samsung a chance to gain a little more traction with their otherwise popular Galaxy tablet in the biggest European marketplace.

Samsung fight back:

The legal landscape between Apple and Samsung sees many cases being fought between the firms, it has all got really rather messy in the smartphone and tablet arena for the two tech giants.

Samsung have retaliated heavily with an attempt to ban the iPhone 4 from sale in France, Italy, Germany and Australia. A hearing in Paris due on the 18th of November will show if Samsung will have one up on Apple in time for the festive period after being shut out of Germany for so long with their Galaxy tab.

Apple involved with many lawsuits:

Samsung is not the only company involved in disputes with Apples legal team, though their are currently around 30 cases between the two firms globally.

Nokia, Microsoft, and HTC are also Involved in litigation with Samsung with Microsoft, Nokia and HTC challenging Apple over over the use of the term “app store”.

We expect a fair bit more of this type of tit for tat to occur as technology looks more and more similar month by month, any pressure put on manufacturers to delay release dates or recall already released models significantly affects a model’s chances of getting traction prior to a new release by a competitor, so this legal “game” is pretty much par for the course now in the fast moving mobile tech world.

Following the recent ban on the sale of the highly anticipated Galaxy 10.1 tab in Europe due to patent problems by a German court which we covered on the 11th of August.

Now a Dutch judge has issued a further injunction that seems to have banned the sale of some Samsung Galaxy smartphones, namely the Galaxy S, S2, and Ace from October the 13th, the reason stated was that Samsung had once again breached a patent copyright of Apples.

Apple had put forward a number of patents in question but only one stood out as relevant to the court:

The infringing patent was the “method of scrolling” or patent number 2,059,868.

Ban currently EU wide

While the ban is EU wide this does not mean that all countries in Europe are affected. The following countries are able to sell the device as normal:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain.

Update

In response to this it has been noticed online via tweakers.net that Samsung has said that it will simply replace the offending software that encroaches on Apples patent, which once implemented should allow Samsung to be able to continue to sell the phone in Europe as it will be sorted before the October deadline.

Second ruling in two weeks by European court ion Samsung devices

The second ruling by an international law court in two weeks must have Samsung worried that more patent issues may rear there ugly head and cause problems in Europe and potentially elsewhere. Maybe it is time Samsung bought a well known technology company with lots of lovely tech patents in the filing cabinets.

Now I wonder which tech company that could benefit Samsung is currently looking like it could be gobbled up at a reasonable price?

We have been covering many of the legal issue that are currently doing the rounds within the high tech mobile device market.

Apple have their claws into Samsung and Google over a whole manner of patents they feel have been stolen and are contained within the Galaxy 10.1 as well as other devices.

The fastest selling tablet since the iPad 2 stopped dead in its tracks:

The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 which launched in Britain in early August will now have to be removed from stores due to a decision by law courts in Germany, Samsung will also have to stop marketing the product.

Preliminary injunction to blame:

It was a regional court in Düsseldorf, Germany that granted the injunction on behalf of Apple inc, this for now halts the sale and marketing of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet and currently covers all of Europe apart from the Netherlands.

The judge presiding decided that Apple was correct in believing that the tablet had copied parts of the Apple iPad 2

Samsung can appeal:

While the judgement is in place no Samsung 10.1 tabs can be sold or marketed within the restricted zone set out in the judgement, however Samsung can appeal but will not see the current ban lifted until it was heard and a decision made in Samsung’s favour, this will take at at least four weeks from now.

Apple have separate lawsuit in the Netherlands

Florian Muller an Intellectual property analyst has stated in a blog post that:

“The exception of the Netherlands is due to the aforementioned separate legal proceeding in that country. That exception relates only to Samsung’s Korean parent company, not to the German subsidiary.”

The larger cousin to Samsung’s original 7 inch offering – the plain old Galaxy tab, is a very close naughty cousin to the iPad 2 and is also a slimmer model to its unhappy family member and now has a similar sized screen.

Apple have released a statement from a spokesperson working at Apple inc saying:

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

On the flip-side Samsung’s spokespeople have only just released statements after saying that the company would not be commenting on legal proceedings.

Here is what Samsung have finally said about the legal problems facing the Samsung Galaxy 10.2 tab:

“Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision and we intend to act immediately to defend our intellectual property rights through the ongoing legal proceedings in Germany and will continue to actively defend these rights throughout the world.”

“We will take all necessary measures to ensure Samsung’s innovative mobile communications devices are available to customers in Europe and around the world.”

“The request for an injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung, and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung.”

Second injunction from Apple related to the Samsung 10.1 tablet:

With the Australian launch of the Samsung 10.1 galaxy tablet delayed indefinitely after Apple filed a complaint to the Australian courts, and Apple also suing Samsung back in April for further perceived infringements of trademarks and patented technology, it is quite seriously hotting up in the legal arena related to the mobile market for smartphone and tablet devices. Samsung have also released counter claims related to their own technology and Apple’s alleged misuse.

So how annoyed are you that this is happening…were you looking forward to getting you hands on the Samsung 10.1 only to have a German court stop the sale of the item in its tracks?

Google has splashed out an undisclosed amount on around 1000 patents from IBM as Google attempts to create a patent portfolio that will help mitigate further legal battles that have caused concerns over their Android operating system among other things.

“Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business needs,”

“Bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one will win.”

Google records 1030 patents bought in mid-July

So what have Google gone and bought?

The patents seem to range from microprocessors to memory architecture, incorporating servers and routers, so a mixed bag of technical tricks.

Google bid $900 million for Nortel patents:

In an audacious move in April 2011 Google put a bid in for 6000 of Nortel’s patents and apparently offered a stupidly high figure of $900 million. This would have given them legal rights to many patents that could help them to stave litigation in the future and put them in very strong legal standings moving forward as they have done into manufacturing and software.

Google making sure it does not lose out a second time:

Google however missed out on the chance to obtain the 6,000 patents owned by the Canadian company Nortel.

The winners of that particular sale were a consortium that contained tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple, EMC, RIM, Sony and Ericsson.

And the amount paid for these patents was a massive $4.5 billion.

Google currently being sued

We have already discussed many of Google’s current legal battles, and they are not the only tech companies that are involved in high end litigation regarding manufacturing and software.

Google Versus Oracle

In an earlier report we covered the ongoing legal battle between Oracle and Google over the Android operating system.

This battle is far from over. Though from cursory observation it appears that the damage will not be as severe as Google had feared initially, or indeed as heavy as Oracle would have liked, but the case is far from over.

Time will tell who will be the winners and losers out of all this litigation. One thing for sure is that the legal teams for the companies concerned are certainly rubbing their hands together…and they will be hoping that the magic dust does not settle any time soon, I am sure.

A recent judgement that has ruled that HTC have infringed Apple patents which could pose a serious long term threat to the Android brand and market.

Apple going litigation crazy:

With a lack of new products emerging from Apple in recent times, we have to ask the question if Apple corp. is too busy fighting legal wrangles to dedicate time to product development.

Of course this is not the case, but Apple have been seen to protect patents related to their mobile market very aggressively of late.

International Trade Commission ruling repercussions

The recent ruling by the International Trade Commission was found to uphold the infringements that Apple claimed on two counts related to the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC who use Android as the O/S for a huge percentage of its phones.

The judgements are only preliminary at the moment and will be subject to a further review, however should they be upheld they related to fundamental operations of the Android operating system and have far ranging impacts for Google and other manufacturers.

The patents that are under review following the judgement are:

No. 5,946,647: system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data

No. 6,343,263: real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data

With Microsoft and Oracle already trying to win legal battles against the Android operating system. If the infringements are upheld it could force HTC and other manufacturers to remove some functionality in order to continue integrating the Android O/S in their mobile devices including smart phones and tablets.

Larry Page shows immaturity related to legal issues

With Google laying claim to some 700 patents, mainly relating to products rather than wireless software, a bid for Nortel’s 6000+ patents related to Telecoms and mobile communications, was seen as a move to ensure that future legal battles were nipped in the bud early, unfortunately most of the wholesale sale of these patents were snapped up by Apple and Microsoft.

When questioned about the large issues surrounding Android Larry Page the co founder of Google, was seen to dodge the main issue and boats about the number of devices that were being activated on a daily basis (around 500,000+ per day) and was found to suggest that they could develop patents as a natural growth of the Android O/S and would not need to buy or earn any mobile software patents, a very dangerous and seemingly naive standpoint considering the relative maturity in tech terms of the mobile phone software market, and the stakes resting on their own Android O/S with its lack of original patents.

Battle of the Giants on the cards?

However successful HTC has been in the last 14 years, it is shadowed by the might of a player such as Apple or Google, and with Apple going for the blood line of Android, its manufacturing base, with litigation against Motorola, Samsung and now HTC. Could the mobile world be squaring up for an eventual stab at the jugular of Google and Android once its manufacturing partners have been disarmed or wounded and perhaps see the likes of Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Nokia and others all enter the fray?

With the first round won by Apple, Microsoft and Oracle will likely be spurned on to continue their own patent claims in the hope that things could be swinging their way.

Could Windows Phone O/S benefit hugely from this insecurity from a manufacturing point of view?

Could a potential decline in the Android O/S due to concerns over its legal position lead to a very fortuitous position for the recent Nokia and Microsoft partnership and the future of Windows phone 7 O/S and Meego.

Apple app store legal battle: Are you confused yet?

We have already reported that Apple were in litigation with Amazon over the use of their own “App store”. The judge presiding over the case does however actually agree with Apple that the term “App Store” is not actually a generic term, as both Microsoft and Amazon have claimed. However, the real legal issue is related to a “likelihood of confusion” and the judge in this case has stated that the term “App Store” did not meet the required “likelihood of confusion” provision necessary to validate an immediate injunction against its use…note the term “immediate” however, time will tell what may happen in the future.

Apples new battle with GetJar a battle too far?

It would appear that Apple really do feel that they have some god given right to the term. They have cited earlier marketing efforts and huge expenditure as a reason to justify such claims be upheld and as a rational man I can understand them wanting to at least try to defend a term that does have a huge correlation to Apple. Though the truth is the claim can never really hold up currently as the term “App Store” is not a trademark, despite efforts to secure this by Apple.

Claiming that punters would get confused by the Amazon App Store and Apples App store for instance is just condescending to owners of mobile devices, surely?

GetJar still telling Apple to stick it up their Apps:

On a recent blog post GetJar have basically told Apple to sod off. And goes on to inform the reader that they stick by their position as they are not really competing with Apple, but are more like an affiliate who push visitors to the Apple App Store anyway.

I suppose Apple would say that they are pushing people to the Android market also, but without a trademark to the term App Store how can Apple get way with such a request and except this to be acted upon?

GetJar state that they have been running since 2005 (before the release of the iPhone) and that they have been operating while using the term “App store” since 2009 without any problems…..i.e Apple were very happy for GetJar to initially push their own applications before the release of competitor apps.

Apple lose face with too many Legal battles?

We reported the other week that it appeared that Apple were in a legal frenzy currently, with rifts between manufacturers, retailers, and god knows who else. Is Apple in danger of looking a bit like a sacred millionaire who has built his castle but now fears anyone who comes close to admire it?

Getjar Facebook group to help developers deal with Apple:

GetJar has now started a Facebook group called “The Open and Free App Movement,” and is aimed at helping developers understand and organise their efforts related to Apple when Apple send legal threats and people are unsure what to do and perhaps need some advice from their peers….they are quoted as saying; “people are sick of this crap”.

What do you think of Apples current legal battles, are they justified or do you think the are muddying Apples name?