Galaxy Tab Banned in Europe

[afv011]

Originally Posted by kjk

Sounds like we may see even more patent fights, even between Android manufacturers themselves:
http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/08/1...ndroid-makers/

Motorola's CEO:

Way to go Motorola... The last thing Android needs is inner fights, there are already enough people trying to shut it down to start bringing it down from inside.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by afv011

Way to go Motorola... The last thing Android needs is inner fights, there are already enough people trying to shut it down to start bringing it down from inside.

I blame Carl Icahn

[HomeInMyShoes]

Someone needs to post the link to the Simpson's episode where they ask the question, "can you picture a world where there are no lawyers?"

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Someone needs to post the link to the Simpson's episode where they ask the question, "can you picture a world where there are no lawyers?"

Scary indeed.

[mgmueller]

I was strolling around in Augsburg today, your average sized German city.
I've seen Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in about 5 shops freely available: Vodafone store, Handystore, ...
Not the 10.1v anymore, not even from Vodafone.
Will be interesting to watch, whether 10.1 briefly will disappear...
Anyway: I don't like it anyway. 10.1v (the original "fat" one) at least did have a special back plate. But 10.1 is really standard. Looks more or less the same as Xoom...
Although I don''t find iPad that special, I have to say: For now, no contender is there already. PlayBook and TouchPad would have advantages on the OS front, but seriously lack apps. Honeycomb does have the diversity, but the iTunes experience still is missing.
Samsung doesn't seem to be the company to bring new ideas to the table. Maybe HTC with its next generation tablet will be able to compete with iPad2(3)?

[anamardoll]

I haven't played with the Tablet, but I enjoy my Captivate and that's a Samsung. There's also a strong CM7 community for the Samsung phones -- no reason to think there wouldn't be for the tablet as well, I imagine.

I'm really looking forward to the HTC for the pencil-writing, but that's in Patent Hell too, now, I hear.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

They do, they just outsource it to other countries.

That is exactly what I thought when I read his quote.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by afv011

Way to go Motorola... The last thing Android needs is inner fights, there are already enough people trying to shut it down to start bringing it down from inside.

So this is what we've learned from this:

To build a modern, mobile OS you have to build it from scratch, concept and all, as MS did with Windows Phone 7. Or you have to shrink your already licensed PC OS to the mobile world, as Apple did with iOS, and license the parts that infringe, also as Apple has done.

There is no "make a copy of whats out there and give it away for free to undercut the guys already in the market" scenario in this modern business environment.

Whats happening to Android is simply what happens in a competitive business environment.

[Harmon]

Harry, I realize it's not the fault of the court -- that's why I say they should have the option to review the patent at time of suit and say "no, this patent is ridiculous".

Actually, that's what can happen, at least in the US.

One defense to a patent infringement suit is that the patent is invalid because the patented idea is not one that should have been patentable in the first place.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I mean, they could have hired a bunch of super-spies to sneak into HTC, Samsung and Motorola's research centers and blow them up, but they didn't do that.

...mphh...gllgg...oh hell I can't resist...

There's an App for that.

<ducking>

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Actually, that's what can happen, at least in the US.

One defense to a patent infringement suit is that the patent is invalid because the patented idea is not one that should have been patentable in the first place.

That's true -- I forgot that the option is available because it's used so rarely.

I'd like something a little more cutthroat: You lose and/or have dismissed 3 suits over a certain patent? You automatically lose the patent and it's public domain forever. Would teach companies to not waste the court's time and to pick their battles wisely... But I'm edgy that way.

[din155]

Has someone noticed how much publicity in this patent battle, Galaxy line is getting free publicity? I am sure Samsung couldn’t have done this with advertising. A product that scared the mighty Jobs! Get them before they vanish!

din

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by TimW

That reminds me of the joke:

"What do you call 2,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?"

.
.
.

"A good start."

Toxic waste...

Heaven help me, my eldest son is studying to be a contract lawyer...

[Dylrob]

Normally I'm against such abuses of the patent laws without any reservation. But dear lord, Samsung isn't exactly subtle with their desire to emulate Apple.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

The fundamental directive of any corporation is NOT to maximize profit over all other considerations. If that were the case, then the majority of pro-capitalists would argue in favor of child-labor, wage-slavery, and other immoral methods to maximize profit.

Most people do not seriously argue in favor of these things because they recognize that there are more considerations than just "maximize profit no matter what".

With respect, the above is a non-sequitur. It does not follow from the fact that most pro-capitalists do not argue in favor of these things that it is not the duty of a corporation to maximize profit. In fact, to argue in favor of these things openly would most likely jeopardize the public image of whichever corporation or business interest the arguer is representing. This does not change the fact that these practices are still quite frequently used and that corporations with major clout benefit from them. I don't know how you define wage-slavery, but I imagine the sweat-shop practices that are common in much of latin America and south-east Asia would certainly qualify. The garment factories active in the Middle East, both in Israel and the Arab world, frequently use practices that differ little from outright slavery (such as stealing passports and using the threat of the police to extort extra labor and to get away with horrendous conditions). The struggle against child labour and for the eight hour day were class struggles waged by the workers themselves to regain some kind of control in the work place; they were not the gift of benign captains of industry. The fact that we find these practices problematic is indicative of two things: one, subjectively, we realize that we are far more likely to harmed by these practices than to benefit from them (i.e. we do have some class allegiance, however vestigial), and two, the widespread consensus on these issues, backed up by statute, serves to blind us to the fact that these practices are not just aberrations, but par for the course. Corporations frequently break the law or engage in behaviors that are harmful to the public when the accountants calculate that doing so will bring a greater profit than not doing so, after subtracting losses due to lawsuits, fines, bad publicity, etc. This is quite frequent in the financial world, as we all found out in 2008 (and are still in the midst of discovering). This practice in regards to the recall of potentially dangerous products is proverbial (having been popularized by the novel and movie Fight Club). That all being said, you'd be surprised at how quickly the pendulum can swing back: there was quite the hullabaloo in the news media over the winter about attempts to scale back child labor laws in various states in the US.