Galaxy Tab Banned in Europe

[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".

Now that we all recognize that there is a line, the question is just what falls on what side of the line. I think frivolous patents limit consumer choice, waste government resources, and build monopolies. You are welcome to disagree, but I would prefer we keep charges of "naive" out of the fray. Let's keep it civil.

[elcreative]

Frivolous patents is a decision made by the courts... they don't just enforce an existing patent but can strike them out if problematic... disliking/disapproving doesn't make it frivolous unfortunately, even if it is...

[Polyphemus]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How do you save a drowning lawyer?

• you don't

• take your foot off his head

Why would you want to?

[HarryT]

The legal obligation of a corporation is to act in the best interests of its shareholders. But this does not always simply constitute maximising short-term profits, of course.

[murraypaul]

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.

They do, they just outsource it to other countries.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Polyphemus

Why would you want to?

So you could have the fun of pushing 'em under again...

[murraypaul]

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.

Well, Amazon's server farm did just go down...

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Frivolous patents is a decision made by the courts... they don't just enforce an existing patent but can strike them out if problematic... disliking/disapproving doesn't make it frivolous unfortunately, even if it is...

Fair enough that disliking a suit doesn't make it frivolous.

Can we at least agree that the line drawings design that Apple submitted would apply to almost every tablet on the market, most smart phones (if they were just s bit larger), and potentially the Nook Simple Touch form?

That is why I am calling the patent "frivolous". The concept of a tablet computer about-yea-big and with rounded edges is not, I think, something that should be patentable. The EU apparently disagrees, but that's another story.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

They do, they just outsource it to other countries.

Note that I said "argue in favor of" rather than "quietly do it anyway and hope no one notices".

[HarryT]

Can anyone clarify what "banned in Europe" actually means? I've checked a couple of UK web sites, and the TAB appears to still be available.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can anyone clarify what "banned in Europe" actually means? I've checked a couple of UK web sites, and the TAB appears to still be available.

Most likely that Samsung can't ship any more but existing stock still saleable but could also be on hold as it's likely Samsung are appealing the decision...

[anamardoll]

From the OP link:

A court in Germany Tuesday granted Apple (AAPL) a preliminary injunction barring distribution of the device in the entire European Union except The Netherlands.

...

Meanwhile the device, which was released in Britain last week and became, according to the Telegraph, the country's fastest-selling tablet since the iPad 2, must be removed from the shelves.

Don't know if the OP link is correct.

Supposedly an appeal will take 4 weeks before it can be heard and it has to be yanked in the meantime. And the appeal is heard by the same judge that issued the injunction, so...

[HarryT]

Thanks for that.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thanks for that.

If you can still order them online, maybe people will have a chance to grab 'em before they're gone.

[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:

“ I would bring up IP as a very important for differentiation (among Android vendors). We have a very large IP portfolio, and I think in the long term, as things settle down, you will see a meaningful difference in positions of many different Android players. Both, in terms of avoidance of royalties, as well as potentially being able to collect royalties. And that will make a big difference to people who have very strong IP positions.”