Apple Made A Deal With The Devil (No, Worse: A Patent Troll)

TechCrunch:

Over the last two years, Apple has been engaged in vicious legal battles over smartphone patents, many of which are aimed at squelching (or squeezing money out of) manufacturers of devices running Android. And now, for some reason, it has given valuable patents to a patent troll — which is using them to sue many of the top technology companies in the world.

Read the whole story: TechCrunch

Comments

[dukeofurl01]

04:06 AM on 12/12/2011

I hate it when Huff does this; post a tiny snippet of an article...and then refer you to another site.

[bmwracer]

12:33 AM on 12/12/2011

Apple made a deal with themselves?

[SFMichael]

11:10 PM on 12/11/2011

Yes, you only need to download LION, the new operating system, to see that Apple is indeed the Devil. this operating system slaps the face of all Loyal Apple Customers and ignores it's own design credo which is why everyone bought into he BRAND to begin with. With such blatant disregard to the feelings of it's customers, it surely is the devil. Now I'm sure the people at APPLE will say, "Needs? Feelings? ...What is that?" this is technology....

[firelord5000]

10:37 PM on 12/11/2011

Apple is the devil.

[KarateKid]

05:58 PM on 12/11/2011

From the article: "Apple appears to be one of these participants, and may be the unnamed leading consumer electronics company that Digitude boasted about this past spring."
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Appears"........"may" Those are the only two terms readers need to know. Another speculative article to whet the h8ers appetites, to get clicks. Click, cha ching.......

[ewj1]

02:58 PM on 12/11/2011

A$$le has made many deals with a variety of companies (Microsoft) and associations (RIAA, MPAA, etc). Most people do not care and most A$$le fanboys would not care if iPhones were being made from human flesh, they still would buy one.

[JohnTheMac]

05:18 PM on 12/11/2011

How do you go from making deals with Microsoft and the RIAA to making a phone from human flesh?

[flashfyre]

02:17 PM on 12/11/2011

I bought a mac mini some years ago and it is still viable, but that's the only apple product I own. It's a shame that companies like Apple, Oracle and MIcrosoft have to resort to legalism to lock customers in -- and the USPTO just keeps handing out these cheesy software patents to anyone who can pay. It's not protecting innovation -- it's a lockout scheme.

[JohnTheMac]

07:52 AM on 12/11/2011

new rule:
You can only talk about the insignificance of patents, and how stifling they are IF you actually hold a patent yourself.

[Israel4Ever]

08:21 AM on 12/11/2011

New rule: you don't get to make any rules

Apple the company that would rather litigate than innovate is at it again the patent laws in this country regarding technology IP began as hopefully out of date and became the tool of big IT to stifle legitimate competition by small vendors and to be used as a bludgeon to keep competition as far from the market as lawyer heavy and technology thin companies like Apple could get it. That is why Apple spent millions lobbying for the litigious expensive one sided changes recently enacted into patent law. That is why apple uses an overwhelmed and overtly complicity reglatiry apparatus the world over to do what it cannot in an open market, remain relevant and competitive. That is why apple pushed the very limits of sensibility and credibility in it's patent approach ( patenting gestures for crying out loud). That is why apple, rather than allow the industry growirganically, uses artificial anti-market mechanisms like continuous, paupering nuisance lawsuits to destroy any hint of real competition. Something no other tech company feels the need todo having faith in their respective ability to remain relevant through innovation and investment. Without the collusion of an anti-market court system, apple would be a shadow of it's current self.

[JohnTheMac]

09:09 AM on 12/11/2011

"That is why Apple spent millions lobbying for the litigious expensive one sided changes recently enacted into patent law."

Right, so our patent system is wrong. Yet somehow the systems in Europe, Asia, etc are all wrong too. Apple must have lobbied all over the world, right?

"That is why apple,...uses ... lawsuits to destroy .. competitio­n. Something no other tech company feels the need todo "

Really? no one else does this? I just imagined Moto sued Apple in Germany!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/motorola-wins-patent-lawsuit-against-apple-could-threaten-to-block-some-iphone-ipad-sales/2011/12/09/gIQAMyTLiO_story.html

If you can't take the patent system, stay on the porch.
If you can innovate by yourself, feel free to let everyone else copy your idea. You don't need no stinking patent! So anyway, tell us the different discoveries and breakthroughs YOU have made recently, and made open source?

[StinkyPete0279]

03:02 PM on 12/11/2011

How about "you can only talk about the insignific­ance of patents and how stifling they are IF you aren't defending a company that tried to patent 'square and plastic'"

[BlifCar]

06:39 PM on 12/10/2011

Many of these comments were quite obviously written by people who didn't bother to read the article.

[behavingbadly]

09:04 AM on 12/11/2011

... or generic comments like yours that could be applied to any random thread.

[Eris23]

12:11 PM on 12/11/2011

YR NOT ALLOWED TO RENT HERE ANYMOE!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jflorish]

05:33 PM on 12/10/2011

Patents have alot of good too, without them we wouldn't have most medicines, as no one would spend all that money to figure them out if there wasn't patents to protect them. Same with alot of technology.

[JasonMcl]

05:10 PM on 12/10/2011

"We have run out of companies with new and innovative ideas to buy!"

"AND we are totally unwilling to expand our product line beyond 3 models or license our OS to others who will!"

"What can we ever do now to keep other manufacturers from making better products than us while we do nothing!?!"

"I know! Let's get all of our competitor's products banned and force them to pay licensing fees until they go away! Then we won't have to innovate anymore!"

"EXCELLENT! Begin the litigation process!"

[JohnTheMac]

05:26 PM on 12/10/2011

Gee Jason, I think last time I checked, you were free to go get Moto Atraks for everyone on your shopping list. they're really hot items this year, better hurry. Shouldn't you be out doing so instead of having imaginary conversations with yourself?

[JasonMcl]

07:18 PM on 12/10/2011

Moto has dropped the ball, but Asus has picked it up and scored a touchdown, in case you haven't noticed by the reviews of the transformer prime lately.

That is what happens when you have multiple OEM's building hardware for your platform. You get innovation and competition, instead of releasing the same model over and over again with a few minor improvements.

Maybe in a few years Apple will let all iOS devices use SIRI (the software they bought directly from their app store so they could provide it exclusively to one phone model alone) instead of just the iPhone4S.

Oh and btw most TF Prime preorders are already sold out, so you may have to wait to get yours.

[JasonMcl]

03:44 PM on 12/11/2011

"Innovation? you do get every permutation of size and shape. They throw everything against the wall to see what sticks."

This is how innovation actually happens. You don't automatically assume you know what everyone wants, you try something new then "throw it to the wall" and see what people like.

If it was up to Apple, all phones would have a 3.5 inch screen and all tablets would have a 10.1 inch screen and there would be no variation whatsoever.

Instead you have an OPEN platform with OPEN development that is embraced by dozens of manufacturers who provide new ideas, variety and advance technology.

Apple is a closed platform with closed development that buys technology created by others for, use on multiple platforms, only to restrict it to one model of one platform of one device. This is hardly the first time this has happened either.

[ncconcernedcitizen]

04:34 PM on 12/10/2011

Our patent laws are insane and keep getting worse.

[LightShadow62]

06:56 PM on 12/10/2011

Like most everything else they are for sale to the highest bidder.

[The Dude67]

03:06 PM on 12/10/2011

Yeah we're operating in a "free market".

[SeekingClarity]

02:29 PM on 12/10/2011

Apple makes some very attractive and clever stuff, although its also pretty expensive. Despite their promoted image the company has always been a control freak. When I investigated buying one of the first generation Macintosh computers long ago, I was told (correctly or incorrectly) that I could only use Apple supplied peripherals (such as a printer) with it, which made its high price even higher. I went with assembling my own PCs because I could select and pay for the components I wanted. Even now, it seems like there are a lot more rules about what you can and can't do with Apple equipment and software.

[Soporifix]

05:47 PM on 12/10/2011

I suspect that if you gave enough tech knowledge to build your own computer, you probably have enough to figure out why Apple doesn't license its software.

[JohnTheMac]

07:12 AM on 12/11/2011

They would lose money.
They're not in business to lose money.

[Mark Dygert]

02:25 PM on 12/10/2011

If you can't innovate, litigate.

[J Smith 01]

03:40 PM on 12/10/2011

There are definitely a lot of parasites around. They don't make stuff, but they can take money awat from you. They are prevalent in the financial sector.