Apple may be using patent troll to do its legal dirty work

[god_43]

It appears that Apple has made a deal with patent troll Digitude Innnovations to help the company's efforts to sue nearly every major mobile device maker. Digitude earlier this month launched one of its first legal attacks against Nokia, RIM, Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony, and even Amazon, filing a patent infringement claim with the International Trade Commission. Conspicuously absent from that list is iPhone maker Apple, which until late November owned two of the patents being used to target "certain mobile devices" from its competitors.

As discovered by TechCrunch, Apple recently transferred ownership of a dozen patents to a shell company called Cliff Island LLC, which happens to share a New York office with the investment firm Altitude Capital Partners. Like Virginia-based Digitude, Altitude was founded by investor Robert Kramer.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...dirty-work.ars


....why cant apple just die...lol we need a holiday miracle man!

[Sailindawg]

Just when I start to like my iphone 4, Apple acts like es and ruins the vibe. Good Job! Copying Rambus' business model.

[[XC] gomeler]

Blame the patent system. Apple, being the money making machine it is, is abusing the out of said system.

[zanzabar]

Blame the patent system. Apple, being the money making machine it is, is abusing the out of said system.

why not blame both, its one thing for apple to be a troll but its another to not be transparent and use shell corps since it dose not look good and people loose respect/loyalty when u are being a troll. and if apple loose this with a shell corp that has no money of its own the companies that they sued wont have a way to get damages from the troll when they (the troll) loose

[eXa]

If i killed a family member of yours because i could get away with it ("broken" legal system or something), would you blame the system?

The system may be broken, but Apple is still F***** A holes for doing alot of what they do...

[Dainas]

If i killed a family member of yours because i could get away with it ("broken" legal system or something), would you blame the system?

The system may be broken, but Apple is still F***** A holes for doing alot of what they do...

Amen, but that does not absolve the lawmakers at all for their part as enablers. The sad thing is that Apple is a company beloved by the masses, unlike the faceless Rambus whose sour note resonated in nearly all of us, not just those aware of previous incidents.

[Otis11]

The more I read, the more I hate Apple?

Coincidence?

[STEvil]

As discovered by TechCrunch, Apple recently transferred ownership of a dozen patents to a shell company called Cliff Island LLC,

dangerous move, if samsung/nokia/google were smart they would find a way to do a hostile take-over or something.

[zanzabar]

dangerous move, if samsung/nokia/google were smart they would find a way to do a hostile take-over or something.

u cannot really take over a private company. and when rambus dose the troll companies they owe rambus a load of money out of the hole so they cannot loose assets if the company incurs damages as they owe rambus money 1st and have agreements to not loose the debt in bankruptcy.

[god_43]

i hate apple.....this news makes me a saaad panda.

[kromosto]

it is just apple saw his murder by android. they are just trying to get more time thats all.

[XSAlliN]

That's all Apple does this days - tries to win easy and undeserved income... they patent so many stuff - that some would say that they invented everything tech related - even if that technology was available 10 years ago. When the others retaliated - they got so desperate that turn to Digitude, which is the biggest abuser of all...

Apple's future in terms of tech development - is pretty fuzzy anyway, so maybe that's the only thing left for them...

[god_43]

That's all Apple does this days - tries to win easy and undeserved income... they patent so many stuff - that some would say that they invented everything tech related - even if that technology was available 10 years ago. When the others retaliated - they got so desperate that turn to Digitude, which is the biggest abuser of all...

Apple's future in terms of tech development - is pretty fuzzy anyway, so maybe that's the only thing left for them...

see this is what i dont understand, its like for the last 20+ years ppl think that apple has been this saint that has always played fair, when in fact this is who they have always been? remember the court case against Microsoft? they tried to claim that the gui was theirs alone, the audacity that they have shown is sickening.

[kromosto]

see this is what i dont understand, its like for the last 20+ years ppl think that apple has been this saint that has always played fair, when in fact this is who they have always been? remember the court case against Microsoft? they tried to claim that the gui was theirs alone, the audacity that they have shown is sickening.

this what they have always been but older days apple has not much to compete. they have their own products which had its own market. but now they are sharing market and trying to get more share by this acts.

[XSAlliN]

Back then it wasn't that obvious... or should i say - this part covered 10% of their interest - wile now it's around 80%. As if Apple is dying and they try to milk every drop they can get, even at the cost of destroying their image.

[DeathReborn]

why not blame both, its one thing for apple to be a troll but its another to not be transparent and use shell corps since it dose not look good and people loose respect/loyalty when u are being a troll. and if apple loose this with a shell corp that has no money of its own the companies that they sued wont have a way to get damages from the troll when they (the troll) loose

They may not be able to get the billions they deserve if the shell loses but they could acquire the patents in lieu of monetary damages. This would in effect be a massive pain for Apple as they could use those very patents against Apple.

[Otis11]

They may not be able to get the billions they deserve if the shell loses but they could acquire the patents in lieu of monetary damages. This would in effect be a massive pain for Apple as they could use those very patents against Apple.

Ohhh.... goodie.

Hope they take the patents and just drop it.

[davidkozat]

You guys still surprise of the tricks Close-Source companies use to exploit the market? Am not anymore next Windows will sue all logos that display the colours red green blue and yellow (chrome colours thats weird... )

[JohnZS]

Well, it seems to me that Apple are turning into RAMBUS as of late because they have little to offer to the table so are buttering up lawyers and running around in iPanic mode trying to find as many concepts as possible to get their greedy iTroll patent hands on (lets hope they are not holding them correctly eh?).

The delayed iPhone 4S did not really stand head and shoulders above the competition, the iPad 3 is going to look pretty ordinary compared to Tegra 3 based tablets, and now intel and AMD are about to hop on the Android Alliance (sic) Millennium Falcon.

I fear that Android might not fair too well in 2012 due to various influences on certain judges within certain courts beyond our comprehension. In my opinion we are seeing some of this odd behaviour by judges already, for example the sliding to unlock rulings.

It has been said that Apple are trying to prevent Samsung from producing Rectangular phones and they are readily patenting concepts as opposed to real working DETAILED ideas? Sound Familiar?

From Le Fud

So here are some of Apple’s priceless design guidelines for smartphones:

Front surface that isn’t black.
Overall shape that isn’t rectangular, or doesn’t have rounded corners.
Display screens that aren’t centered on the front face and have substantial lateral borders.
Non-horizontal speaker slots.
Front surfaces with substantial adornment.
No front bezel.

Not to be outdone in the lunacy department, here are some tablet suggestions as well:

Overall shape that isn’t rectangular, or doesn’t have rounded corners.
Thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface.
Front surface that isn’t entirely flat.
Profiles that aren’t thin.

So to summarise, Apple are now becoming nothing more than a glorified patent whoring iTroll as in my opinion Apple did NOT invent Black Front Surfaces, nor did they invent the shape we all know as the Rectangle


John

[cx-ray]

Samsung counters Apple once again. Apparently, they own smileys and emoticons on cell phones:
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...-four-new.html
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publi...7B1&KC=B1&ND=4

[K404]

rectangles..... smileys..... the colour black.... very childish

[kromosto]

i love my apple but my apple doesnt love me as i love my apple

[Piotrsama]

Samsung counters Apple once again. Apparently, they own smileys and emoticons on cell phones:
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...-four-new.html
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publi...7B1&KC=B1&ND=4

Love it, maybe they can stop Apple sales, that would be karma biting Apple's arse.

[skycrane]

thank god the big SJ is dead, he would be ashamed of how his company is doing business......

[IanB]

thank god the big SJ is dead, he would be ashamed of how his company is doing business......

I don't think so - did you not see that famous old interview where he gloats about what a good idea intellectual property theft is? Jeez, does no-one remember that the Lisa/Mac interface was stolen from Xerox Parc, yet he still sued Microsoft over "look and feel" when Windows came out...