Google Argues That Apple's Popular Inventions Should Be Standard Essential
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Posted July 21, 2012 at 12:56am by iClarified
Google, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, argues that inventions that become ubiquitous due to popularity should be considered de facto standards, reports AllThingsD.
Google General Counsel Kent Walker wrote:
While collaborative [Standards Setting Organizations (SSOs)] play an important part in the overall standard setting system, and are particularly prominent in industries such as telecommunications, they are not the only source of standards. Indeed, many of the same interoperability benefits that the FTC and others have touted in the SSO context also occur when one firm publishes information about an otherwise proprietary standard and other firms then independently decide (whether by choice or of necessity) to make complementary investments to support that standard in their products. … Because proprietary or de facto standards can have just as important effects on consumer welfare, the Committee's concern regarding the abuse of SEPs should encompass them as well.
Google is arguing that just as there are some patents that are standards essential, there are also patents that are commercially essential. Meaning that withholding those patents would be harmful to the competitive marketplace. Multi-touch or Slide-to-Unlock would be some of the inventions covered under this idea.
As one would expect, Apple disagrees.
Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell criticized Walker's argument saying, "That a proprietary technology becomes quite popular does not transform it into a 'standard' subject to the same legal constraints as true standards." He believes that standards provide the platform for products to compete against each other and non-standardized technologies differentiate between those products.
The capabilities of an iPhone are categorically different from a conventional phone, and result from Apple's ability to bring its traditional innovation in computing to the mobile market. Using an iPhone to take photos, manage a home-finance spreadsheet, play video games, or run countless other applications has nothing to do with standardized protocols. Apple spent billions in research and development to create the iPhone, and third party software developers have spent billions more to develop applications that run on it. The price of an iPhone reflects the value of these nonstandardized technologies - as well as the value of the aesthetic design of the iPhone, which also reflects immense study and development by Apple, and which is entirely unrelated to standards.
AllThingsD has posted the both letters along with a detailed analysis at the link below...
So let me get this straight. Apple spends the time and money to create cutting edge features never before seen, and just because it's very popular google wants to use it for free because they claim it's popularity makes it a standard?
WHAT THE FUCK is google smoking?
Things like touch screen technology can be comparable to an escelator. Stairs exist, but these are MOVING STAIRS! Once things become overly useful, they become standard... Phones, televisions, lightbulbs... Etc...
tell that to his dying family member when a company that makes the cure, patents that cure, and doesn't allow any other company to create that cure and also cranks up the price so that the poor don't get it.
im just saying... how far are we willing to go with patents? I understand its for the protection of a company's ideas. But Apple takes patent restrictions on even things like "basics" how else are you going to make a touchscreen phone?? How else are you going to even make the design of a phone?!!! Common now apple's iphone design has had a name since the day cell phones were invented. Its called the BAR shape... theres also a flip phone, a slide phone. They are taking leads to even patent the "bar" shape of the phone. Windows go way out of its way to avoid this by making tiles... isnt that the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen?? This is just so it won't run into any problems with apple?!?!? well maybe the inventor of objective C language should've patented that too... and we all know that the iphone's heart and soul was from objective C. Wanna go down to the basics apple?? I'll tell you what... i invented the language and i have secretly been holding that patent for over 25 years now... I'm pulling out the lawsuit card NOW!
Subtext. "We don't want to waste our money fighting patent law suits for the things we steal, so just make it free for us to use. Thanks heaps, Google".
Yeah, right! I wished I could use this argument a while back to force them to open their search engine. In stead, we spent nearly several billion and dozens people to finish Bing project. I think I will even offer Cooks a better deal to use Bing in exchange for cross usage of their upcoming map. Our Bing is every bit as good as Google search. And another thing, it makes me jealous about their stealing secrets from Apple. We are experts in our own right with our Windows, yet I feel it's still crappy looking. Google will never grow up to be anything serious. I will make sure everyone can use our Bing for free.
Google aren't talking about patenting things like code and algorithms. They're talking about basic concepts like multitouch and slide to unlock - an they're right. Patenting simple ideas like that is taking it way too far.
Patents v patents v standards v court cases. All the industry giants are patenting anything and everything. This is stifeling creativity and progress. And the fat cat lawyers Arr laughing and raking in the money
Yeah, lets declare Google's search engine an international standard and hand it's coding over to every other competitor. Let's see how Google would react to that suggestion?