Live by the sword, die by the sword. I don't feel bad for Microsoft. It's just a testament that a patent war helps no one, not even the companies with a lot of patents that were the aggressors. In the end it's just mutual destruction.<p>I mean, Microsoft even went after companies to pay them royalties for ChromeOS...really, Microsoft?! I hope Motorola does the same to them now and asks for royalties for Windows 7. Something tells me they'll get a lot more for it.
Is it just me who finds these little spats between huge companies a little tedious? It doesn't affect my life, or my work, if Microsoft or Adobe or Apple takes Google or Motorola or Samsung to court for another expensive round of willy-waving.<p>I find it incredibly hard to want to cheer for any of these organisations, or get behind any of this stuff. These are just big, faceless corporations, each the same as the next, when it comes down to it. It's a bit like supporting professional sports teams, I guess.
"It follows a ruling that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to offer H.264 video coding and playback."<p>Oh the irony. Wasn't the MPEG LA consortium supposed to guarantee protection against that kind of attack ?<p>Any details on the infringing patents ?
So Motorola Mobility brought the matter to German courts, who agreed to ban those products, but "a US court has banned Motorola from enforcing the action until it considers the matter next week.".<p>How is a ban Motorola has solicited under German law under the jurisdiction of a US court, or am I misunderstanding this?
It's no news that German courts are favored for patent infringements, because they mostly play well.<p>I've even seen a reportage about this topic, that covers why large companies fight patent lowsuits in Germany. It's because Germany has understood how to capitalize on this "new market".<p>Tax route optimizations, patent-pool leverage, secret partnership agreements, HR Capital squeezers, talent headhunters, innovation buyout..is that out of an "imperators guide to the 21st century"?
Okay, someone please explain this to me: I thought a few years back we had all this uproar about the EU wanting to introduce patentability of software. They eventually backed down, if I remember correctly. Now a German court rules that Windows 7, a piece of software, infringes upon a patent. What?
Links to patents? I haven't been able to find them.<p>I notice that people are very quick to attack Microsoft here, despite the fact that a great many parties have been touting h.264 as a standard to adopt, and acting like it wasn't a morass of patents and lawsuits waiting to happen. Granted, one of those parties was Microsoft.<p>Depending on what's in the patents at issue, maybe there is a lesson here about making sure that the standards we approve of aren't encumbered by patents.
Thats the patent version of what would have happened if the US and USSR had started throwing nukes around...<p>I always thought patents were there to protect against such attacks, a balance of awe and destruction. But who the heck was stupid enough to start that? Seriously, replacing development and business operations by law suites only will get you so far.<p>Maybe I should switch careers and become a patent lawyer!
Microsoft may not be what it once was but they're a big enough beast that I'd be thinking twice about this sort of move.<p>But that's kind of micro level stuff, at the macro level it's just another volley in the on-going patent wars where it seems that lawyers will win and the companies and the consumers lose.<p>Common sense says it will end soon but it really doesn't feel like that's happening.
What's actually a bit worrying about this, is that the scourge of sleazy greed-lawsuits has spread to Europe. It used to be a purely American phenomenon.
>Microsoft moved its European software distribution centre from Germany to the Netherlands last month ahead of the verdict to minimise potential disruption.<p>The law doesn't really apply to these software giants, they'll always find a way around it.
It like with poletics at one point you just have to laught because nothing makes any sence anymore. It just ...<p>Its not this case but the general state of these laws.