It is impossible to open the business pages without some reminder of the huge importance of patents to the telecoms industry. The government’s proposal to introduce a ten per cent rate of corporation tax for patent-related profits is designed to encourage investment in innovation in the UK, and further highlights the opportunities for those who get patent value right. This could mean that some businesses should now take a greater interest in filing patents, and others will want to review their established arrangements to make the most of the proposals.
With a flurry of patent lawsuits dominating headlines in the industry, Ericsson has taken steps to place more emphasis on protecting its intellectual property. It is reorganising its Licensing and Patent Development department with the aim of creating a larger revenue stream from its IPR.
Apple faces the prospect of having its iPad and iPhone devices banned in Germany, just months after securing a ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country with a similar ruling.
Apple has been denied a preliminary injunction to block the sale of Samsung’s touchscreen smartphones and tablets in the US, after a judge in California ruled that the Korean manufacturer’s products would not severely impact Apple’s sales. The ruling means that Samsung will be able to sell its devices in the US during the traditionally lucrative Christmas season.
An Australian court has ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 does not infringe on patents held by Apple, clearing the way for the product to go on sale in the Australian market. In October Apple was granted a temporary injunction that stopped Samsung from selling the unit in Australia.
A ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in Europe that was put in place earlier this month has been lifted already, albeit temporarily, while authorities investigate the legitimacy of the original ruling. A German court instigated the EU-wide ban (excluding the Netherlands) on the import and sale of the tablet device, after complaints from Apple that the Galaxy imitated its iPad product.
We’ve had Moore’s Law and Metcalfe’s Law, now the technology world is doing its bit for re-jigging Newton’s third law of motion: for every legal action, there is an equal and opposite lawsuit.
Silicon players Intel and Nvidia have agreed to end all outstanding legal disputes in a deal that will see Intel pay graphics specialist Nvidia $1.5bn as part of a six-year cross-licensing agreement. Intel will make the payments in five annual instalments, beginning January 18th. Intel gets a licence to Nvidia patents, while Nvidia gets limited access to Intel’s portfolio, wtih x86 not covered by the deal. Intel’s flash memory products are also excluded from the agreement.
US vendor Motorola and Finnish vendor Nokia have entered into a 4G licence agreement extending the companies’ existing intellectual property licensing agreement to include 4G technologies, such as LTE, WiMAX and LTE-Advanced.
Big shot IP lawyers must have been rubbing their hands greedily this week when leading handset vendor Nokia filed suit against Apple for infringing on its patents for GSM, UMTS 3G and wifi.
Advisory body the NGMN Alliance made headway on its development of an IPR management framework on Monday as it seeks to avoid the wrangling that has beset previous mobile standards.
Embattled Canadian vendor Nortel may have held on to some of its key LTE patents when it flogged much of its mobile business to Nokia Siemens Networks last month, but there is some debate as to whether that IPR will be the nice little earner Nortel hopes.
Mobile services in transit Issue 109 March 2004 Featuring: Paying your way: Resolving IPR issues Who’s in charge? Outsourcing operator functions
Lean and MeanWith summer supposedly fast approaching, many look to trim some fat and get in shape for the sunny months. The Informer has never been a huge fan of gyms; in fact his favourite machine in the gym is the one that sells chocolate. Telefonica’s UK arm O2, is one business that is looking to get lean for the holidays, though, and this week it announced that it is to trim 3,500 UK employees.
Cross-border opportunities are there, but Telenor has work to do in BulgariaPan-European operater group Telenor is making another move into Eastern Europe, this time buying Bulgaria’s Globul. The move makes sense for several reasons, but success won’t come easy in a country with high mobile penetration and a sluggish economy.
Telecoms.com speaks with Ali Agan, who has risen through the ranks of TeliaSonera Group to become CEO of KCell in Kazakhstan. With a young population Agan is keen to deploy LTE and exploit nascent demand for data services.
Jonathan Bell, VP of Marketing at OpenCloud, discusses how policy and pricing are just two dimensions along which telecoms operators can differentiate their propositions. By adding a third dimension, the service behaviour itself, operators can define and bring true innovation to the market that surpasses the traditional approaches of the past, he says.
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Calls for consolidation in the European mobile market grow louder by the week and four-operator markets look increasingly challenged. Now, those mobile operators that have already built scale seem to be suggesting that there is no option but to expand yet further through diversification.