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<title>Haaze.com / michelallm / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Supreme Court rules against Microsoft in i4i patent case]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=supreme-court-rules-against-microsoft-in-i4i-patent-case</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=supreme-court-rules-against-microsoft-in-i4i-patent-case</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michelallm</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=supreme-court-rules-against-microsoft-in-i4i-patent-case</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling today that Microsoft infringed on the patents of a tiny Canadian company, i4i, and required the software giant to pay $290 million.The ruling could have broad implications for the way patent law is applied to technology. Microsoft has hoped the court would change the standard by which patents could be invalidated, requiring on a &quot;preponderance of the evidence.&quot; But the court upheld the current &quot;clear and convincing evidence&quot; standard in ruling in favor of i4i.In a statement, Microsoft expressed disappointment with the ruling.&quot;This case raised an important issue of law which the Supreme Court itself had questioned in an earlier decision and which we believed needed resolution,&quot; the company said in its statement. &quot;While the outcome is not what we had hoped for, we will continue to advocate for changes to the law that will prevent abuse of the patent system and protect inventors who hold patents representing true innovation.&quot;Writing the majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that the central question in the case was whether the current law requires an invalidity defense to be proved by clear and convincing evidence.&quot;We hold that it does,&quot; Sotomayor wrote.She acknowledged the broader policy issues in the case, noting the arguments from some of the biggest names in corporate America lining up on both sides of the case. But Sotomayor wrote that any decision to shift the standard on evidence for patent invalidity rests with Congress, not the courts.&quot;Any re-calibration of the standard of proof remains in its hands,&quot; Sotomayor wrote.Sotomayor was joined by six other justices with Justice Clarence Thomas penning a separate, concurring opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts did not participate in the case because he owns more than $100,000 worth of Microsoft stock.The ruling was vindication for i4i, which Microsoft painted as something of a patent troll, looking to tap into the deep pockets of the software giant with a dubious infringement claim. But the 30-employee company withstood the costly legal challenges from the massive multinational.&quot;The one thing that was told to us time and again was don't do this. We were told you cannot win,&quot; said i4i chairman Loudon Owen.The ruling clears away uncertainty for i4i's partners and customers.&quot;All they know is that your patents are in question,&quot; said Owen, who added that the company hasn't determined yet how it intends to use the proceeds of the litigation.In 2007, i4i sued Microsoft over claims that the software giant violated a patents covering the way XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is used in Word, Microsoft's widely used word-processing program. A jury ruled in i4i's favor, prompting a Microsoft appeal. Microsoft lost the appeal, which led the company to petition the Supreme Court to hear the case, which it did in April.Beyond WordToday's ruling concludes one of the most closely watched patent law cases in years. Microsoft pressed to establish a precedent that would make it harder for companies with patent claims to prove infringement. It was joined, in friend-of-the-court filings, by a host of large technology companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook, and Cisco. And a collection of younger, Net-generation leaders, such as Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn and Netflix, supported Microsoft as well.i4i had its own coterie of supporters among corporate giants, including pharmaceutical behemoths such Eli Lilly and Bayer, whose patented drugs generate billions in revenue. Other friends-of-the-court filings in favor of i4i came from 3M, Proctor &amp; Gamble, General Electric, and Dolby Laboratories. And several venture capitalists, universities, and even the U.S. Solicitor General backed i4i's position.&quot;This became a tremendously important litmus test as to whether patents mean anything,&quot; Owen said.Today's ruling, though, winds up affirming the status quo. For all the focus on the case and the implications for a broad swath of industries, little changes, save for the uncertainty that the litigation fueled.&quot;It didn't change the law,&quot; says Brandon Baum, an intellectual law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. &quot;Life will go on as presently situated.&quot;Companies would have operated under a different standard had Microsoft prevailed, Baum said. Microsoft and its tech brethren hoped to alter existing law in order to remove the irritant of frequently defending patent infringement cases.&quot;Tech companies saw this case as a way to get a bit of an upper hand,&quot; Baum said.But Microsoft's case wasn't a strong one, and Microsoft didn't make for a particularly sympathetic victim, Baum said.&quot;This was Microsoft crying about being treated unfairly in the courts,&quot; Baum said.Updated at 9:05 a.m. PT with more details from the ruling and Microsoft comment.Updated at 10:40 a.m. PT with background and i4i comment.Updated at 11:30 a.m. PT with legal analysis.SCOTUS Microsoft v. i4i Ruling(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;)' scribd.type = &quot;text/javascript&quot;' scribd.async = true' scribd.src = &quot;http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js&quot;' var s = document.getElementsByTagName(&quot;script&quot;)[0]' s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s)' })()'<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Research In Motion plays a new smartphone hand with BlackBerry Dakota]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=research-in-motion-plays-a-new-smartphone-hand-with-blackberry-dakota</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=research-in-motion-plays-a-new-smartphone-hand-with-blackberry-dakota</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michelallm</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=research-in-motion-plays-a-new-smartphone-hand-with-blackberry-dakota</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Can RIM play its cards rightAfter a year of getting was decked by Apple and Google, the BlackBerry manufacturer appears to have a few aces up its sleeve yet. With the aim of impressing its core audience of business users, it&amp;'s rolling out new models a4&quot; including a BlackBerry Curve-like phone that sports a touch screen running on the latest BlackBerry 6.1 operating system, according to a series of reports by tech blog BGR.But are they enough to keep Research in Motion winning in the broader smartphone marketResearch In Motion, the Canadian smartphone giant, has long held a strong hand with enterprise users with its BlackBerry phones. The phones sync up with corporate email accounts pretty seamlessly and the BlackBerry Messenger app is one of the crown jewels in Research In Motiona4a4s software setup. The phone has started to see a little bit of competition from the iPhone and some devices running Googlea4a4s Android mobile operating system a4&quot; but they are still a long ways out.One of Research in Motiona4a4s newest phones, the Dakota, is a good shot at staying in control of that space, based on leaked specs. It essentially fills the same form factor that the classic BlackBerry had, but now sports a touch screen.Ted Livingston, a former BlackBerry strategist who&amp;'s now CEO of Kik, a messaging startup, said it pushes all the right buttons. (Ita4a4s a good bit of praise coming from Livingston, seeing as his former company has been trying to sue his pants off and block Kik Messenger from the BlackBerry application marketplace.)a4AI think it could be very successful a4&quot; nails the form factor (in my opinion with the keyboard and touchscreen), and looks good. (The BlackBerry operating system) is still weak, but I think that&amp;'s OK until (QNX operating system) arrives,a4 Livingston told VentureBeat in an email.The guts arena4a4t so bad either a4&quot; there arena4a4t any details as to whether ita4a4s a single-core or dual-core processor, but it has 768MB of RAM. The iPhone 4, by comparison, has 512MB of RAM. The Dakota has a 5-megapixel camera and can shoot HD-quality video, has a magnetometer and accelerometer and pretty much all the other bells and whistles that are now standard with smartphones. The Dakota can also serve as a mobile 3G hotspot.But even with a touchscreen, the phone is still held back by weaker screen resolution. The Dakota sports a 640 by 480 pixel resolution on its 2.8-inch screen. Compare that to the iPhone 4a4a4s display, which has a 960 by 640 pixels. Most popular Android phones, like the Droid X, have an 854 by 480 pixel resolution screen. So the phone isna4a4t going to look as sharp as the rest of the smartphones on the market.Thata4a4s where Research In Motion has traditionally underachieved a4&quot; the consumer space that Android and the iPhone have made significant pushes to control. The BlackBerry line a4&quot; outside of its clumsy Storm phones a4&quot; lacked a touchscreen and keyboard combination before the arrival of the BlackBerry Torch. While the Torch was not that bad of a phone, it was pretty underpowered when compared to the other phones on the market.Research in Motion is updating the Torch as well with some beefier guts a4&quot; including a single-core 1.2 Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM. The Torch 2, sadly, also features a 640 by 480 pixel resolution screen as well a4&quot; still a long ways from being the prettiest phone on the market. It also features the rest of the features that the Dakota has, minus 3G hotspot capabilities. The Torch 2 is slated for a third-quarter release this year.The BlackBerry Storm is also getting an update a4&quot; but this BlackBerry finally features a sexy 800 by 480 pixel resolution display. The Storm 3 has a 1.2 Ghz single-core processor, 512 MB of RAM and also features 3G hotspot capabilities. It also features a somewhat baffling orbital trackpad like the rest of the BlackBerry devices.The Storm has been kind of a bust, but it does present an interesting opportunity for Research in Motion in the consumer space as it fills the same form factor that most popular consumer smartphones also have. The Storm should come out in September this year, according to the report.So Research In Motion has a stronger offering for its most loyal users, so addicted to their devices that some call them &amp;''CrackBerries.&amp;'' But will it be enough to combat Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and the rest in the consumer space a4&quot; not to mention the impending arrival of the iPhone on Verizona4a4s cellular network Probably not, based on precedent. All&amp;'s not lost, though: There are still around 55 million BlackBerry customers (a large portion of them business users) that are keen on finally getting a touch-and-type phone without sacrificing the aesthetic feel of the classic BlackBerry. Just getting them to upgrade, and not defect to other platforms, could be a win for RIM.Previous Story: Sprint to connect Ecotality&amp;'s electric car chargers nationwidePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Blackberry, BlackBerry Dakota, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Storm 3, BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Torch 2, Dakota, enterprise phone, Storm 3, Torch, Torch 2Companies: Apple, Google, Research In Motion          Tags: Blackberry, BlackBerry Dakota, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Storm 3, BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Torch 2, Dakota, enterprise phone, Storm 3, Torch, Torch 2Companies: Apple, Google, Research In MotionMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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