November 15, 2011, 10:26 AM —
flickr/Mostly Muppet
Like all makers of devices using Android, Barnes and Noble was approached by Microsoft to pay patent royalties on their Nook ebook readers. But BN revealed the patents used, and Microsoft should be embarrassed.
In fact, more than embarrassed: Barnes and Noble called Microsoft “Patent Troll” and “Bully.” What's behind the curtain of Oz, er, Microsoft? Trivial patents for processes fairly antiquated and only lightly connected, if at all, to Android. But does that stop Microsoft? No. They not only want patent fees, they want design approval on all Android operating system devices made by BN.
Of course, when the government gets involved, or the courts, trivial patents with no obvious connection to the issue at hand can become gold for the patent holder. And we're hearing BN's side here, not Microsoft's. However, if the Redmond Patent Machine would like to comment, we're all ears.
Ridiculous
all the patents are invalid. they are trying to get money for some patents that expired a few years ago. not to mention the large amount of prior art.
Daniel Kerr on endgadget.com
Perhaps this might also help explain that chart which showed up recently, showing how few Android phones are receiving "upgrades and improvements"..?
Anonymous on groklaw.com
Microsoft claims its precious IP is threatened. Microsoft refuses to be specific and forces NDAs on everyone to silence them. When it finally comes to light, Microsoft has nothing ... no precious IP is being violated, and the licensing deals are just protection money paid to avoid baseless lawsuits.
Anonymous on groklaw.com
Bizarre system
Really, why even bring this up here? This is standard fare in patent litigation.
Anonymous on groklaw.com
sadly you don't understand how "vague" patents work and beside patents are nowaday written by lawyers instead of engineers or people who actually doing research
Faizalla on endgadget.com
That, is a major reason why the patent system of today doesn't work. Lawyers are sitting in boardrooms "inventing" software patents, lawyers who probably couldn't program their way out of a virtual paper bag.
celtic_hackr on groklaw.com
Google has already stated multiple times that Microsoft doesn't have a leg to stand on. Microsoft hasn't brought any claims against Google, just people who implement the phones.
elechi on news.ycombinator.com
Microsoft is right?
After reading the Barnes and Nobles lawyers wrote I see why they ran to the DOJ. It looks like they do not deny that this Software was created by someone other than them they just do not want to pay MS for it.
larry_Openmind on endgadget.com
If B&N became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony or Dell, they would settle this lawsuit in a week.
sethg on news.ycombinator.com
Samsung is going to write MS a $100 million dollar check next year for these patents. Samsung signed the NDA and saw all those patents and has a huge legal department and still decided to pay up.
Steko on news.ycombinator.com
The end of all modern morality tales: And the lawyers walked away with all the money.
