Wireless Mobile Devices: The Smartphone Patent War

1. Wireless Mobile Devices: The Smartphone Patent War Dr. Tal Lavian http://cs.berkeley.edu/~tlavian tlavian@cs.berkeley.edu UC Berkeley Engineering, CET

2. Last Week: Recognizing Intellectual Property Learn to view things within an IP framework: • Recognize inventions • Be able to detect and avoid infringement • Distinguish confidential information from general knowledge • Preserve confidentiality

3. Last Week: Characteristics of Wireless Mobile Devices More Signal Processing • Wireless • Limited bandwidth, high latency • Variable link quality (noise, disconnections, other users) • Heterogeneous air interfaces • Mobility: • User and terminal location dynamically changes • Speed of terminal mobility impacts wireless bandwidth • Portability • Limited battery capacity, computing and storage • Small dimensions More Protocol Processing Higher Energy Efficiency

4. Last Week: Evolution of Cellular System • First generation:Analog – Voice • Analog modulation, cellular phone (AMPS) with manual roaming • Second Generation: Digital Voice & Data • Digital modulation Cellular and PCS phones with seamless roaming, integrated paging • Third Generation (3G): Digital Multimedia • Unified digital access, voice, data, video music, gaming, m-commerce, sensor etc.

5. This Week: Smartphone Patent War • We will take an in-depth look at the many different battles comprising the patent war, including • Who’s suing who • Over what technology • And for what possible reasons • We will also discuss alternatives to litigation, such as licensing IP

6. Smartphones – what are they? • Small size, light weight, easily fitting in palm and pocket • Display screen with touch input and small virtual key board • Also known as portable handheld device or handheld device (e.g. Smartphone, PDAs etc.)

7. Device Architecture

8. Smartphone Patents Are Valuable • Smartphone is a radical technology change with a lot of money at stake and growing. Source: http://www.project-disco.org/intellectual-property/one-in-six-active-u-s-patents-pertain-to-the-smartphone/

9. Smartphone Patents Are Valuable • Smartphone is a radical technology change with a lot of money at stake and growing. • Patent war is a major tool to slow down the competition and get better market share • Very large business…and growing • Apple, Google, Motorola, LG, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia…. • Extremely expansive litigation, with a lot of risk • Time is critical - slowing down the competitors

10. Smartphone Patent War Overview • Similar to the GSM patent war of the 1990s, there is currently a patent war stirring up the mobile telecommunications market • Major actors include Apple, Microsoft, Google, HTC, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, (Oracle,) and others • Great example of companies leveraging their IP to obtain a competitive edge

11. Wireless Devices Relevant Technologies Smartphone designs • e.g., Tab

12. Wireless Devices Relevant Technologies (cont.) • Operating systems • e.g., Microsoft  Barnes and Noble over Android in Nook ebook reader • Patents involved: • #5, 778, 372 – “Remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images.” • #6, 339, 780 – “Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area.” • #5, 889, 522 – “System provided child window controls.” • Microsoft also involved in many licensing deals with OEMs • Means of avoiding litigation for both parties (otherwise Microsoft would assert software patent rights in court)

13. Smartphone Patent War –When Did It Begin? • Patent litigation concerning smartphone technology began in late 2009 • Nokia sued Apple over 10 patents • Apple countersued Nokia for infringement of 13 patents • Notice the “eye for an eye” mentality in patent litigation • Nokia-Apple litigation quickly expanded from district courts to the International Trade Commission • Also opened the door for other companies to sue competitors for smartphone patent infringement • “Opening salvo”

14. Smartphone Patent War – Who’s Involved • Apple vs. HTC: 20 software patents • ELAN vs. Apple: touchscreen patents • Oracle vs. Google: Java patents • Qualcomm vs. Nokia: 3G tech. • Apple vs. Nokia: data and speech coding • Nokia vs. Apple: 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi tech. • This list is not exhaustive

16. Smartphone Patent War – Who’s Involved (cont.) • Smartphone patent war also includes actors not directly involved with the smartphone industry • Kodak • First attempted to assert patent rights in court in order to raise capital from licensing to smartphone manufacturers • Eventually sought to sell patents to avoid bankruptcy • Some think litigation was actually a means of marketing their patent portfolio • Non-Practicing Entities (NPE) • i.e., companies that assert patent rights but do not make the inventions they own the patents for themselves

17. Smartphone Patent War –Different Actors, Different Motivations • Motivations for resorting to patent litigation are often multi-pronged: • Principle – patents rights have been infringed, not going to tolerate it • e.g., Apple suing Samsung over iPad design infringement • Damages – plaintiffs in patent cases can recoup profits lost due to infringement, sometimes treble (3x) damages if judge finds willful infringement

18. Smartphone Patent War –Different Actors, Different Motivations (cont.) • Injunction – if product found to infringe, court can order injunction against manufacturer • Essentially, a mandate to stop producingthe infringing product • e.g., Apple sued Samsung over Galaxy Tabin Germany, won an injunction that forbade Samsung marketing it • Licensing – sometimes if a competitor wants to use your IP, you let them pay you to do it • This has largely been Microsoft’s strategy throughout the patent war • Arguably mutually beneficial: one side gets access to competitor’s IP, while competitor need not manufacture to profit from IP.

19. Smartphone Patent War – Jurisdictions • The smartphone patent war is a global span of litigation taking place in various courts, including: • U.S. district courts • Most patent cases in the United States are heard in • Eastern district of Texas • Delaware • Northern district of California • European and Asian courts • Most often with the aim to win an injunction in a foreign market

20. Smartphone Patent War – Jurisdictions (cont.) • International Trade Commission (ITC) • Quasi-legal venue where many patent cases are heard • Two reasons plaintiffs often file complaints to the ITC: • While not having the ability to award damages, it can grant injunctions • Speed – proceedings are usually much faster than in district or appellate courts http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/itc-judge-apple-did-not-violate-any-samsung-patents

21. Smartphone Patent War – Questions To Ask • Are there more mutually profitable alternatives to “patent wars”? • Cross-licensing? • Patent pools? • What effect does such litigations have on • consumers? • the market? • innovation? • When will it be “over”? • Bankruptcy? • Product bans?

22. Summary • Value of smartphones and related tech to developing market • The smartphone patent war: • Began with Nokia and Apple in 2009 • Allplayers involved • Global courts, Texas, Delaware, California… and the ITC