Nokia says that Google and Asus have not licensed patents used in the Nexus 7 tablet.
Google's 7-inch Jelly Bean-fueled Nexus 7 isn't even a week old, yet the patent police have already swarmed in on the device, barking accusations of infringement. The most vocal thus far is Nokia which recently told The Inquirer that both Google and Asus have not licensed unspecified patents for the upcoming tablet.
"Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standards essential patent portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers," a spokesperson said. "Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio. Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license."
There's speculation that the patents in question involve the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard, but so far the patents in question are unconfirmed. An Asus spokesperson also refused to comment, saying, "at the moment, Asus will not be providing any response/comment related."
FOSS Patents reports that Google and Asus will see additional patent infringement claims from Apple and Microsoft. Given Apple's two wins last week in its case against Samsung which led to the banning of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus in the States, the company will likely find something that violates its own portfolio.
Microsoft is reportedly another entity that may or may not claim patent infringement. There's speculation that a direct licensing deal isn't established between Google and Microsoft, but there may be one in place with Pegatron, whose shareholders include Asus, Google's partner for the Nexus 7. If it covers Google's tablet, then all is well -- if not, Google may need to negotiate sooner with Microsoft rather than later.
As for Nokia, the company is reportedly asserting a number of its IEEE 802.11 patents in a lawsuit against Viewsonic in Germany -- it's also suing HTC and RIM. "Nokia is such a large patent holder in this industry that even Apple took a royalty-bearing license," FOSS Patents reports. "But Google and Asus are not among the 'more than 40 licensees' Nokia referred to in a recent press release."
Because of these patent issues, Google may be forced to increase the price of both Nexus 7 tablets. Offering the 8 GB for $199 and the 16 GB for $249, Google supposedly doesn't make any money from the hardware, relying on software sales instead. But if found guilty, these price points may not be sustainable.
And the Patent Age continues....
Oh, well, Jelly Bean = no Flash support = not suited for casual web browsing, which is about all I'd use a tablet for, so no sale for me.
He reports that Apple got an injunction (which was a design patent) against the Galaxy Tab, and thinks that same design patent will be useful against the Nexus 7? Really?
Didn't know that Nokia made patents?
Android OS doesn't use any MS or iOS code.
Apple should still sue over the mouse and click?
All screens are square.
Touch displays existed long before the iPad or iPhone.
Nokia should remember than Motorola mobile is owned by Google.
yeah, rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiggghhtt
I wanted to add that real change would be drastically shortening patent holding time. 1 or 2 years, tops, to let the inventing company bask in their invention, and then it should be open for anyone to use and improve upon. This should be globally, not per-country. The current state of patent laws is stifling progress more than anything else.
This. It would be nice if this article actually explained what Nokia owns of this and how. Does that mean Rosewill had to pay Nokia to use the IEEE 802.11 standard for my cheapo wifi desktop card??
Those that produce get. Competition creates innovation, not patents.
And then Nokia will sue Google because "losing market share" was implemented by Nokia first!
Total BS. People would wait around until someone invents something, steal it/price cut it/etc and profit from it instead of the inventor. There would be no incentive for innovation at all.
You do know that there will always be ways to get Adobe Flash on your Android device? Adobe is just lazy as f*** and decided they don't want to support it anymore. This is Android we're talking about here. If you want it, you got it, and if you really want flash, you can get it. I referenced this article for some of my information -->http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/no-flash-for-android-4-1-jelly-bean-users/11433
Yep. Okay, if Samsung copied the Wifi SoC design/code/software = bad. But Samsung is huge and has been designing and building cellphones for years. If the issue is that Samsung stuck a WiFI component into a tablet... then isn't Nokia suing Apple? But you can't sue for a standard device being used in a certain way.
ie: if I stuck a wifi into a dildo, could that be patented?
It feels like everyone is suing Samsung on every release of a product. All screen devices are square-like with a square-like display. Can Samsung sue Apple for having a square-like phone? Its like Ford suing GM because the wheels they use are ROUND... but they are suing GM every time they release a new year model car.