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Opera Accuses Apple of Blocking Open Standards Again

- By - Source : Opera

Opera believes that Apple is, once again, using patents to unfairly block an open web specification.

The browser developer points to four Apple patents as well as the W3C page of the Web Events Working Group which aims to finalize the Touch Events Specification. According to the W3C, the specification could infringe on four Apple patents, which are not provided under a royalty-free commitment by Apple.

According to Opera, Apple notified the W3C of the patent claims in a last minute move on November 11. The deadline is December 26. Opera accuses Apple of deliberately blocking standards development.

"The odd thing is that Apple chose not to join the working group that handles touch events," the poster wrote. "If they had joined, they would have been forced to file the patent claims far sooner. So now we know why they didn't join. What we don't know is why Apple insists on waiting almost until the last minute before filing its patent claims."

He noted that Apple engaged in similar behavior in 2009, in 2010 and earlier this year.

Even if the standard can be created in the end, Opera complains that Apple is forcing working groups to waste time and other resources and become a burden for the W3C. The members of the Web Events Working Group include representatives from Boeing, China Unicom, ETRI, Google, Infraware, Intel, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, Samsung and Zynga.

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ta152h 12/10/2011 4:08 PM
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The song remain the same, even with a new leader.

amk-aka-phantom 12/10/2011 4:14 PM
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Quote :Opera believes that Apple is, once again, using patents to unfairly block an open web specification.


No, really? :lol:

Cumulonimbus incus 12/10/2011 4:26 PM
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Well, it aint over 'til the fat lady sings

sykozis 12/10/2011 4:36 PM
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The only thing "Open" that Apple is interested in....is Open wallets....

rpgplayer 12/10/2011 4:38 PM
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How does this come as a surprise to anyone?

freggo 12/10/2011 4:43 PM
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I am so fed up with this lawsuitthis, patent that... as far as I am concerned, Apple is dead. There will be no Apple products in my small IT outfit. Period.

house70 12/10/2011 4:48 PM
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If Apple has already engaged in similar behavior before, I can not understand why this comes as a surprise.
Fool me once...
Or, otherwise put, once a d1ck, always a d1ck. And they wonder why so many people can not stand them.

kristoffe 12/10/2011 4:58 PM
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Apple is the shining example of bad business practices in America. Not that Best Buy, Microsoft, or AOL are lint free, but Apple is uber shady and the shining light for a nation of low self esteem gadget hoarders (not that their design and UI/UX is bad at all).

EightyFour 12/10/2011 5:10 PM
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Apple is just such a cesspool...

they're just antithetical to anything that made tech so great and the principles that propelled the industry..

mtkl 12/10/2011 5:11 PM
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The source for this article is: http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2011/12/09/apple-w3c

May I note that there's a disclaimer at the top of the blog, stating that 'Even though I work for Opera Software, the opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of my employer.' Opera as a company not released any press statement on the matter, so parts of this article are completely incorrect.

mtkl 12/10/2011 5:13 PM
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mtkl :
The source for this article is: http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2 [...] ple-w3cMay I note that there's a disclaimer at the top of the blog, stating that 'Even though I work for Opera Software, the opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of my employer.' Opera as a company not released any press statement on the matter, so parts of this article are completely incorrect.



Oops, is there no edit button? I didn't notice the source link at the top. Even so, this isn't an official Opera statement.

del35 12/10/2011 5:34 PM
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Apple doing what it does best. Why do I hate Apple more and more by the day? Ummm, it must be because I love my freedom.

It is the duty of every intelligent free loving person to fight, smear, and denigrate apple and its crap hardware at every turn.

Silence is complicity.

rohitbaran 12/10/2011 5:37 PM
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mtkl :
Oops, is there no edit button? I didn't notice the source link at the top. Even so, this isn't an official Opera statement.


On TomsGuide, there isn't one. Only on Tomshardware for now.

cookoy 12/10/2011 5:48 PM
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And the bad publicity keeps piling up. I haven't read anything good about apple in a while. A lot are getting pissed off by the greedy fools running apple.

john_e 12/10/2011 6:43 PM
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cookoy :
A lot are getting pissed off by the greedy fools running apple.



Sooner or later Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and all high tech companies will all band together and sue Apple to kingdom come.

After all wasn't it Steve Jobs that said he was prepared to go Nuclear on Samsung even if it meant spending its billions cash reserve to the last cent?

The only ones who will have a great Christmas / Holidays will be the lawyers.

in_the_loop 12/10/2011 8:04 PM
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It seems like Apple really want to be opposite of Google in all departments. Besides doing the opposite of being open source, they are trying the hardest to not fulfill googles matra "Don't be evil".

zybch 12/10/2011 10:09 PM
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Doesn't this sound just a wee bit like the wonderful folks at RamBus and the crap they pulled with JDEC by secretly getting their patented tech into the rambus memory standard and then after everything had been finalized and rambus RAM started being manufactured and used, demanding royalty payments from all the JDEC members?

friskiest 12/10/2011 11:42 PM
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And so I thought that "An Apple A Day keeps the doctor away",. meh,. this Apple is making me sick.

K2N hater 12/10/2011 11:46 PM
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in_the_loop :
It seems like Apple really want to be opposite of Google in all departments. Besides doing the opposite of being open source, they are trying the hardest to not fulfill googles matra "Don't be evil".


Google is not evil at all. They just want to know all your private details and daily habits so they can make money off you.

makaveli316 12/10/2011 11:48 PM
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I think if Apple continues this, it will be the most hated company in the world. Their way to do things must be stopped, cause they inflict damage to the progress and people's wallet.

guardianangel42 12/11/2011 4:12 AM
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rpgplayer :
How does this come as a surprise to anyone?


Who said it was a surprise? I'm not surprised and you're not surprised and it doesn't really look like many of the other commenters are surprised.

We expect this from Apple at this point.

monsta 12/11/2011 6:23 AM
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My tolerance for Apple is getting thinner and thinner, why is it MS gets sued with IE antitrust in the EU and yet Apple can force you to use Safari and no one bats an eyelid?

eddieroolz 12/11/2011 11:53 AM
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celpas 12/11/2011 1:09 PM
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Anonymous 12/12/2011 6:44 AM
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wow, a lot of butt-hurt Apple haters in here...

Anonymous 12/12/2011 6:45 AM
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This Site CENSORS CONTENT!

Nothing on this site can be TRUSTED! CENSORSHIP!!!!


Edited for fun !!!


:)

Anonymous 12/12/2011 11:37 AM
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The Opera employee which source you cite had a prominent disclaimer that his posts doesn't represent the views of Opera.

killerclick 12/12/2011 2:25 PM
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monsta :
My tolerance for Apple is getting thinner and thinner, why is it MS gets sued with IE antitrust in the EU and yet Apple can force you to use Safari and no one bats an eyelid?



Because Apple has a much lower market share than Microsoft did. OS X and Safari each have sub 10% global market share. They're too small-fries for the regulators to bother with... so far...

puddleglum 12/12/2011 4:43 PM
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Quote : "If they had joined, they would have been forced to file the patent claims far sooner. So now we know why they didn't join. What we don't know is why Apple insists on waiting almost until the last minute before filing its patent claims."

Because patents don't last forever. The longer they wait to file, the more time it has to become a standard used by everybody, and the longer they can extort $$$ from all their bled dry victims.

willwayne 12/12/2011 8:20 PM
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puddleglum :
Because patents don't last forever. The longer they wait to file, the more time it has to become a standard used by everybody, and the longer they can extort $$$ from all their bled dry victims.



No, I think they meant filing their patent claims to the W3C, who were attempting to build an open standard. What this did was to notify the W3C about the existing patents with as little time to re-tool the standard as possible, thus wasting a lot of brainstorming/development time of ideas that were already patented. As ridiculous as that notion is.

coldmast 12/12/2011 9:24 PM
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Yet another reason I try to be Apple free. Looks like even standards will have to file patents just to be standards, what is stop me from looking at your open source development work and patent what it does?