What's Left Of Nokia Poised To Become A Giant Patent Troll
from the that's-not-a-good-thing dept
One of the more glossed over parts of Microsoft buying large parts of Nokia was that it was actually a two-part transaction. It spent $5 billion on Nokia's mobile phones unit and then another $2.18 billion to license Nokia's patent portfolio. Many reports just summarized this as Microsoft spending $7.2 billion to buy Nokia. But the licensing tidbit is interesting -- and potentially concerning, as it leads to quite reasonable speculation that the emptied shell of Nokia is about to become a massive, annoying patent troll.There's no doubt that the company has a variety of important mobile device and mobile data patents. The license with Microsoft lasts for ten years, but there's nothing stopping Nokia from going after others. Yes, many key players already have licensing deals in place, but there are always more targets to go after, especially in such a dynamic and innovative arena. And, without having to worry about patent nuclear war being pointed back at Nokia, potentially harming its own phone business, you'd have to imagine that the company will be more willing than ever to aggressively try to squeeze money out of others.
Nokia has been deterred from asserting its patents too aggressively by the risk of retaliation by competitors. Nokia’s rivals have patents of their own, and if they felt the Finnish company was making unreasonable demands, they could have filed patent infringement lawsuits themselves.Without that deterrent, Nokia has plenty of incentives to become an incredibly annoying and disruptive patent troll.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: licensing, patent troll, patents
Companies: microsoft, nokia
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No comments !!!
Do you noticed the chilling effect your abuse of copyright POWER has had on your web site ??
Not really connecting with fans or giving them a reason to buy !!! (buy is the same as visit for you)..
Seems you alone do not have what it takes to get the page hits, it's the comments that makes people want to come here.
And now you censor comments, with the idea that it somehow makes you look better.. You can say what you like and if someone might disagree with you. You abuse power to stop them.
But the price is the failing of your web site, so have you chosen power over profit and policy ?
Or is it simply because you have some power, and are unable to handle it responsibly ??
Either way, the words coming out of your mouth do not match your actions.
No one is going to believe you are against censorship, and for free speech when your actions clearly show you want to abuse free speech, freedoms in general AND ABUSE CORSORSHIP for your own gains!! at the expense of TechDirt..
So much time and effort to build some kind of reputation, and you are willing to destroy it because you want to abuse what little power you have.
Few people can handle power, you appear not to be one of them.
How many days/years will this power be "HELD FOR MODERATION", so you can CENSOR IT.. Or will it simply NEVER APPEAR ????
At least you might read it! But I think your love of power is greater than your love of truth and free speech.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
You're a fucktard, darryl, and you're not even good at it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another lame re-write -- of someone else's sheer speculation.
Dilbert's view of Techdirt: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-11-17/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Obvious troll is obvious
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Obvious troll is obvious
out_of_the_blue just hates it when due process is enforced.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Obvious troll is obvious
EARNED income is when you have to do something every time you want to get paid. It's the difference between having a job and merely collecting rent.
How come OOTB doesn't understand that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Obvious troll is obvious
I'm all for bagging on trolls but at least use a plausible reason.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Obvious troll is obvious
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another mistake of Steve Ballmer
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who are they going to go after?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Can't Nokia be sued for violating patents years ago?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
As I understand it, patent trolls do not own and operate a business that produces anything (useful).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
1) Nokia Solutions and Networks
Formerly known as Nokia Siemens Networks, one of the top three largests companies in Data & Telecommunications equipment/networks companies.
2) Here Maps, Which is quite largely adopted. Used by quite a number of car manufacturers, Amazon, etc.. etc...
3) Advanced technologies i think it was called. Basically R&D. Searching for future tech for the company to focus on.
4) Licensing of their Patent portfolio.
There is obviously the Possibility of patent trolling, but i would see that as an distant possibility since their Portfolio is already widely adopted, their other points of focus are profitable also.
I'm guessing that they wanted to keep the portfolio -well for the half a billion it brings yearly obviously, but also - for some future plans yet to be revealed? Perhaps jumping on the Jolla wagon when the waiting period is over?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
more dissembling by Masnick
infringers and their paid puppets� definition of �patent troll�:
anyone who has the nerve to sue us for stealing their invention
This is just spin control by large infringers to cover up their theft.
The patent system now teeters on the brink of lawlessness. Call it what you will...patent hoarder, patent troll, non-practicing entity, shell company, etc. It all means one thing: �we�re using your invention and we�re not going to stop or pay�. It�s a pure red herring by large invention thieves and their paid puppets to kill any inventor support system. Their goal is to legalize theft. The fact is, many of the large multinationals and their puppets who defame inventors in this way themselves make no products in the US or create any American jobs and it is their continued blatant theft which makes it impossible for the true creators to do so. To them the only patents that are legitimate are their own -if they have any. Meanwhile, the huge multinationals ship more and more US jobs overseas.
It�s about property rights. They should not only be for the rich and powerful -campaign contributors. Our founders: Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and others felt so strongly about the rights of inventors that they included inventors rights to their creations and discoveries in the Constitution. They understood the trade off. Inventors are given a limited monopoly and in turn society gets the benefits of their inventions (telephone, computer, airplane, automobile, lighting, etc) into perpetuity and the jobs the commercialization of those inventions bring. For 200 years the patent system has not only fueled the US economy, but the world�s. If we weaken the patent system, we force inventors underground like Stradivarius (anyone know how to make a Stradivarius violin?) and in turn weaken our economy and job creation. Worse yet, we destroy the American dream -the ability to prosper from our ingenuity for the benefit of our families and communities. To kill or weaken the patent system is to kill their futures. Show me a country with weak or ineffective property rights and I�ll show you a weak economy with high unemployment. If we cannot own the product of our minds or labors, what can we be said to truly own. Life and liberty are fundamentally tied to and in fact based on property rights. Our very lives are inseparably tied to our property.
Prior to the Supreme Court case eBay v Mercexchange, small entities had a viable chance at commercializing their inventions. If the defendant was found guilty, an injunction was most always issued. Then the inventor small entity could enjoy the exclusive use of his invention in commercializing it. Unfortunately, injunctions are often no longer available to small entity inventors because of the eBay decision so we have no fair chance to compete with much larger entities who are now free to use our inventions. Essentially, large infringers now have your gun and all the bullets. Worse yet, inability to commercialize means those same small entities will not be hiring new employees to roll out their products and services. And now those same parties who killed injunctions for small entities and thus blocked their chance at commercializing now complain that small entity inventors are not commercializing. They created the problem and now they want to blame small entities for it. What dissembling! If you don�t like this state of affairs (your unemployment is running out), tell your Congress member. Then maybe we can get some sense back into the patent system with injunctions fully enforceable on all infringers by all patentees, large and small.
Those wishing to help fight big business giveaways should contact us as below and join the fight as we are building a network of inventors and other stakeholders to lobby Congress to restore property rights for all patent owners -large and small.
For the truth about trolls, please see http://truereform.piausa.org/default.html#pt.
http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/142741
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1792442
https://www.facebook.com/pi.ausa.5
http://piausa.wordpress.com/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: more dissembling by Masnick
[ link to this | view in chronology ]