移动专利战，谁会笑到最后？

根据UBM TechInsights与Displaybank等公司针对几家公司及其专利组合所做的一些分析，在Android合作伙伴、苹果(Apple)与微软(Microsoft)等公司之间持续进行的专利侵权战中，目前仍看不到明显可胜出的最后赢家。 UBM TechInsights公司日前发布一份报告分析了Google以125亿美元收购摩托罗拉行动公司(Motorola Mobility)交易中期望取得的近17,000项专利。Displaybank也发布几项有关行动显示技术的报告，其中包括深入探讨苹果公司在多点触控屏幕方面的一项关键专利技术。 同时，美国的一位法官指出，苹果iPad的外形与触控设计专利中，至少有一项可能是无效的。这只是苹果公司在全世界法院中用来控告三星(Samsung)侵权，以试图妨碍其销售Android智能手机与平板电脑的多项案例之一。

美国专利商标局周二向苹果授予了“滑动解锁”手势的专利。这一技术最先出现在第一代iPhone中，不过目前已被许多产品使用。如今苹果拿下了这一专利，其他手机公司恐怕要当心了

UBM TechInsights在报告中指出，“尽管透过摩托罗拉的专利与Moto经验丰富的IP团队，Google可望更能有效地捍卫其Android合作伙伴，但收购摩托罗拉的专利组合，并不见得能为其带来明显的优势。”事实上，这项交易“还可能使这个合并后的企业体成为更直接的目标，”UBM TechInsights强调。 根据该报告显示，摩托罗拉行动公司共有12,901项使用中的专利，其中包括7,909项美国专利以及2,315项申请中的美国专利应用。其中涵盖最广泛的专利组合类别是通讯领域，约有4,429项专利，其次分别是一些编码(414项)、视讯处理(298项)、电源管理(286项)、安全(211项)和用户接口(91)等专利类别。 市调公司Displaybank发布的一份报告深入探讨了苹果公司在六月取得美国一项全新的多点触控专利。Displaybank总结道，“该专利几乎囊括了在触控屏幕上移动所有任何图片的各种相关操控技术，可说是一项强大且难以避免的专利。” 终究，专利战只是一个数字游戏，IP咨询公司Chipworks公司CEO Terry Ludlow表示。摩托罗拉公司的专利组合“或许可让Google取得一种‘恐怖平衡’的互保原则，从而为双方带来相互授权的最终和解”，Ludlow说。“而苹果公司也不可能使三星公司从此退出手机业务，因为这其实只是一个谁付多少钱给谁的问题罢了。”他补充说。 “但这将会是一场十分艰辛的战争，最终却没人能赢得最后胜利，”Ludlow引用另一个在诺基亚(Nokia)和苹果之间的竞争最后仍以和解收场为例。“只方将可能在法庭上极力展开争辩，同时也在授权室中进行讨论，最终取得交互授权的结论。”他说。 相较于最近出售一系列专利组合给苹果和微软等合作伙伴的北电专利组合而言，摩托罗拉的专利产品组合具有更多10倍比例的优势。“但是，其中许多所谓‘不得不使用的技术’(Standards-essential patents)专利还有其值得商榷之处，”Ludlow说。“有些标准组织允许自我声明何者为核心专利，但有的组织则交由评审小组进行审查以决定是否为必要的专利。”他补充说。 本文下一页：聚焦设计专利 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载

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{pagination} 聚焦设计专利 苹果公司采用一种独特的手段展开与三星的诉讼，其依据即是一项描述有关产品外型的设计专利。一位设计专利领域的专家表示，由于苹果公司一向采用简约的工业设计风格，此举多少也为其带来风险。 “传统上，外观设计专利并未被广泛用于专利战中，因此苹果公司此举是有点出乎意料之外的，”Ludlow说。“而三星的产品设计在外形上有多么接近苹果的设计，这一点将公开在法庭中辩论。”他补充道。 在美国的诉讼中，苹果公司根据其所主张的三项苹果设计专利以及一项应用专利侵权，要求法院禁止三星平板电脑和智能手机在市场上贩卖。 具体地说，苹果公司希望寻求限制三星Galaxy S 4G、Infuse 4G与Galaxy 10.1平板电脑的禁制令。McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd.公司一位设计专利律师Chris Carani表示，如果法院发布这项禁制令，那么可能一直到明年夏天法院审理以前，三星公司的产品都得在市场上停售。 Carani表示，负责这一诉讼案的法官认为三星的平板电脑产品其实已经对苹果的设计专利构成了侵权，然而，她也指出，由于和1994 Knight-Ridder平板设计专利类似，苹果的其中一项设计专利很可能会因此无效。 编译：Susan Hong 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：Reports examine mobile patent wars，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} Reports examine mobile patent wars RickMerritt SAN JOSE – No clear winners are expected in the ongoing patent infringement battles among Android partners, Apple and Microsoft, based on new reports analyzing some of the companies' patents. UBM TechInsights has released a report analyzing the nearly 17,000 patents Google hopes to buy as part of its $12.5 billion bid to acquire Motorola Mobility. Displaybank has released a handful of reports on mobile displays, including one examining a key Apple patent on multi-touch screens. Meanwhile, a U.S. judge suggested at least one of Apple's design patents on the look and feel of its iPad may not be valid. The case is one of several Apple has brought against Samsung in courts around the world trying to prevent it from selling Android smartphones and tablets. Separately, Motorola is named in 46 recent patent infringement cases citing 302 patents. Motorola has sued Apple or Microsoft for patent infringement in 12 of those cases, all filed in the past year. Google will be better able to defend Android partners using the Motorola patents and Moto's seasoned intellectual property team, but it "does not have a clear advantage with this [Motorola] portfolio acquisition," UBM TechInsights said in its report. In fact the deal "likely makes this combined entity a more direct target," it said. The report found Motorola Mobility has a total of 12,901 active patents, including 7,909 U.S. patents and 2,315 pending U.S. applications. The biggest groups--4,429 patents--are broadly in communications with smaller groups in encoding (414), video processing (298), power management (286), security (211) and user interface (91). The U.S. patents should hold up well over time. Five years out 6,947 of the patents will still be valid including the vast majority of the patents in all the major categories. Separately, market watcher Displaybank released a report examining a new multi-touch U.S. patent Apple was granted in June. It "encompasses broad topics related to technology of operating almost any picture that moves on [a] touch screen [and] is a strong, hard-to-avoid patent," it concluded. In the end, patent wars are a numbers game, said Terry Ludlow, chief executive of ChipWorks, an IP consulting firm that has not conducted a specific analysis of the mobile portfolios. The Motorola portfolio "probably gets [Google] to the level of mutually assured destruction, so they could end up with a cross license," Ludlow said. "Apple is not going to keep Samsung out of the handset business, it's just a question of who is going to pay whom and how much," he added. "It's going to be a hard fight, but no one is going to win," said Ludlow, citing separate battles between Nokia and Apple that concluded with a settlement. "It will be a debate in court and parallel discussions in the licensing rooms, and in the end there will be cross licenses," he said. In a recent analysis of the number of patents cited as essential to an industry standard, the Motorola portfolio had a 10:1 ratio advantage over a Nortel portfolio recently sold to a group of partners including Apple and Microsoft, Ludlow said. "But standards-essential patents are a bit debatable," said Ludlow. "Some standards groups let you self-declare what's an essential patent and others have independent panels that review them and decide which are essential," he added. Design patents in the spotlight Apple is adopting a unique tactic in its lawsuits against Samsung, citing design patents that describe how products look. One design patent expert said the move is risky given Apple's minimalist industrial designs. "How do you enforce a patent on what is essentially a rectangle," said Chris Carani, a design patent attorney with McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd. (Chicago), referring to the iPad. "Design patents traditionally haven’t been used that much in patent wars, so [Apple's move] is coming a bit from left field," said Ludlow. "How close to the [Apple] design [Samsung is] will be debate in court," he added. In the U.S. case, Apple is asking the court to bar the Samsung tablets and smartphones from the market based on allegedly infringing three Apple design patents and one utility patent. Specifically Apple seeks to bar Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G and Infuse 4G phones and Galaxy 10.1 tablet. If the court grants an injunction it could keep the products off the market until a trial is held, probably next summer, Carani said. In "tentative thoughts" that do not indicate a ruling, the judge in the case said she thought the Samsung tablet does infringe Apple's design patents. However, she also said one of the design patents could be invalid due to similarities to a 1994 Knight-Ridder tablet design patent, Carani said.