John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Apple vs. Samsung: Another Patent Slapfight, Another Exasperated Judge

Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett, the judge presiding over the Apple-Samsung patent dispute in Australia, is fast losing her patience with the two bickering companies and their petulant call and response.

On Monday, after listening to Samsung argue that Apple has refused to license three standard essential patents covering 3G wireless data transmission — and Apple argue that it offered to pay Samsung what it presumably feels to be a fair and reasonable licensing fee, which it refused — Bennett threw up her hands in frustration, declaring the case ludicrous.

“Why on earth are these proceedings going ahead?” Bennett asked. “It’s just ridiculous. … Why shouldn’t I order the parties to mediation?”

Indeed, why not?

Well, here’s one reason: Mediation has been tried before with these two players, and it hasn’t worked. In the U.S., court-mediated settlement talks between the warring companies began and ended at the same impasse, with Apple continuing to insist that Samsung “slavishly” copied the design of its iPhone and iPad, and Samsung demanding that Apple pay royalties on the wireless patents it believes the company infringed. It’s hard to imagine the outcome would be any different in Australia. As I’ve noted here before, the stakes in this battle are far too high and the fronts it’s being fought on far too numerous; Apple and Samsung have more than 50 lawsuits pending against one another in some 10 countries. And that fact alone would seem to belie any chance of an amicable resolution.

Apple, you’ll recall, was one of the parties, along with Google’s Motorola Mobility, in the most recent patent spat to irritate a judge beyond words. So, one more and we can officially call it a trend.

Twitter’s Tanking

December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

2013 Was a Good Year for Chromebooks

December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work