Dr. Tal Lavian UC Berkeley Engineering, CET Wireless Mobile Devices: The Smartphone Patent War

Learn to view things within an IP framework: Recognize inventions Be able to detect and avoid infringement Distinguish confidential information from general knowledge Preserve confidentiality 2 Last Week: Recognizing Intellectual Property

Last Week: Characteristics of Wireless Mobile Devices 3 Wireless  Limited bandwidth, high latency  Variable link quality (noise, disconnections, other users)  Heterogeneous air interfaces Mobility:  User and terminal location dynamically changes  Speed of terminal mobility impacts wireless bandwidth Portability  Limited battery capacity, computing and storage  Small dimensions More Signal Processing More Protocol Processing Higher Energy Efficiency

Last Week: Evolution of Cellular System 4 First generation: Analog – Voice  Analog modulation, cellular phone (AMPS) with manual roaming Second Generation: Digital Voice & Data  Digital modulation Cellular and PCS phones with seamless roaming, integrated paging Third Generation (3G): Digital Multimedia  Unified digital access, voice, data, video music, gaming, m-commerce, sensor etc.

This Week: Smartphone Patent War We will take an in-depth look at the many different battles comprising the patent war, including  Who’s suing who  Over what technology  And for what possible reasons We will also discuss alternatives to litigation, such as licensing IP

Smartphones – what are they? 6 Small size, light weight, easily fitting in palm and pocket Display screen with touch input and small virtual key board Also known as portable handheld device or handheld device (e.g. Smartphone, PDAs etc.)

Device Architecture 7 Small device Weight Screen Size and Interface Memory Processor Battery Hardware components Camera SIM FM radio GPS Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Other features

Smartphone is a radical technology change with a lot of money at stake and growing. Source: / 8 Smartphone Patents Are Valuable

Smartphone is a radical technology change with a lot of money at stake and growing. Patent war is a major tool to slow down the competition and get better market share Very large business…and growing Apple, Google, Motorola, LG, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia…. Extremely expansive litigation, with a lot of risk Time is critical - slowing down the competitors Smartphone Patents Are Valuable

Smartphone Patent War Overview Similar to the GSM patent war of the 1990s, there is currently a patent war stirring up the mobile telecommunications market Major actors include Apple, Microsoft, Google, HTC, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, (Oracle,) and others Great example of companies leveraging their IP to obtain a competitive edge

Wireless Devices Relevant Technologies 11 Smartphone designs e.g., Tab

Wireless Devices Relevant Technologies (cont.)  Operating systems  e.g., Microsoft  Barnes and Noble over Android in Nook ebook reader Patents involved: #5, 778, 372 – “Remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images.” #6, 339, 780 – “Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area.” #5, 889, 522 – “System provided child window controls.”  Microsoft also involved in many licensing deals with OEMs Means of avoiding litigation for both parties (otherwise Microsoft would assert software patent rights in court)

Smartphone Patent War – When Did It Begin? Patent litigation concerning smartphone technology began in late 2009  Nokia sued Apple over 10 patents  Apple countersued Nokia for infringement of 13 patents  Notice the “eye for an eye” mentality in patent litigation Nokia-Apple litigation quickly expanded from district courts to the International Trade Commission  Also opened the door for other companies to sue competitors for smartphone patent infringement  “Opening salvo”

Smartphone Patent War – Who’s Involved Apple vs. HTC: 20 software patents ELAN vs. Apple: touchscreen patents Oracle vs. Google: Java patents Qualcomm vs. Nokia: 3G tech. Apple vs. Nokia: data and speech coding Nokia vs. Apple: 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi tech. This list is not exhaustive

Smartphone Patent War – Who’s Involved (cont.) Smartphone patent war also includes actors not directly involved with the smartphone industry  Kodak  First attempted to assert patent rights in court in order to raise capital from licensing to smartphone manufacturers  Eventually sought to sell patents to avoid bankruptcy Some think litigation was actually a means of marketing their patent portfolio  Non-Practicing Entities (NPE)  i.e., companies that assert patent rights but do not make the inventions they own the patents for themselves

Smartphone Patent War – Different Actors, Different Motivations Motivations for resorting to patent litigation are often multi-pronged:  Principle – patents rights have been infringed, not going to tolerate it  e.g., Apple suing Samsung over iPad design infringement  Damages – plaintiffs in patent cases can recoup profits lost due to infringement, sometimes treble (3x) damages if judge finds willful infringement

Smartphone Patent War – Different Actors, Different Motivations (cont.)  Injunction – if product found to infringe, court can order injunction against manufacturer  Essentially, a mandate to stop producing the infringing product  e.g., Apple sued Samsung over Galaxy Tab in Germany, won an injunction that forbade Samsung marketing it  Licensing – sometimes if a competitor wants to use your IP, you let them pay you to do it  This has largely been Microsoft’s strategy throughout the patent war  Arguably mutually beneficial: one side gets access to competitor’s IP, while competitor need not manufacture to profit from IP.

Smartphone Patent War – Jurisdictions The smartphone patent war is a global span of litigation taking place in various courts, including:  U.S. district courts  Most patent cases in the United States are heard in Eastern district of Texas Delaware Northern district of California  European and Asian courts  Most often with the aim to win an injunction in a foreign market

Smartphone Patent War – Jurisdictions (cont.)  International Trade Commission (ITC)  Quasi-legal venue where many patent cases are heard  Two reasons plaintiffs often file complaints to the ITC: While not having the ability to award damages, it can grant injunctions Speed – proceedings are usually much faster than in district or appellate courts

Smartphone Patent War – Questions To Ask Are there more mutually profitable alternatives to “patent wars”?  Cross-licensing?  Patent pools? What effect does such litigations have on  consumers?  the market?  innovation? When will it be “over”?  Bankruptcy?  Product bans?

Summary Value of smartphones and related tech to developing market The smartphone patent war:  Began with Nokia and Apple in 2009  All players involved  Global courts, Texas, Delaware, California… and the ITC 22