05/04/2011 zen No Comments

Google goes shopping for patents

Google has made a $900m bid for the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks, the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker.

The patents could help arm it against potential lawsuits aimed at its Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.

Patents are becoming highly prized pieces of intellectual property.

Google has admitted that it has far fewer patents than rival tech firms

Experts told the BBC they believe the final price could go well over $1bn and may be as high as $2bn.

The amount of money being put up illustrates how fierce the patent wars have become as companies like Apple, Google, Nokia and HTC become embroiled in lawsuits.

Google is not convinced that all the litigation is justified.

"The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits," said Kent Walker general counsel for Google in the firm's blog.

'If successful, we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community - which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome - continue to innovate," he added in a blog post.

Google's $900m bid is a "stalking horse asset sale agreement" which means other companies interested in the 6,000 patents on offer have to put more money on the table.

The sale will include patents and patent applications for wired, wireless and digital communications technology.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity to acquire one of the most extensive and compelling patent portfolios to ever come on the market," said George Riedel, Nortel's chief strategy officer.

'Patent weakness'

“
Start Quote

I think many of these lawsuits are meant to slow down innovation especially when they come from a competitor”

Charles GolvinForrester Research

Google has admitted that it is lagging behind other industry players such as Apple and Microsoft in terms of the number of patents it holds.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists Google patents at 630, while Apple has over 3,800 and Microsoft has about 18,000.

"Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories," said Google's Mr Walker.

The internet giant has also said it faces a major increase in litigation from so-called patent trolls and industry competitors as it tries to grow its Android mobile phone software, the increasingly popular operating system for handset manufacturers, carriers and software developers.

One of the more high-profile cases involves Oracle and relates to Java software used on the Android mobile device platform. Another involves Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen who is suing Google and 10 other companies for patent infringement.

"In some cases some of those lawsuits, even though they are couched as patent infringement lawsuits which generally mean we are looking for money from you, are not all they seem," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst with Forrester Research.

"I think many of these lawsuits are meant to slow down innovation especially when they come from a competitor."

Patent expert Florian Mueller told BBC News that in the last 12 months, Google has faced 37 patent lawsuits.

"It's not like Google could solve the whole Android patent problem with one purchase like this, no matter how large," said Mr Mueller.

"They would need more such deals. The real question is why haven't they been buying up patents like this at auction before now. They are coming from behind and it was quite foreseeable that they were getting into Android. They have now finally recognised that they must do something about their patent weakness."

'Bargaining chips'

Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and has been steadily selling off its assets to pay creditors.

Its patent portfolio is the last significant piece of property the company has to sell and it is one that is expected to attract a lot of bids as mobile devices become ubiquitous.

Last month Microsoft offered to pay $7.5m for net addresses from Nortel.

Mr Mueller ventured that of the 6,000 patents on offer, a number of them will not be applicable to Google's business but will provide useful leverage.

"Assuming they acquire those patents, I believe they will be powerful bargaining chips when it comes to cross licensing negotiations with other companies in the telecom space who have patents that Google is interested in.

"The value to Google would be significant in terms of the value it can extract from other companies and their patents," said Mr Mueller.

He said he believed the final price for the portfolio will be "well north of $1bn". Other industry watchers have said it could go as high as $2bn.

"The patent war is getting tougher and expensive," said Francisco Jeronimo, analyst with IDC.

A decision on who will be awarded the portfolio will be made by a court in June.

Bloomberg News said that court papers showed Google will be paid a $25m break-up fee if another bidder wins the auction. The search giant is also guaranteed a repayment of as much as $4m in expenses.

Apple verdict

Hours after Google announced its bid for Nortel's patents, Apple won a court ruling throwing out a $625.5m patent infringement verdict over how documents are displayed on a computer screen.

Back in October, a jury said Apple was infringing on three patents owned by Mirror Worlds LLC and awarded damages of $208.5m for each patent.

Apple argued in court papers that the amount was too high. US District Judge Leonard Davis agreed.

"Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture of the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law," he concluded.

Refrention : BBC

Read The full Article Here - Google goes shopping for patents

Labels: News

Radiation leak found outside Japan nuclear reactor

28/03/2011 zen No Comments

Radiation leak found outside Japan nuclear reactor

Highly radioactive water has been found for the first time outside one of the reactor buildings at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.
The leak in a tunnel linked to the No 2 reactor has raised fears of radioactive liquid seeping into the environment.
Plutonium has also been found in soil at the plant, but not at levels that threaten human health, officials say.
Earlier, Japan's government strongly criticised the plant's operator, Tepco, over mistaken radiation readings.
Tepco announced on Sunday that a highly radioactive pool of water in the No 2 reactor was 100 times more radioactive than it actually was.
Officials said the radiation scare was caused by a partial meltdown of fuel rods.
Underground tunnel
The discovery of highly radioactive water outside a reactor building is a worrying development, says the BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo.
Up until now, pools of water with extremely high levels of radiation have only been detected within the reactor buildings themselves.The water was found in an underground maintenance tunnel, with one end located about 55m (180ft) from the shore.
Radiation levels were measured at 1,000 millisieverts an hour, a dose that can cause temporary radiation sickness. This is the same as the levels found on Sunday.
However, Tepco said there was no evidence that the contaminated water had reached the sea.
Tepco later said that plutonium had also been detected in soil at five locations at the plant but not at levels that represented a risk to human health.
It said the results came from samples taken a week ago and would not stop work at the plant.
Plutonium was used in the fuel mix for only one of the six reactors, number three.
The twin discoveries came hours after the government criticised Tepco for issuing incorrect readings from the plant.
On Sunday Tepco said radiation levels at reactor No 2 were 10 million times higher than normal before correcting that figure to 100,000.
"Considering the fact that the monitoring of radioactivity is a major condition to ensure safety, this kind of mistake is absolutely unacceptable," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
Tepco has apologised but the mistaken reading at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has called into question the operating company's handling of the current crisis, our correspondent says.
Tepco has been criticised for a lack of transparency and failing to provide information more promptly and for making a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.
Two workers were taken to hospital last week after wading though contaminated water with inadequate protection. They were expected to be released on Monday.
Foreign aid
Workers are battling to restore power and restart the cooling systems at the stricken nuclear plant, which was hit by a quake and tsunami over two weeks ago.
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake on 11 March and the powerful tsunami it triggered is now known to have killed 10,901 people, with more than 17,000 people still missing.
More than 190,000 people are living in temporary shelters.
The BBC's Roland Buerk in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, says prefabricated houses are being wired for electricity, but there is initially room for only 150 of the 1,000 survivors there.
In Miyagi prefecture - another of the worst-hit areas - the authorities estimate it will be three years before all of the rubble and debris has been cleared.
Some 20,000 US troops are bolstering Japan's Self-Defence Forces, delivering aid in what is said to be the biggest bilateral humanitarian mission the US has conducted in Japan.
As well as shortages of food, water and fuel, survivors are also having to endure frequent aftershocks.
Japan lifted a tsunami warning earlier on Monday that was issued after a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the northern coast.
It is not reported to have caused any injuries or damage.
For the first time since the disaster, the government has permitted a foreign medical team to enter the country to treat victims, the Japan Times reports.
The health ministry has lifted a ban on holders of foreign medical licences from practising in Japan, allowing a team of 53 medical aid workers from Israel, including 14 doctors and seven nurses, to work.
Refrention : BBC

Read The full Article Here - Radiation leak found outside Japan nuclear reactor

Labels: News

Libya: Rebels battle for road to Gaddafi hometown Sirte

zen No Comments

Libya: Rebels battle for road to Gaddafi hometown Sirte

Libyan rebels are battling for control of the road leading to the heartland of government loyalists.

The rebel army has been moving rapidly westwards, but came under heavy attack on the approach to Col Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.

Nato, which now runs the coalition action, has denied its strikes are to provide cover for a rebel advance.

Some rebels have said they do not believe Sirte will be as easy to recapture as the other towns

Britain and France have urged Col Gaddafi's supporters to defect "before it is too late".

The anti-Gaddafi rebels have seized a number of key coastal communities and important oil installations in recent days, including Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad.

Repeated ambushes
Earlier on Monday, the rebels said they had seized Sirte, but the BBC's Ben Brown in rebel-held Bin Jawad says it is now clear their progress was halted before they reached Sirte.
They came under repeated ambush from government troops, says our correspondent.
Reports said bombardments of the road between Bin Jawad and Nawfaliyah sent the rebels fleeing back towards Bin Jawad.
"This is the front line. The army has stopped over there, we are stopping here," one fighter told Reuters, indicating the road towards the town of Nawfaliyah.
AFP news agency says the shells fired at the poorly armed rebel convoy landed mostly on sand dunes.
"It won't be as easy as we thought to take Sirte and then march on [the capital] Tripoli," one rebel told the news agency.
"But we won't stop - we'll advance. They can't hold us up for long."
AFP said the rebels had again begun to move cautiously towards Sirte, which is about halfway along the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.
Russian criticism
On Sunday, Nato began taking over control of the coalition military action in Libya.
The mission had previously been under US command, with the alliance responsible for enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.
The head of the Nato operation, Canada's Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, has rejected suggestions that the coalition air strikes were to provide cover for the rebels to advance.
"Our goal is to protect and help the civilians and population centres under the threat of attack," he told a news conference.
Lt Gen Bouchard said the alliance was taking steps to ensure "minimum collateral damage".
"Our job is to ensure the safety of people and we will do what it takes to do that, but we will also ensure that we ensure their safety in doing our operation," he said.
Coalition strikes on government military bases are continuing - Britain's Ministry of Defence said its aircraft destroyed ammunition bunkers on Monday morning in the Sabha region, in the southern desert.
France said its jets struck a Gaddafi command centre 10km (six miles) south of Tripoli's suburbs on Sunday night.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised the military action, saying it goes beyond the remit of the UN Security Council resolution and amounted to interference in a "civil war".
The battle for Misrata, the last significant rebel-held city in western Libya, has continued, with Gaddafi forces reportedly shelling the city on Monday.
But later in the day, the foreign ministry said a ceasefire was in place and that calm had been restored.
"The city of Misrata now enjoys security and tranquillity and public services have started to recover their ability to provide customary services to all citizens," the state news agency Jana quoted officials as saying.
The BBC's world affairs correspondent John Simpson was taken to outskirts of the city on a government visit.
Our correspondent says the fact that the journalists were not taken to the city centre suggests fighting continues there.
Britain and France have issued a joint statement calling on Col Gaddafi's supporters to "leave him before it is too late".
"We call on all Libyans who believe that Gaddafi is leading Libya into a disaster to take the initiative now to organise a transition process," they said.
The countries said this process could involve the rebels' "pioneering" Transitional National Council in Benghazi and "civil society leaders as well as all those prepared to join the process of transition to democracy".
"We encourage them to begin a national political dialogue, leading to a representative process of transition, constitutional reform and preparation for free and fair elections."
Meanwhile, Qatar has become the first Arab nation to recognise the rebel council as the official representatives of the Libyan people.

Refrention : BBC

Read The full Article Here - Libya: Rebels battle for road to Gaddafi hometown Sirte

Labels: News

COLDPLAY - Yellow - with LYRICS (nice)

26/03/2011 zen No Comments

Read The full Article Here - COLDPLAY - Yellow - with LYRICS (nice)

Labels: VIDEO + LYRIC

Archives