喬布斯的專利核大戰勝算幾何？
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????上周五，美國地方法院法官露西?科下達了兩項針對三星（Samsung）Galaxy Nexus的臨時禁令，對此谷歌（Google）沒有發表任何評論。Galaxy Nexus觸摸屏智能手機的軟件和硬件由谷歌和三星的工程師聯合開發。 ????這是一周之內針對三星安卓系統的第二項禁令，也是第一項直接沖擊谷歌品牌產品的禁令。禁令下達前八個月，谷歌與三星在香港召開的“冰激凌三明治”活動上，推出了Galaxy Nexus。而就在三天前，在舊金山召開的“果凍豆”開發者大會上，谷歌向與會者發放了6,000部Galaxy Nexus手機。 ????谷歌非常明智地選擇了沉默，但它的支持者們卻難掩心中的憤怒。科技網站BetaNews的喬?威爾考克斯撰寫了一篇名長文，題目是《用禁令阻止Galaxy Nexus銷售是蘋果的恥辱》（Apple's injunction stopping Galaxy Nexus sales is shameful），對禁令憤怒吐槽，像極了福克斯新聞頻道（Fox News）評論員批評高等法院對奧巴馬醫改計劃的判決時的腔調。不過喬?威爾考克斯的支持者大有人在，比如BetaNews另外一位記者彌海塔?班布里克就認為，蘋果是“獲勝的輸家”。 ????現在，iOS與安卓雙方陣營群情激昂。沃爾特?艾薩克森在《喬布斯傳》（Steve Jobs）中提到，蘋果公司對安卓手機制造商發起第一次專利侵權訴訟那天，喬布斯異常憤怒。他對艾薩克森說，谷歌“就是個盜竊犯”，并聲稱要對安卓系統發動“核打擊”。 ????上周，理查德?波斯納法官“帶有偏見地”駁回了蘋果對另一家安卓手機制造商摩托羅拉（Motorola）的起訴，看起來喬布斯的威脅似乎即將落空。然而，正如專利博客FOSS Patents的弗洛里安?穆勒所說，回顧一下就會發現，波斯納法官的判決對蘋果更加有利。波斯納法官的判決是，不會下達對所謂“FRAND”（公平合理非歧視原則——譯注）專利的臨時禁令，而這將使三星和摩托羅拉移動公司（目前已被谷歌收購）原本打算針對蘋果部署的法律武器永久失效。 ????蘋果公司能否達成喬布斯的遺命，奪取專利戰的勝利？由于漫長的訴訟過程，目前蘋果取得的勝利都只是針對即將過時的設備。但有了本周的兩項禁令，蘋果或許會要求對更新的產品實行臨時禁令，比如三星熱賣的Galaxy S III智能手機，再比如谷歌本周剛剛發布的Nexus 7平板電腦。 ????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓 |
????Google (GOOG) made no public comment Friday after Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple (AAPL) a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus -- a touchscreen cellphone whose hardware and software were jointly developed by Google and Samsung engineers. ????It was the second ban on an Android-based Samsung device in a week (seehere), and the first to strike directly at a Google-branded product. It came eight months after the Galaxy Nexus was unveiled at Google and Samsung's "Ice Cream Sandwich" event in Hong Kong and three days after Google gave6,000 copies of the phone to attendees at its "Jelly Bean" developers conference in San Francisco. ????Google wisely held its tongue, but its supporters were not so reticent. Sounding like a Fox News commentator after the Supreme Court's Obamacare ruling, BetaNews' Joe Wilcox let loose an angry tirade entitled Apple's injunction stopping Galaxy Nexus sales is shameful, an opinion echoed by a second BetaNews writer, Mihaita Bamburic, who declared Apple "a loser for winning." ????Emotions are running high on both sides of the iOS/Android divide. Walter Isaacson reported in his Steve Jobs biography that Jobs was as angry as he'd ever seen him the day Apple filed its first patent infringement suit against an Android phone manufacturer. Google has "f***ing ripped off the iPhone," Jobs told Isaacson, promising to go "thermonuclear" to destroy Android. ????Last week, when Judge Richard Posner dismissed "with prejudice" Apple's suit against Motorola over yet another Android phone, it looked as if Jobs' threats might have been empty. In retrospect, as FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller points out, Posners' decision was better for Apple than for Google. His ruling that preliminary injunctions can't be granted on so-called FRAND patents may have permanently disarmed the legal weapons both Samsung and Motorola Mobility (now part of Google) had hoped to deploy against Apple's patent arsenal. ????Could Jobs actually win the war he's waging from the grave? Given how slowly the wheels of justice grind, the legal victories granted Apple so far have been against devices whose shelf life had nearly expired. But armed with this week's decisions, Apple may be tempted to request preliminary injunctions against newer products, such as Samsung's hot-selling Galaxy S III smartphone or the Nexus 7 tablet that Google unveiled this week. |
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