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Because the question is more than just "do they infringe?" It is "Are they being a patent troll or not?"

And the proposed definition said if they were harmed, they were not. In the above post i clarified that they were indeed harm, and thus no troll. Once more i ask, which part of the question did i not respond to?
 
The A4 and the Samsung Hummingbird are almost the same basic chip, both with optimizations done by Intrinsity before Apple bought the company.
Then the true test should have been between the A4 and a Hummingbird, not the Snapdragon.
 
And the proposed definition said if they were harmed, they were not. In the above post i clarified that they were indeed harm, and thus no troll. Once more i ask, which part of the question did i not respond to?

Whether or not VIA was actually harmed. It would seem that if they were no chance to potentially sell a patent that Apple infringes on, they would have never pursued it, and thus didn't care about any harm, if any was even being done. In my opinion, if they had no intention of pursuing it otherwise, no actual harm has been done. VIA just sees a potential cash-out.
 
Says who? WHo's to say that if Apple had not used the ARM chips, they didn't create other chips that work as good as, or better than their A4 /A5?

No, I am not basically saying that.
I am saying that I am sure no one bought an iPhone because of the ARM chip, but because it's an iOS device. And since the success of the iOS devices is not based on the chips, it does not hurt Via because iOS devices would be the same threat even if they used other chips.
At least that's what I think.
If Apple really infringed Via's patens or not, I do not know.

Who cares if people did not buy the phone because of the chip? How is that relevant at all for whether or not VIA has been harmed by the (assumed) infringement? It hurts VIA because VIA is relatively less able to compete through Apples inclusion of VIA ip in their architecture.

There mere fact that they would be better off if reimbursed for their R&D by Apple is enough to state that they have been harmed. Its not a neutral situation, its not a positive situation. The only thing remaining is: its a negative situation. I.e., they have been harmed.

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Whether or not VIA was actually harmed. It would seem that if they were no chance to potentially sell a patent that Apple infringes on, they would have never pursued it, and thus didn't care about any harm, if any was even being done. In my opinion, if they had no intention of pursuing it otherwise, no actual harm has been done. VIA just sees a potential cash-out.

Apples use in itself a validation of its worth being higher than null. For everything with a value higher than null there is a chance to potentially sell. Basically, what you just stated boils down to: If i hadn't bought that piece of software anyway, i should be free to steal it.
 
Apples use in itself a validation of its worth being higher than null. For everything with a value higher than null there is a chance to potentially sell. Basically, what you just stated boils down to: If i hadn't bought that piece of software anyway, i should be free to steal it.

That's not how patent infringement is enforced, though. The burden of complaint lies solely on those being infringed. There no patent police looking for infringing products like there are cops looking for theft. If there were, the number of patent disputes would be orders of magnitude higher, so I don't think that's a logically sound point to argue from. The question is: Is VIA trying to protect their revenue sources or create a new one? I think it's the latter because I don't think they would have pursued it if they didn't think they could sell it for a high amount.

And the proposed definition said if they were harmed, they were not. In the above post i clarified that they were indeed harm, and thus no troll. Once more i ask, which part of the question did i not respond to?

That's an empty definition because all patent holders stand to get revenue through products sold or licenses granted. By that definition, harm is always done when a patent is infringed, so it's not a question worth asking. The question lies in the intent of the holder.
 
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First, define similar as the A4 was a unique chip to begin with.
Second, a one chip comparison is a far cry from "any similar chip". :rolleyes:

I should have said A4 chip designed by instrinsity (now owned by Apple) and fabed by Samsung, just as the Hummingbird chip, but my first argument stands as VIA would be after having access to the innards of it all.
 
:rolleyes:

You realise that there are other companies besides Apple in the entire industry?

Yes. You can find them at the bottom of the profit share pyramid and below Apple in the customer satisfaction reports, consistently. What's your point?
You realise that there are other companies besides Apple innovating and filing patents for the same?

*Looks at iPhone* It has an Apple logo on the back. *Looks at iPad* Well whaddya know. This has one too.

Where is all the "innovative" tablet competition? How is it that HP is innovating themselves out of the PC business? Why is RIM innovatively sinking? Those are some pretty innovatively lean WP7 numbers. They innovated an average product that might have been impressive three years ago.

Such innovation from everyone. Unless you raise your standards. Then it's a much, much smaller crowd.
You realise that there are other companies besides Apple who do not appreciate other companies infringing on their technology?

Obviously.
You realise that there are other companies besides Apple who feel for their products and innovations?

Anyone who licenses universally does not. Most OEMs, in turn, don't.

That doesn't leave a very wide field of feelyness now does it.
Even Apple needs to pay up.

Yet to be determined.
 
I found the patents:

US 6,253,311 Instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data

US 6,253,312 Method and apparatus for double operand load

US 6,754,810 Instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data

From what I've read so far they are absurdly obvious to one skilled in the art. In any case, 311 and 810 relate to instruction sets, and Apple uses the ARM instruction set. 312 could be Apple-specific optimizations. OTOH, Apple has not released the specifics of any custom work, so it would be interesting to see how VIA figured them out.

Maybe VIA didn't figure them out. Maybe this has more to do with forcing Apple to show the custom work as the only way to prove that they did not violate the patents. Thus, others can learn and profit off the knowledge. If Apple does not want to tip their hand and show or prove, then they have to pay out.
 
That's not how patent infringement is enforced, though. The burden of complaint lies solely on those being infringed. There no patent police looking for infringing products like there are cops looking for theft. If there were, the number of patent disputes would be orders of magnitude higher, so I don't think that's a logically sound point to argue from. The question is: Is VIA trying to protect their revenue sources or create a new one? I think it's the latter because I don't think they would have pursued it if they didn't think they could sell it for a high amount.

Obviously all of my claims are based on that the assumed infringement is in fact just that. Just couldnt be bothered to add assumed or alleged everywhere.

Fail to see how your question maps to the definition earlier given, or any definition of patent trolling really. They want pay for the work they have done in inventing the technology in question. Thats the only reason you perform r&d to begin with. If you get it through others licensing your product, or through sales doesnt really matter.



That's an empty definition because all patent holders stand to get revenue through products sold or licenses granted. By that definition, harm is always done when a patent is infringed, so it's not a question worth asking. The question lies in the intent of the holder.

The intent was to extract value out of their ip. Apples infringement limits their ability to do that. Thus, they are harmed. Empty or not, it is what it is.
 
The intent was to extract value out of their ip. Apples infringement limits their ability to do that. Thus, they are harmed. Empty or not, it is what it is.

I fundamentally disagree. Apple infringement is precisely what allows them to extract value of their IP. A weapon in a patent war is going to go for more than market value.
 
I fundamentally disagree. Apple infringement is precisely what allows them to extract value of their IP. A weapon in a patent war is going to go for more than market value.

does apples infringement make it easier or harder for via to compete with arm? can i get an answer on that?
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jiarizti
the fact that the A4 outperforms any similar chips in the market.

Source?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3633/apples-a4-soc-faster-than-snapdragon
How is that even a fair comparison. They are running different software... Typcially when you test hardware you make sure the software is the same...
So how does Apple's A4 stack up against today's favorite smartphone brainchild? Keep in mind that these results are generated by running two different OSes (Android 2.1 and iPhone OS 3.2) and two different browsers. What we're looking at is the performance delivered by the combination of the CPU and the software stack:
 
Enough already!

We get it. Every single day there will be at least one new patent lawsuit against Apple or Apple suing someone. This whole patent thing would be funny if the lawyers weren't making so much money off of them. The news about patent suits isn't interesting anymore. Please give this stuff a rest and leave it in the courts.

:apple::cool:
 
does apples infringement make it easier or harder for via to compete with arm? can i get an answer on that?

That is absolutely irrelevant. If their patented technology is in the A4, then they should get a percentage of the income derived from the A4 consistent with the amount of their technology's contribution to the A4 as a whole. Compensation for invention, that is how patents are supposed to work.

This is good, since not too long ago there would just be huge awards based on how much money the infringing product had brought in. We now have the test of relative value to the whole product. If they win, it shouldn't be much given it's three minor technical aspects of a chip with tens of thousands of technical aspects, most much more important.
 
Jezus! Sue this

Im going to patent on how to take a piss, that way I sue every man taking a piss and get money off them . :eek:
 
Can I ask you an honest question. Are you writing this from some socialist country or do you work at the White House? How can one make money if his/her ideas are copied? What would be the point of inventing things if you can't profit on those things?
The countries I know of where "anything goes" and anyone can copy whatever they like from anyone else without worry of government intervention (like, say, Nigeria) are anything but socialist. The only form of actual socialism I've seen Obama openly support was in the form of taxpayer funded government programs exclusively for the use of military veterans and their families.
 
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does apples infringement make it easier or harder for via to compete with arm? can i get an answer on that?

If their problem is competing with ARM, then they should have sued ARM. You don't sue the customer of your competitor. You sue your competitor.
 
It will be interesting.
Remember Apple has significant processor IP.
They were part of AIM (Apple, intel, Motorola) which designed/modified the Power Architecture for Apple computers. They also purchased the assets of Power Computing. They purchased the company that evolved from Exponential Technology, Intrisity that specialized in high performance processor architectures.

Apple has plenty of processor IP in it's patent portfolio.

VIA may well have picked the wrong fight.

Well, VIA managed to get intel to cough up an x86 license.... Can apple do that with its IP?
 
The timing behind this is a touché

Apples suit preventing Samsung sales in the UK comes to mind.

The biggest difference is the Pro Apple courts in the USA, there's no chance they'd rule against Apple.

There is no justice. The one with the most money wins.

Apple has all the money, power & ability to intimidate.

There's nothing else to say.
 
How is that even a fair comparison. They are running different software... Typcially when you test hardware you make sure the software is the same...

True, in a way, but at the end of the day since Android doesn't run on the A-series and iOS doesn't run on snapdragon isn't the end experience the only *relevant* measure of speed? I really don't benefit knowing that I hold a smart phone with hardware that if the OS and browser didn't suck would be the fastest phone on the planet! I benefit from holding a smart phone that with the combination of hardware, OS, and browser *is* the fastest smart phone on the planet.

I think the Anandtech test, while outdated at this point, is the only real and relevant measure.
 
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