• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microsoft's Devices Division May Lose it's Multi-Billion $ Android Safety Net

watership

Member
Good to see this getting exposure. They have been doing this shakedown shit for decades.

It's patents, and everyone gets money all over the place. MS is just one of the biggest single groups. Android phones are all especially hit because unlike apple, blackberry and windows phones, Android was designed and patched together with preexisting code and patented tech. Stuff that was there before it was even bought by google.

The only reason Google bought Motorola was to get its patents. Hp keeps its palm patents mostly to collect android money. Imo, this is the fault of early android design, and google is actually, over time, replacing the code/tech.

THAT is the reason some of the patents are going to slow down revenue, not that MS has invalid patents.

This actually isn't new news either, but get used to MS crap coming out of the left field this week and next. Something called the 'news cycle click freeforall".
 

Lynn616

Member
Android Licensing is not in the same division with Xbox. It is in the D&C Licensing Division and Xbox is in the D&C Hardware division.

If Android patents are keeping Xbox, Surface, and Windows Phone afloat, why are those divisions making a profit without the Android patent royalties, which, as you agree, are now in Devices and Consumer Licensing.

From March 31st Financial Statement
Gross Margin---------------------------3-Months Prior--------------9-Months Prior
Devices and Consumer Licensing---------$3,906------------------------$12,809
Devices and Consumer Hardware---------$258--------------------------$875
Devices and Consumer Other --------------$541--------------------------$1,324

Because Rick Sherlund has talking out of his ass.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
That's exactly how patent litigation works.

You are threatened with a specter of a threat: you are infringing on [x] number of patents. You will only find out what these patents are if you decide to take this case to trial. If this case goes to trial it will cost you an arm and a leg (as you will have to offer a detailed, expansive, cogent defense to each and very single claim for each and every single patent) and you will be fighting on our turf (a court district that near unanimously sides with the patent holder).

Should you lose this case you will have a world of hurt in legal fees to recover, plus a massive penalty fee will like likely have to pay, plus ongoing higher-than-normal royalties for the patents.

Should you manage to win, you don't pay the damages and royalties for all/most of the patents and their claims...but you'll likely have to absorb the legal fees.


Should you settle, then hey maybe you get a discount on the royalties but you can never talk about the terms of our agreement. Oh, and well use the fact that you settled as evidence that our patents have credence in the next shakedown. Because Samsung would never agree to the likely least expensive course of action unless they were guilty, right?

can MS now be sued by the OEMs for extortion to get the money they paid for years back?
 

tfur

Member
It's patents, and everyone gets money all over the place. MS is just one of the biggest single groups. Android phones are all especially hit because unlike apple, blackberry and windows phones, Android was designed and patched together with preexisting code and patented tech. Stuff that was there before it was even bought by google.

The only reason Google bought Motorola was to get its patents. Hp keeps its palm patents mostly to collect android money. Imo, this is the fault of early android design, and google is actually, over time, replacing the code/tech.

THAT is the reason some of the patents are going to slow down revenue, not that MS has invalid patents.

This actually isn't new news either, but get used to MS crap coming out of the left field this week and next. Something called the 'news cycle click freeforall".

Nope. Of course they have invalid patents. Please show me patented tech that linux and/or android is using that Microsoft owns. A patent from the NDA ones, that now may have been uncovered. Microsoft is going to loose on this one, since there is nothing they patented that is needed for either android or linux.

MS is has been extorting for quite some time.

There are no MS patents or copyrights in Linux, even though Microsoft lied and promised the world it was true. The linux community asked for them to put up and show what was infringing, of course they never did, and thus linux now rules the data centers of the world.

They have since moved into the extortion method, since threatening with out evidence has been working. They did it with Barnes & Noble. Barnes almost got them to release the "patents" in question. Unfortunately Barnes left court when Microsoft offered $300 million in sudden investment. Barnes took the hush money, and hushed.

This link has a nice quote about the bullshit Microsoft patents and the extortion methods.
http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20120209222500188

But the most explosive section is where Barnes & Noble describes what Microsoft said to them when they approached Barnes & Noble with a demand that they pay for a patent license:

“And what they basically told us was, it doesn’t matter if you have defenses, whether you don’t infringe, whether our patents are invalid, you’re going to need to take a license, because there’s no way that you can get out of our grasp, that we have so many patents that we could overwhelm you.”

The document says that Microsoft demands that all OEMs take a license from them and pay for all Android phones whether or not they actually infringe.


Believe what you want, but Microsoft has been slime for decades in this area. It is good to see them getting exposed again. It will take time, but its coming.
 

Abdiel

Member
It's easy to find bad news when people desperately go searching for it. It's also pretty easy for all the forced negativity to fly right over the heads of people busy enjoying the system.

"Forced Negativity"... That's so dishonest, Sage. There's definitely people with a vested issue with Microsoft, and then there's plenty of people who take serious issue with the choices/methodology MS has employed as a company, not just against the Xbox systems. Don't act like the issues people have are part of some deliberate effort to take down The XB1. That's not what this thread is about anyway.
 
It's easy to find bad news when people desperately go searching for it. It's also pretty easy for all the forced negativity to fly right over the heads of people busy enjoying the system.

Stop thread whining.

This fantasy yarn you are spinning about how this particular thread came into existence is also a complete fabrication by you.

I didn't go looking for this news, it came over a legit tech news wire, and is being watched and covered by multiple major tech sites. ZDNet, Ars, Gizmodo, Verge, and tons of investment sites too. It's legit news, no matter how much thread-whining or denial you throw at it.

I asked honest questions about what this means for XBox because multiple reports from both tech and investment sites said it would impact their business. This thread was meant to be a discussion, because that's what we do here in a forum called "Gaming Discussion."

So fuck right off with that passive-aggressive "whoa is us, everybody is trying to get XBoxxxx...." routine. It's an insult to me and this forum. If we can't have legit discussions without people like you making these wild claims, we are lost as a community.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Apparently not, they've been raking in the cash.

Where on this chart does it show the Xbox raking in so much cash?

2660874-1027147075-ibwzf.jpg


If anything like the OP, this chart may not show you how much they are spending on the division as to how much they are making.
 
Top Bottom