1. Android father: vivo APEX lift camera design patents, is ours
At this year's MWC show, the emergence of vivo concept machine APEX undoubtedly refresh our perception of a full screen mobile phone.
In order to achieve a stunning sensory experience, vivo think of the starting point is very simple, that is, the phone in front of the naked eye through the sensor through a way to "hide."
Look at up to 98% of the screen, near-screen fingerprinting area, full-screen vocal technology, and the up-and-down camera that pops up at the top of the phone ... These seemingly simple, yet tricky designs and technologies , But in exchange for a science-fiction-like visual sense.
However, unfortunately, this unprecedented technology, there seems to be a not original design vivo.
Andy Rubin, the father of Android, said on Twitter recently that Essential, the company it founded, already owns the 'pop-up camera', a patent called 'a device for maximizing the display area of mobile devices and Method ', submitted its application in May 2016 and was patented in 2017.
According to the page of US patent (US9736383B2), this patent allows the camera to be hidden inside the mobile device. When the camera is activated, the camera will pop up from the inside. When the camera is inactive, the camera will shrink Back to mobile device's interior.
In fact, the description of this patent has many similarities with the APEX concept machine.
Of course, taking into account the current vivo APEX is just a concept product, vivo also do not have to worry about litigation, but if later APEX want mass production, vivo may need to obtain Essential patent license.
2. Coinbase, the largest U.S. currency exchange, suffered another class action lawsuit
Beijing time March 6 evening news, the largest US encrypted currency exchange Coinbase is facing two new class actions, one of the lawsuits accused the deal of alleged insider trading.
A lawsuit filed in the federal court in San Francisco on Thursday said Coinbase had taken an unfair advantage in the Bitcoin cash market in December 2008. Bitcoin cash forked Bitcoin off Bitcoin in August last year. Coinbase announced that it will start trading bitcoins in cash when bitcoin cash prices rose nearly $ 1000. The lawsuit that Coinbase employees and other insiders know in advance the listing of the transaction, and bitcoin cash prices Rising to these insiders brought an unfair profit.
The lawsuit alleges that when the transaction started, insiders poured into Coinbase's system to submit buy-and-sell orders at 'fair prices.' Coinbase had to suspend bitcoin cash transactions to the next day in order to maintain liquidity.
The lawsuit said: "When Coinbase's clients started trading, insiders had speculatively priced bitcoin cash and other bitcoin investors could only get bitcoin cash for speculative prices." This manipulated price Well above the fair market value of bitcoin cash. '
At that time, Coinbase had said that the company will conduct an investigation as to whether there is any employee misconduct, and the lawsuit pointed out that Coinbase did not subsequently publish the findings.
According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is the fourth-ranked cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. The transaction price on Monday was $ 1253, far below the all-time high of $ 4,000 on December 20.
In a second lawsuit filed with the federal court in San Francisco on Friday, the two plaintiffs said they could not charge for bitcoin that had been transferred to them and charged that Coinbase intercepted money fraudulently so that those not owned by the exchange were not available funds.
They alleged that when Coinbase users sent cryptocurrencies to users who were not the exchange, the latter would receive an email asking them to open a Coinbase account, saying that thousands of people were sending encrypted currencies to them in this way , But they can not charge these cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase has not responded to both of these suits.
For Coinbase, there have been a series of bad news over the past few weeks, and last Tuesday the exchange said it would submit the data for 13,000 users to the IRS, which requested the IRS to obtain the records to investigate Whether bitcoin investor tax evasion.In February this year, due to system problems, some Coinbase users were charged an additional fee.Coinbase said it was due to the credit card issuing bank to deal with encrypted currency transactions has changed.Veneral also confirmed that, The problem is not Coinbase body. Sina science and technology
3. To strengthen its own patent strength Didi acquisition of unmanned patent package
Recently, Didi successfully acquired the unmanned patent package of France Brevets (French Patent Sovereign Fund), which includes 33 patent families and over 160 patents and patent applications involving patents from France, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, etc. This time being Driven by the acquisition of the driverless patent package is the French patent sovereign fund on November 2, 2015 and Thales (Thales) signed a purchase agreement.
In recent years, the market competition in the unmanned area has become increasingly tense. Many leading companies in the technology industry have invested a great deal of time and money in the research and development of driverless technology. In March 2017, Didi announced plans to establish an artificial capacity in the Silicon Valley of the United States. Smart laboratories are used to explore unmanned technology. To properly respond to intellectual property risks, it is necessary to establish a deterrent overseas patent reserve. As far as companies are concerned, there are two parallel methods for establishing overseas patent reserves. Submit patent applications based on their R&D capabilities, and the other is to acquire valuable patent portfolios through acquisitions.
In recent years, the awareness of corporate patent operations in our country has been continuously enhanced. A large number of companies, such as Didi, are striving hard to strengthen their own patent strength through patent acquisition. This patent acquisition will further expand the patent reserves of Didi in the field of driverless technology. To lay the foundation for the intelligent traffic industry to become a global high-quality intelligent traffic integrated service provider.
It is understood that this patent transaction service agency is a domestic patent operation agency Qixingtian (Beijing) Consulting Co., Ltd., which has established several cooperation with Dripping. In the field of patent operations, Qixingtian assists the buyer in patent screening and evaluation. During the acquisition process, the Company systematically conducted patent due diligence investigations and transaction assistance on the basic conditions, technical information, and legal status of patent assets, and also actively conducted patent operations, invested high-quality patent assets and participated in the establishment of patent funds.
4. Haier becomes the first OIN member Smart Home Patent Enabling Industry Development
On the eve of AWE 2018, Haier announced that it officially became a member of OIN Group, the world's largest patent protection community, and became the first and only member of the household appliance industry to join the organization. As the first Chinese household appliance industry company to join the organization, , Haier thus automatically obtained the authorization of the 1200 core patents for Linux development held by the OIN organization and provided strong intellectual property protection for the open source software invention patent of Haier U +, a customized Internet of things platform under Haier.
Haier U + across the 'threshold' for the wisdom of family escort
OIN organizations support the free development environment of Linux, the key element of open source software, and patented the core Linux and similar open source technologies by licensing cross-licenses of Linux systems in free form OIN Patent Licensing and Member's Patent Cross Licensing All OIN communities Members are free to open.If companies join the OIN organization, its business and the Linux operating system is matched, the number of patents won and brand awareness are the key to assessment.
Haier, the world's first home appliance brand, has been a leader in the smart home industry in the era of Internet of Things. As its technical support, the Haier U + platform has also fully owned the "smart home" network, networking, appliance control and fault self-feedback At present, Haier U + is actively protecting the core technologies of its own by actively establishing intellectual property alliances in the smart home field, joining the patent defense organizations and other initiatives, and meanwhile, Resistant to intellectual property risks from overseas.
Being able to become the first and only OIN member of the household appliance industry, Haier’s patent achievements based on Haier U+ platform are the most direct driving factors. Up to now, after 18 years of accumulated technology and experience, Haier U+ platform has applied for 1026 core patents, 23 international and national standards, comprehensively possessing the four core system invention patents in the field of smart home distribution network, networking, home appliance control, and fault self-feedback. Therefore, Haier’s participation in the OIN organization is well-known. Return
Haier home appliances to promote integration, hard power to lead the world's smart home
The continuous maturation of the concept of the Internet of Things has led many home appliances, the Internet, and e-commerce giants to enter this market. The smart home market shows great potential. However, behind the rapid development of the industry, smart single products are still hidden from each other. Product features Homogenization exists.With the constant improvement of the smart home industry, "products are not moving, patent first" has become the consensus of enterprises, and patents have become the heavy weapon for all enterprises to enhance their core competitiveness.
In recent years, Haier has continued to explore the field of smart homes, and has achieved fruitful results in building open and co-creative platforms, rapidly landing smart home solutions, participating in the formulation of international standards of the IoT, and driving the transformation of the entire industry. Supported by Haier, it completely broke users' pain points, and formed core technologies such as leading the industry in interconnection, U+ cloud computing, and big data; Haier U+ also helped transform the enterprise's Internet of Things by accelerating the intelligent home IoT software and hardware solution. The promotion and application of online smart home market scale. Under the increasingly important knowledge product, Haier U+ platform continues to break through many core technical barriers in the field of smart homes, providing a powerful patent for Haier wisdom families to lead the platform to continue to inspire the wisdom of the Internet of Things era. Technical Support.
Today, the Haier U+ platform has not stopped the pace of development. The continuous emergence of patented technologies in the areas of artificial intelligence, OS, security, and big data continues to drive changes in the global home appliance industry. After joining the OIN organization, the Haier U+ platform is in the smart The patented technology achievements obtained in the household sector will share the patents with other members of the organization. This move will inevitably accelerate the global IoT smart home industry process and further expand the international influence of Haier's smart family. Sohu
5. Blockchain-specific defensive patent licenses
Abstract: Although the overall impact of patents on the community remains controversial, they can have a negative impact on blockchain communities. Open patents may be crucial to the overall blockchain industry development. Unfortunately, technology innovators may need Patent protection for defensive purposes. A defensive patent license (DPL) protects the ecosystem from poor patent restrictions or reduces the risks associated with certain patents. We will explain some of the potential pitfalls and vulnerabilities in the current DPL. And research a new, improved Blockchain DPL (BDPL) license.
Patent in the blockchain field
The issue of intellectual property rights (IP) remains controversial among liberals and blockchain communities. Although most of the patent and copyright concepts are generally accepted, many liberals believe that these systems are actually a monopoly power granted by a country. It will hinder economic development. Stephan Kinsella elaborated on this negative intellectual property view in his article 'Anti-Intellectual Property Rights', in which he described patents as follows:
A patent is a property right of an invention, that is, an intellectual property of a 'valid' device or technological process. A new or improved mousetrap is an example of a device that can be patented. The patent is effectively granted to the inventor. A limited monopoly right to manufacture, use, or sell its invention. However, from another perspective, the patent actually grants the patent holder exclusive rights (ie, prevents others from inventing the patent); it does not actually grant the patent right. The right to use patented inventions. Of course, not every innovation or discovery can be applied for and patented. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has identified three categories that are not patentable, namely 'natural laws, natural phenomena and abstract concepts' However, if the abstract concept can be reduced to some 'actual application', even if it becomes 'available, concrete and tangible utility', it can be patented.
On the other hand, copyright covers original works such as books, articles, movies and computer programs. When it comes to the intellectual property of blockchain or other technologies, patents seem to be more relevant, and copyright is more applicable to works of art.
Regardless of how people view the merits of patents, when assessing the validity of patents in the blockchain field regarding patents, specific factors should be considered:
One of the main features of the blockchain is its unprivileged architecture, where no one can review and eliminate users' use of the system (aka censorship). If someone is patented in a blockchain system (such as a new transaction format) Right, patent holders and legal authorities may not be able to prevent others from using the patent, which may render the patent invalid or unenforceable.
Patented cryptocurrency mining technology patents allow patent holders to have a competitive advantage over other mining tools. This may undermine the significance of the mining mechanism, which requires a certain degree of market competition to have its value. If a miner or a mining pool occupies With a large percentage of hash values, they can review some or all of the transactions and even try to reverse the transactions, leaving the blockchain worthless.
Therefore, although the validity of patents is generally controversial, many people think that their impact in the blockchain is negative and they want to avoid using executable patents in the blockchain domain. To achieve this expectation, It's not simple; for those who develop technology in this area, simply avoiding patents is not enough. This approach is easily influenced by the so-called 'patent rogues' that may later apply for these technical patents. , Holding those blockchain companies and users who use patented technologies. These companies and users need an effective mechanism to defend against patent rogues.
DPL
The DPL is one of the tools used to prevent or defend patent rogues. Companies already in use include the Internet Archive and Blockstream. By signing the DPL, these companies essentially allow any person or company to use all their patented technologies for free, as long as these users Also join the DPL. In order to join the DPL, members must commit to share all patents held in the DPL, and must not file a patent infringement claim against any DPL member. This effectively forms a club where anyone can join, club members Don't worry about using patents owned by any other member. The establishment of the DPL is purely defensive, and the more entities that join the DPL, the better the blockchain community.
DPL issues
We have already talked with some patent holders and legal experts in the ecosystem. Some people have discovered potential defects in the DPL. The DPL is the first draft of the plan, and many people seem to admit that there are plenty of room for improvement in this draft.
Potential DPL vulnerabilities include:
It is mentioned in the DPL that if a member transfers a patent to an independent, non-DPL entity that does not comply with the terms of the DPL, the member license may be revoked, however, this restriction applies only to members who are members of the DPL. Theoretically, before joining DPL , An entity may first transfer an important patent to a related company.In this case, a new DPL member who just transferred a patent may collude with a company that has received the patent, and a company that receives the patent does not need to cooperate with the DPL Other members share its patents, and new DPL members are still free to use other patents in the DPL.
Although DPL prevents members from filing a claim of infringement, it does not prevent independent third parties from enforcing their patent rights, independent third parties may restrict certain DPL members from using their patents and open the patent to other DPL members, and if this occurs, As shown in the figure below, a DPL member who obtains a patent right may have advantages over other DPL members, which is exactly what DPL wants to avoid.
Company H is not a member of the DPL but it allows DPL member company A to use its patented technology while taking legal steps to safeguard the patent rights of other DPL members, giving A company some advantages while Company A is still a DPL Effective member
New BDPL
BDPL, a proposed blockchain-specific DPL solution, is designed to optimize and correct the DPL by revising and adding additional terms.BDPL still retains the core DDP defense features and will be a member of all BDPLs Grant a patent license.
The solution to the first vulnerability was achieved by modifying one of the terms of the license. The original DPL only prevented one member from making any non-defensive patent claims against another member. The new clause includes the definition of membership. "Single member or any other person collaborating with the member." This stricter requirement may make the above-mentioned complicity more difficult.
The second loophole was solved by adding a withdrawal to the license. This requirement states that if a member uses any patent granted by a third party, and the patent 'will or may' prohibit the use of another BDPL member, then The license of the member using the patent will be revoked. This should prevent the second loophole above.
in conclusion
We believe that this new BDPL offers an improved, more powerful alternative to the existing system. However, in some aspects it is more tedious than the old one – for example, the announcement notice is more stringent. In addition, The cost of addressing the loopholes also requires trade-offs: If a BDPL member obtains a key technology license from a non-BDLP member, the patent-issuing company then proceeds to take enforcement action against other BDLP members without the knowledge of the patented BDLP member. Difficulty in bringing BDPL members into a dilemma. It seems impossible to completely resolve this licensing issue, although with additional additional clauses it is possible to prevent other BDPL members of the authorizer from taking active action and thus mitigate this risk.
It would only be beneficial to provide patent holders with more choices. This new license could bring positive benefits to the blockchain space. The solution may be more complete and therefore more attractive to patent holders while maintaining the defense Sexual characteristics can protect ecosystems from harmful effects of patents. We have talked with patent holders who said that they may be more inclined to the new BDPL. Although this defense plan will be used universally, The overall industry brings benefits, but ultimately which plan will succeed (if any) remains unpredictable.
We believe that BDPL has significant improvements and will be adopted at a higher rate than DPL. If adopted, BDPL will greatly benefit the entire ecosystem and reduce the risk of getting around in one of the blockchain worlds. BitMEX Institute