專利競(jìng)購(gòu)：蘋(píng)果嚴(yán)陣以待，谷歌不以為意
谷歌的佩奇和布林
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????假如當(dāng)初被蘋(píng)果（Apple）以專利侵權(quán)為由告上法庭的是谷歌（Google）的話，那么在本周競(jìng)購(gòu)北電（Nortel）破產(chǎn)后留下的大量知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)組合時(shí)，谷歌可能會(huì)更加努力爭(zhēng)勝。 ????然而蘋(píng)果對(duì)準(zhǔn)的是谷歌的合作伙伴——宏達(dá)電（HTC）、摩托羅拉（Motorola）和三星（Samsung），它們生產(chǎn)的智能手機(jī)被指控在外觀和體驗(yàn)上與iPhone相似。 ????競(jìng)購(gòu)北電的專利組合將能為Android帶來(lái)一些法律保障，不過(guò)當(dāng)競(jìng)標(biāo)進(jìn)入白熱化時(shí)，谷歌卻開(kāi)始玩起游戲來(lái)。 ????路透社（Reuters）上周五的報(bào)道稱，“對(duì)當(dāng)時(shí)情況很了解的三位線人表示，”谷歌的出價(jià)從數(shù)字上看非常不合常理，它使用了布朗常數(shù)（1.902160540...）和梅塞爾-梅爾德斯常數(shù)（0.2614972128...），而且當(dāng)雙方被允許出價(jià)超過(guò)30億美元后，谷歌又使用了圓周率pi（3.14159...）。 ????其中一位線人表示：“谷歌在出價(jià)中使用的數(shù)字甚至都不是自然數(shù)?！?/p> ????斯坦福大學(xué)數(shù)學(xué)系的才子們可能會(huì)對(duì)此感興趣，不過(guò)對(duì)于谷歌的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手——一群死板嚴(yán)肅的生意人而言，這一招完全沒(méi)有奏效。而蘋(píng)果對(duì)此次競(jìng)購(gòu)則志在必得，它剛剛與諾基亞就持續(xù)了20個(gè)月的專利訴訟大戰(zhàn)達(dá)成和解，而與三星的曠世之爭(zhēng)還在進(jìn)行中，三星剛剛要求禁止美國(guó)進(jìn)口蘋(píng)果的相關(guān)產(chǎn)品。以蘋(píng)果為首的財(cái)團(tuán)最終以45億美元成功拍下北電的6，000項(xiàng)專利，這是迄今為止知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)組合賣(mài)出的最高價(jià)錢(qián)。 ????筆名為羅伯特?X?克林格里的馬克?史蒂芬斯在科技網(wǎng)站cringely發(fā)表文章，列出了各大公司在此次競(jìng)購(gòu)中的投入和戰(zhàn)果，具體如下： ????? 蘋(píng)果投入了20億美元，“完全獲得了北電的長(zhǎng)期演進(jìn)專利（Long Term Evolution，即4G技術(shù)）和一組可能為Android陣營(yíng)設(shè)置障礙的專利包?！?/p> ????? RIM（Research in Motion，黑莓手機(jī)生產(chǎn)商——譯注）和愛(ài)立信（Ericsson）共同投入11億美元，“愛(ài)立信獲得了專利組合的完全支付許可，RIM同樣獲得了支付許可”，而且根據(jù)加拿大稅法，RIM還可能“從北電的虧損中獲得稅收減免”，從而抵消部分競(jìng)購(gòu)?fù)度搿?/p> ????? 微軟（Microsoft）和索尼（Sony）也共同投入了10億美元。 ????? EMC據(jù)稱投入4千萬(wàn)美元，獲得了專利組合中與存儲(chǔ)業(yè)務(wù)相關(guān)的部分。 ????拉里?佩奇和謝爾蓋?布林則收獲了精神上的愉悅，因?yàn)樗麄冏C明了自己仍然還記得數(shù)論。 ????譯者：項(xiàng)航 |
????Perhaps if it had been Google (GOOG) that was getting hauled into court for patent violations it would have fought harder to win this week's auction for the rich portfolio of intellectual property bequeathed by the bankrupt Nortel Corp. ????But it was Google's Android partners -- the HTCs, Motorolas and Samsungs of the world -- that were getting sued for making smartphones that look and feel suspiciously like the iPhone. ????And when bidding for the patents that would have bought Android some legal protection got serious, Google started playing games. ????Quoting "three people with direct knowledge of the situation," Reuters reported late Friday that Google was making bids that were literally irrational -- using numbers like Brun's constant (1.902160540...), the Meissel-Mertens constant (0.2614972128...) and, when they got permission to go past the $3 billion limit, pi (3.14159...). ????"Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers," one of Reuters' sources said. ????That may have impressed the math majors at Stanford, but it had no effect on the deadly serious businessmen they were bidding against. Apple (AAPL), having just settled a 20-month legal battle with Nokia (NOK) and facing a potential import ban in its epic struggle with Samsung, was particularly determined. In the end it was they who led the consortium that shelled out $4.5 billion for Nortel's 6,000 patents -- the largest sum, by far, ever paid for a collection of intellectual properties. ????According to Mark Stephens, who writes under the byline Robert X. Cringely, the cost -- and the spoils -- were split as follows: ????? Apple paid $2 billion "for outright ownership of Nortel's Long Term Evolution (4G) patents as well as another package of patents supposedly intended to hobble Android." ????? Research in Motion (RIMM) and Ericsson (ERIC) together put up $1.1 billion "with Ericsson getting a fully paid-up license to the portfolio, while RIM... gets a paid-up license plus possibly some carry forward operating losses from Nortel" for a break in its Canadian taxes. ????? Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) put up another $1 billion. ????? EMC (EMC) reportedly paid $400 million in a side deal for a subset of patents related to its storage business. ????Larry Page and Sergey Brin got the pleasure of proving that they still remember their number theory. |
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