Will Expand Beyond's Patents Lead to New Partnerships?
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Ziff Davis - Wireless software provider Expand Beyond has been awarded 46 patents for its wireless monitoring and management software&#151;what will that mean for the company?
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With a rash of new deals, the mammoth  company has extended its reach beyond the Web. Does that mean its  diverting from its mission to organize the world's  information?
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Inventors of the BlackBerry say a U.S. court's ruling may undermine innovation by Canadian companies. Also:  Microsoft engages in anti-piracy plan & hellip;.  Borders might benefit when armed with RFID technology & hellip;. and more.
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Several companies move toward offering TV on mobile phones. Also: NDS, STMicroelectronics and Thomson will develop anti-piracy technology & hellip;. Oracle continues pursuit of PeopleSoft & hellip;. and more.
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Will the product patents regime lead to unsustainably high drug prices? A demonstration against patenting of drug products in Chennai.
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Share and share alike to save the planet A number of big name tech firms including IBM, Sony and Nokia have joined forces to work on a patent-sharing plan, dubbed Eco-Patents Commons.â¦
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Google may have plans to expand its search engine beyond static text.
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The future is tantalizing. But is it within reach?
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But can it carry shareholders to new heights?
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Last year's surprise partnership between software titan Microsoft Corp. and leading Linux distributor Novell Inc. was supposed to be a kind of peace treaty. Instead, it's brought the open-source software community to the brink of civil war, over a provision that could help Microsoft sue other open-source software companies for patent violations.
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Hoping to both bolster resources available to its network of business partners as well as expand its number of partners, IBM on Tuesday introduced services and support programs that boost financial support for co-marketing campaigns and grant deeper access to IBMâs sales network to close deals faster.ADVERTISEMENTSBC Case Study: Crate & BarrelWhat sold them on improving their network? A system that could cut management costs from the get-go. Find out more.
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Companies will offer new online services that go beyond the PC.
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(InfoWorld) - Xandros CEO Andreas Typaldos said Thursday his company did not agree that its Linux distribution violates any Microsoft patents nor did the software giant ask Xandros to do so as part of theÂ patent cross-licensing dealÂ the two signed Monday. But he says feedback from the Linux community has been on the order of âyou shouldnât really be talking to the devil.â Typaldos told Network World that at no time did Microsoft reveal to Xandros, which develops Linux desktops, servers, and management tools, any of the 235 patents thatÂ Microsoft says Linux violates. Microsoft has yet to detail publicly specific patents violated by Linux and some critics think the statement is a smoke screen in order to undermine the open source community. âWe did not discuss patents [with Microsoft] and we donât think Linux violates any patents and we were not asked about it,â Typaldos said. âIt is a non-issue for us.â Linux and open-source advocates believe it is a big issue and say the Xandros deal, and another signed by Novell with Microsoft last year, erodes open source licensing provisions especially around intellectual property issues. Indeed, the Free Software Foundation isÂ rewriting its GNU General Public LicenseÂ (GPL) 3.0 to prohibit such patent deals in the future. In terms of the forthcoming GPLv3 and its changes, Typaldos said, âWe do not enter into agreements if we don't believe we can handle them. We plan to honor whatever agreements we have in GPLv2, and will have under GPLv3 or with whomever we are licensing stuff from. When you create agreements you cannot anticipate the future, but you have to be comfortable you can deal with whatever happens one way or another.â He added that since GPLv3 is not yet completed (the final version is due June 29) that he canât really comment on the impact it will have on the Xandros/Microsoft deal. â[Our deal] is a forward looking thing, we are licensing certain technologies,â said Typaldos. He said the technologies will help Xandros integrate its Linux-based server and management software with like software from Microsoft. But he acknowledged that customers have concerns they could be hooked by patent claims and may want some insurance to protect themselves. âLinux says it does not infringe on patents, Microsoft say otherwise. But customers say let me buy some insurance because if there are any flying sparks I donât want to be caught in the middle of that.â Typaldos says that was the genesis of Mondayâs deal with Microsoft that covered interoperability and IP licensing and included âcovenantsâ to protect customers using Xandros software from any potential patent-infringement claims from Microsoft. Microsoft said last month it would seek royalties for patents that it says are being infringed upon by open-source technologies such as Linux. The company, however, said it would prefer to sign patent and cross-licensing deals with open-source distributors rather than seek payments via litigation. On Wednesday, Microsoft inked aÂ patent deal with LG Electronics. It also has signed patent contracts Novell, Samsung and Fuji Xerox among others. NovellâsÂ patent cross-licensing deal with MicrosoftÂ is nearly identical to the one Xandros signed Monday.Just like Typaldos, Novell said its agreement was in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. Novell made that statement in a Nov. 20 open letter to the open source community after being accused of caving into Microsoftâs patent threats. In the same letter, Novell highlighted that the agreement was focused on developing new technologies and standards in server management, virtualization and document file format compatibility. Typaldos says Xandrosâs motivation in dealing with Microsoft was to license technology beyond basic protocols in order to ensure interoperability between the pairâs server software and Xandrosâs BridgeWays management tools and Microsoftâs family of System Center management tools. Xandros also will develop connectors for better interoperability between Microsoftâs Open XML file formats and the Open Document Format. âIn the last six months, we have been delivering BridgeWays and the focus is to tell customers, who really do not want to be boxed into Windows or into one version of Linux, that they have freedom of choice. And to manage all of that stuff, they don't need to learn a different product every time,â said Typaldos. âAs we move up on the food chain in that area, then interoperability is more of a coupling of the lower levels of the products and the need to know how to open up the hood and fit all these things together.â Typaldos says the deal with Microsoft ensures that management tools from the two vendors are a perfect fit. He says that sort of value has to be delivered to customers for Linux to be successful in the market and to quicken the pace of adoption. âYou have to recognize you have a Windows world out there,â he said. âThe customer in the market place is dictating what we are doing, not my engineers, not my private views of Microsoft vs. Linux, it is customers that say I have Windows over here, Sun over there, this over here, and I donât want to worry about Windows or Linux. They want to run their business with single pane of glass management.â
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Big Blue's decision to open patents to public scrutiny could spur innovation.
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Door opened to more competition OGCbuying.solutions is planning a new framework agreement for consultancies.â¦
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New acquisitions and products should increase sales.
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The real issue users need to keep their eyes on is will these three companies be able to leave well enough alone. How other companies have handled past acquisitions might provide some insight into how these company mergers and their products will fare long term.