谷歌的佩奇和布林
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????假如當初被蘋果（Apple）以專利侵權為由告上法庭的是谷歌（Google）的話，那么在本周競購北電（Nortel）破產后留下的大量知識產權組合時，谷歌可能會更加努力爭勝。 ????然而蘋果對準的是谷歌的合作伙伴——宏達電（HTC）、摩托羅拉（Motorola）和三星（Samsung），它們生產的智能手機被指控在外觀和體驗上與iPhone相似。 ????競購北電的專利組合將能為Android帶來一些法律保障，不過當競標進入白熱化時，谷歌卻開始玩起游戲來。 ????路透社（Reuters）上周五的報道稱，“對當時情況很了解的三位線人表示，”谷歌的出價從數字上看非常不合常理，它使用了布朗常數（1.902160540...）和梅塞爾-梅爾德斯常數（0.2614972128...），而且當雙方被允許出價超過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：“谷歌在出價中使用的數字甚至都不是自然數。” ????斯坦福大學數學系的才子們可能會對此感興趣，不過對于谷歌的競爭對手——一群死板嚴肅的生意人而言，這一招完全沒有奏效。而蘋果對此次競購則志在必得，它剛剛與諾基亞就持續了20個月的專利訴訟大戰達成和解，而與三星的曠世之爭還在進行中，三星剛剛要求禁止美國進口蘋果的相關產品。以蘋果為首的財團最終以45億美元成功拍下北電的6，000項專利，這是迄今為止知識產權組合賣出的最高價錢。 ????筆名為羅伯特?X?克林格里的馬克?史蒂芬斯在科技網站cringely發表文章，列出了各大公司在此次競購中的投入和戰果，具體如下： ????? 蘋果投入了20億美元，“完全獲得了北電的長期演進專利（Long Term Evolution，即4G技術）和一組可能為Android陣營設置障礙的專利包。” ????? RIM（Research in Motion，黑莓手機生產商——譯注）和愛立信（Ericsson）共同投入11億美元，“愛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”，從而抵消部分競購投入。 ????? 微軟（Microsoft）和索尼（Sony）也共同投入了10億美元。 ????? EMC據稱投入4千萬美元，獲得了專利組合中與存儲業務相關的部分。 ????拉里?佩奇和謝爾蓋?布林則收獲了精神上的愉悅，因為他們證明了自己仍然還記得數論。 ????譯者：項航 |
????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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