蘋果會與谷歌開戰嗎？
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????上周五，蘋果（Apple）在與三星（Samsung）的專利訴訟中再下一城，贏得10億多美元罰金。三星在法庭上敗下陣來的同時，它身后一個龐然的靶子也顯露出來，這就是谷歌（Goole）。 ????畢竟，谷歌工程師直接參與開發了至少一部侵犯蘋果專利的手機（Nexus S），而且，每一部被指控的設備都運行著谷歌Android系統。史蒂夫?喬布斯早在兩年前就宣稱要摧毀“這個偷來的產品”。 ????那么，為什么蘋果不直接起訴谷歌？ ????問得好。很明顯，蘋果的策略是先從Android硬件制造商入手而非軟件平臺開發商，先是宏達電（HTC），然后是摩托羅拉（Motorola），現在是三星。 ????回過頭來看，這是很明智的決定。就像蘋果上周二向陪審團做結案陳詞時所闡述的，三星的故事很容易說清楚。一方面是因為這家韓國制造商從設計到包裝，幾乎無處不在模仿蘋果，另一方面是因為有文件表明，三星仔細查看了iPhone觸摸屏的每個特性，以借鑒蘋果的設計決策來改進自己的產品。 ????“鐵證如山！”蘋果首席執行官蒂姆?庫克在法院判決后向員工表。，“三星的剽竊行為比我們想像的嚴重得多。” |
????There was an elephant in the courtroom when Apple (AAPL) won its billion-dollar patent infringement awardagainst Samsung Friday, and its name is Google (GOOG). ????After all, Google engineers were directly involved in developing at least one of the phones (the Nexus S) found to have infringed Apple's patents, and every one of the accused devices was running Google's Android operating system -- the "stolen product" Steve Jobs had promised two years earlier to destroy. ????So why hasn't Apple sued Google directly? ????That's a good question. Clearly Apple made a strategic decision early on to go after the manufacturers of Android hardware -- first HTC, then Motorola, and finally Samsung -- rather than the company that designed their software platform. ????In retrospect, it was smart move. As Apple laid out its narrative for the jury in its closing arguments Tuesday, the Samsung story was an easy one to tell. Not only had the Korean manufacturer imitated Apple's designs down to the boxes the devices came in, but it left a paper trail that showed the company scrutinizing every aspect of the iPhone touchscreen for ways Apple's design decisions could improve Samsung's products. ????"The mountain of evidence presented during the trial," Apple CEO Tim Cook told employeesafter the verdict, "showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than we knew." |
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????不過，谷歌可不一定有這么一份可做為陳堂證供的報告。而且，谷歌還能借鑒之前與甲骨文（Oracle）打官司時的經驗，辯稱Android沒有給自己帶來一分錢直接收益，因此給蘋果造成的傷害為零。Android或許給谷歌帶來了數十億美元的廣告收入，不過很難指望陪審團能認識到這點。 ????專利網站FOSS Patents的弗洛里安?穆勒稱：“這完全是策略問題。蘋果完全沒有理由害怕與谷歌直接對簿公堂。不過從策略上考慮，打掉其它設備制造商要更容易些。” ????而此時此刻，蘋果法律團隊還有得忙呢。周五取得巨大勝利后，它首要的任務是提請對三星所有侵權設備頒布初步銷售禁令。相關聽證會將在9月20日舉行。蘋果還可能重新主張此前為了簡化訴訟而撤下的專利。此外，蘋果曾在去年1月就另外四項專利對三星提起過訴訟。現在，蘋果可能要求法官加速審理這項訴訟。根據穆勒的說法，其中某些專利的殺傷力甚至比剛剛判決的更強大。 ????全球范圍內，蘋果與三星懸而未決的訴訟官司有幾十起之多，這還不包括蘋果對宏達電與摩托羅拉移動的訟訴，后者目前已成為谷歌的全資子公司。 ????穆勒稱：“蘋果利用專利打擊其它設備制造商的策略已經開始奏效。所以，蘋果可能會繼續堅持該策略。下一個目標可能是摩托羅拉移動，接下來，蘋果可能會直接面對摩托羅拉的母公司（谷歌）。” ????不過，穆勒補充道：“如果我是蘋果，下一個訴訟目標不會選擇谷歌，而是亞馬遜（Amazon）。相比谷歌，亞馬遜的專利組合更脆弱。而且，亞馬遜使用‘以補貼為中心’的營銷模式大量銷售Android設備，比起谷歌基于廣告的營銷模式，亞馬遜對蘋果的威脅更大。” ????好吧，亞馬遜。我確實沒想到它也會中槍。 ????譯者：項航 |
????Whether Google left a similar paper trail remains to be seen. Moreover, Google can claim, as it did when it was sued by Oracle, that Android doesn't produce any direct revenue for the company, so there can be zero damages. Android may generate billions of ad dollars, but that's a harder story to sell a jury. ????"It's all about tactics," says FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller. "There's no reason Apple would have to be afraid of suing Google directly. It's just tactically more convenient to go against other device makers." ????Meanwhile, Apple's legal team has plenty on its plate. One of its first tasks after Friday's big win is to ask for preliminary injunctions that would ban the sale of all of Samsung's infringing devices. A hearing for that request has been scheduled for Sept. 20. Apple may also want to reassert the patents it withdrew to streamline the case and ask the judge to speed up a second suit it filed against Samsung last January that asserts four more patents -- some of which, according to Mueller, are even more powerful than the ones it just won with. ????There are dozens of Apple v. Samsung cases around the world yet to be decided, not to mention pending suits against HTC and Motorola Mobility, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. ????"Apple's strategy of enforcing patents against other device makers is starting to work out, so it may stay the course," says Mueller. "It could step up its enforcement against Motorola Mobility and later go against Motorola's parent company directly." ????But, he adds, "If I were in Apple's shoes the next company I would sue is not Google, but Amazon, which has an even weaker patent portfolio than Google and sells large volumes of Android-based devices with a subsidies-centric revenue model, which is even more of a threat to Apple's margins than Google's advertising-based model." ????Amazon (AMZN). That's an elephant I hadn't even considered. |
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