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For more than three years now, Microsoft has held to the line that it has loads of patents that are infringed by Google's Android operating system. "Licensing is the solution," wrote the company's head IP honcho in 2011, explaining Microsoft's decision to sue Barnes & Noble's Android-powered Nook reader.
Microsoft has revealed a few of those patents since as it has unleashed litigation against Android device makers. But for the most part, they've remained secret. That's led to a kind of parlor game where industry observers have speculated about what patents Microsoft might be holding over Android.
That long guessing game is now over. A list of hundreds of patents that Microsoft believes entitle it to royalties over Android phones, and perhaps smartphones in general, has been published on a Chinese language website.
More details are in the story, but too much to include in this summary.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday June 17 2014, @07:04AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17 2014, @10:01AM
The patents themselves are not secrets, obviously. What's been unknown is which patents. You could have gleaned that from just the summary, or even just from thinking about it for a moment or two. Sheesh Man, the headline itself says "secret list," not secret patents.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17 2014, @04:11PM
If you knew anything about patents, like if you got your patent news outside of Micro$oft hating blogs, you'd know that's not possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 18 2014, @10:04AM
And by "that" you mean what?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17 2014, @12:23PM
> There's no such thing as a secret patent
It is the needle-in-a-haystack approach to secrecy.