science

Smartphone patent wars

Smartphone patent wars is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Smartphone patent wars rather than just read about it. In short: The smartphone wars or smartphone patents licensing and litigation refers to commercial struggles among smartphone manufacturers including Sony Mobile (formerly Sony Ericsson), Google, Apple Inc., Samsung Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Huawei, LG Electronics, ZTE and HTC, by patent litigation and other means. The conflict is part of the wider "patent wars" between technology and software corporations.

Key takeaways

Smartphone patent wars belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Smartphone patent wars to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Smartphone patent wars from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The smartphone wars or smartphone patents licensing and litigation refers to commercial struggles among smartphone manufacturers including Sony Mobile (formerly Sony Ericsson), Google, Apple Inc., Samsung Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Huawei, LG Electronics, ZTE and HTC, by patent litigation and other means. The conflict is part of the wider "patent wars" between technology and software corporations. To secure and increase market share, companies that have been granted a patent can sue to prevent competitors from using the methods the patent covers. Since 2010 the number of lawsuits, counter-suits, and trade complaints based on patents and designs in the market for smartphones, and devices based on smartphone OSes such as Android and iOS, has increased significantly.

Timeline Initial suits, countersuits, rulings, license agreements, and other significant events in italics:

2009 The pattern of suing and countersuing really began in 2009, as demand for smartphones accelerated dramatically with the advent of the modern smartphone, which combined a responsive touchscreen with a modern multitasking operating system. This browser provided full web access and an application store, in the form of the Apple iPhone 3G and the first Android phones.

2009, Oct 22: Nokia sues Apple over 10 patents. 2009, Dec 11: Apple countersued Nokia over 13 patents. 2009, Dec 29: Nokia files a second lawsuit and a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) complaint against Apple over 7 more patents.

2010 2010, Jan 15: Apple files an ITC complaint against Nokia over 9 patents. 2010, Jan 15: Steve Jobs said "I want to destroy Android". 2010, Feb 19: Apple drops 4 patents from their countersuit against Nokia that are in their ITC complaint against Nokia. 2010, Feb 24: Apple countersues Nokia in Nokia's second lawsuit, over the 9 patents that are in Apple's ITC complaint. 2010, Mar 02: Apple sues HTC over 10 patents and files an ITC complaint against HTC over 10 other patents. 2010, Apr 26: 5 of the patents in Apple's ITC complaint against Nokia are merged into their ITC complaint against HTC. 2010, Apr 27: HTC signs an agreement with Microsoft to license Microsoft patents in return for royalties on HTC's Android-based devices (rumored to be $5 per handset). 2010, May 7: Nokia files a third lawsuit against Apple over 5 more patents. 2010, May 12: HTC files an ITC complaint against Apple over 5 patents. 2010, May 28: S3 Graphics files an ITC complaint against Apple over 4 patents used in the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Apple computers. 2010, Jun 28: Apple countersues Nokia in Nokia's third lawsuit, over 7 more patents. 2010, Jul 06: HTC countersues Apple over 3 patents. 2010, Jul 21: Nokia drops 1 patent from their ITC complaint against Apple. 2010, Aug 12: Oracle sues Google over 7 patents relating to the use of Java in Android. See Oracle v. Google. 2010, Sep 17: Nokia adds 2 more patents to their third lawsuit against Apple. 2010, Sep 27: Apple sues Nokia in the UK and Germany over 9 patents. 2010, Sep 30: Nokia countersues Apple in Germany over 4 patents. 2010, Oct 01: Microsoft files an ITC complaint and a lawsuit against Motorola over 9 patents. 2010, Oct 06: Motorola sues Apple over 18 patents, and files an ITC complaint against Apple over 6 of them. 2010, Oct 08: Motorola files a request for declaratory judgment that they do not infringe 12 Apple patents, and that those patents be declared invalid. 2010, Oct 29: Apple sues Motorola over 6 patents, and files an ITC complaint against Motorola over 3 of them. 2010, Dec 01: Apple adds the 12 patents to their suit against Motorola that Motorola previously requested a declaratory judgment that they do not infringe.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Smartphone patent wars

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Smartphone patent wars claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Smartphone patent wars before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Smartphone patent wars ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Smartphone patent wars

In research: Smartphone patent wars appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Smartphone patent wars in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Smartphone patent wars is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Apple Inc. litigation, Discovery and invention controversies, Google litigation, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Smartphone patent wars outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Smartphone patent wars in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Smartphone patent wars means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Smartphone patent wars out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Smartphone patent wars in simple terms?

Why does Smartphone patent wars matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Smartphone patent wars?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Smartphone patent wars.