DailyTech - CES 2013: How to Avoid Getting Sued by Apple? Have Good Lawyers, Source Says

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Gadgets CES 2013: How to Avoid Getting Sued by Apple? Have Good Lawyers, Source Says
Jason Mick (Blog) - January 11, 2013 7:08 PM

59 comment(s) - last by Bateluer.. on Jan 15 at 4:06 PM

Having a smaller market share may help a tiny bit too

Having a discussion with a source close to Japanese Android smartphone maker Sony Corp. (TYO:6758) I noted how remarkable it was that Sony had escaped any sort of litigation or publicly discussed licensing with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) or Apple, Inc. (AAPL). While Apple hasn't sued everyone, it has sued most of the top Android phonemakers. But Sony has escaped scott free.

How is it doing it?

Our source close to Sony confirms that he indeed knows the face of patent belligerence all to well, saying he's been called on as an expert to testify in several cases. He remarks, "A lot of those [lawsuits] have been pretty frivolous."

When asked specifically about Microsoft and Apple and how Sony has escaped lawsuits (or licensing demands) he said, "We've had a number of discussions... We've been pretty successful at fending off these onslaughts... [laughs] I guess we should give credit to our lawyers."

So there you have it; the electronics industry has devolved into how good a lawyer team is.

_{Sony has reportedly used some lawyer "kung-fu" to avoid lawsuits.

[Image Source: Sony Pictures]}

It's no wonder why some of the U.S.'s oldest and most respected federal judges are saying the patent system is broken in the U.S. That same sentiment is also being echoed by top investors like Mark Cuban who bemoan the power of litigation to kill startups.

Sony for its part must have some pretty good lawyers. After all, its latest and greatest Xperia phones have slide to unlock graphics (which other Android phonemakers have been sued over) and also have a "Cover Flow"-like transition animation (Apple owns a patent on Cover Flow's animations).

With its new "superphones" hitting the product stream, the phonemaker's remarkable ability to ward off Apple lawsuits may boost its profitability and sales, assuming that situation does not somehow shift.

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RE: Sony Music

By TakinYourPoints on 1/14/2013 3:04:48 PM , Rating: 2

Having true black is one thing, that's why I have a Kuro HDTV.

Accurate color contrast reproduction through the entire range is something entirely different though. An AMOLED screen with an sRGB color profile would have that good black, but it would also display color and grey values properly all the way through rather than having too much contrast and color saturation where there shouldn't be.

AMOLED and a bad color profile are two completely different things, and there is no good excuse for it. If a plasma HDTV can have far deeper blacks (talking CRT levels here) and dynamic range than any AMOLED is capable of while also having good color calibration, there is no reason why Samsung can't do the same with their phones.

Come to think of it, Samsung's HDTVs don't have the best color either. That's why Panasonic still holds the crown there.

As for PPI, displays ones like in the Droid DNA are great. That said, once you get past a certain point (over 250 PPI) then it doesn't matter for quality. At that point it is a means for getting more pixels in there. I've seen it and telling between a 330PPI and a 440PPI is futile, you can't see individual pixels in either case. The hit on performance, especially given the relatively choppy JB and slower hardware, is something to take into account at that res though.

The iPhone getting 1080p would be cool on paper (practically it wouldn't really benefit), it is certainly possible, but it would break app compatibility in a big way. That's no good considering that applications are where iOS really shines over other mobile operating systems.

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RE: Sony Music

By retrospooty on 1/14/2013 3:19:40 PM , Rating: 2

http://i.imgur.com/j9cik.jpg

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RE: Sony Music

By TakinYourPoints on 1/14/2013 3:33:04 PM , Rating: 2

AMOLED is no excuse for a bad color profile, Samsung just does a bad job with their setup.

http://i.imgur.com/mcrye.gif

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