科技行业巨头之间专利权大战硝烟再起

The long-running patent war among the technology industry's heavyweights just grew a whole lot bigger-and more controversial.

科技行业巨头之间的专利战由来已久，而现在只是变得更大、更具争议性。

After a brief hiatus for major new litigation, a joint venture owned by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., BlackBerry Ltd. , Ericsson Inc., and Sony Corp. launched a barrage of new lawsuits against a group of defendants that include Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc., HTC Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co.

在偃旗息鼓了一小阵子之后，新的大战再次发动：由苹果(Apple Inc.)、微软(Microsoft Corp.)、黑莓(BlackBerry Ltd.)、爱立信(Ericsson Inc.)和索尼(Sony Corp.)组成的财团Rockstar Consortium上周对谷歌(Google Inc.)、三星电子(Samsung Electronics Co. )、LG电子(LG Electronics Inc.)、宏达国际(HTC Corp.)以及华为(Huawei Technologies Co.)提起多项专利权诉讼。

The suits, brought by the so-called Rockstar Consortium, largely position companies that don't sell smartphones built around Google's Android operating system against those that do. The suits accuse most of the defendants of violating patents involving smartphone designs and features. The litigation also targets parts of Google's core Web-search technology, based on patents Rockstar bought from Nortel Networks Inc. in 2011 after defeating Google in a bidding war.

ReutersRockstar提起的这些诉讼令不生产安卓手机的厂商与生产安卓手机的厂商对立了起来。这基本上意味着非安卓(Android)操作系统手机生产商与安卓手机生产商这两大阵营的对峙。诉状指控大多数被告侵犯智能手机设计和功能相关的专利权。诉讼还把目标指向了谷歌核心的网络搜索技术的一些内容，主要根据的是Rockstar 2011年击败谷歌、从北电网络有限公司(Nortel Networks)购得的专利。

That purchase of the 6,000 Nortel patents caused anxiety at the Justice Department. A chief concern was that Apple and Microsoft, which took ownership of many patents related to wireless standards, rather than leave them with Rockstar, would use the patents to quash competition.

当时Rockstar收购北电6,000项专利引发了美国司法部(Justice Department)的不安。司法部主要担心的是，持有了许多无线标准专利、而不是留给Rockstar的苹果和微软会利用这些专利权打压竞争对手。

The Justice Department ultimately blessed the deal last year after getting concessions from the companies that they would agree to license the patents on 'fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory' terms.

在这些公司同意做出让步、同意按照“公平、合理以及无歧视”条件将这些专利授权给其他公司之后，司法部去年最终批准了这笔交易。

The patents at the heart of the Rockstar suits filed last week don't pertain to standards. Also, the Justice Department's agreements were with Apple and Microsoft, not the consortium, which was formed during the bidding for the Nortel patents. Rockstar took ownership of most of the patents that the companies bought.

Rockstar上周所提起的这起诉讼的核心是与标准无关的专利。此外司法部的协议是与苹果和微软，而非Rockstar达成的。该财团是在竞购北电专利权的过程中组建的，并且持有这些公司所收购的大多数专利权。

Rockstar says the handset makers have infringed patents related to some basic features of many smartphones, including a 2000 patent that relates to navigating through documents on a hand-held device. Rockstar is seeking injunctions to prevent the handset makers from infringing its patents and pursuing unspecified damages from the handset makers and Google.

Rockstar称，众手机生产商侵犯了与许多智能手机的一些基本功能相关的专利权，其中包括一项与在手持设备上搜索文件相关的专利。该财团寻求法院发布禁制令以阻止这些生产商的侵权行为，并向它们以及谷歌索赔，索赔数额不详。

Some legal experts expect the lawsuits will trigger renewed attention to Rockstar, largely because it gives the appearance that three leading competitors to Android are teaming up against it.

一些法律专家预计这些诉讼将令Rockstar再度成为关注焦点，很大程度上是因为诉讼表面上看起来是安卓遭到了三大主要竞争对手的联手狙击。

'Alarm bells have to be going off at the Justice Department,' said Michael Carrier, a professor at Rutgers School of Law who specializes in antitrust and patents.

罗格斯法学院(Rutgers School of Law)专攻反垄断及专利权的教授Michael Carrier称，司法部应该警惕起来。

The Justice Department declined to comment.

司法部不予置评。

Rockstar Chief Executive John Veschi said the consortium, not the shareholder companies, made the decision to sue. 'This really has nothing to with Apple or Microsoft,' he said.

Rockstar首席执行长韦斯基(John Veschi)说，决定提起诉讼的是该公司自己，而非股东公司。他说，这确实与苹果和微软没有什么关系。

Mr. Veschi said that his efforts to license the patents hadn't gone as well as he had hoped in 2011. 'I figured that given the price that parties were willing to pay for these patents, talks to license them would be much easier,' Mr. Veschi said. 'We were reluctant to sue, but since we've paid the ante, I'm more than eager to enter good-faith negotiations.'

韦斯基说，他对外出售专利使用权的努力并没有像他2011年所期望的那样顺利。韦斯基说，他曾认为考虑到各方愿意支付的价格，有关出售专利使用权的谈判会很轻松。他表示，我们并不愿意诉诸法律，但鉴于我们已经走到这一步，我非常愿意本着诚信的原则进行谈判。

Representatives for Google, Samsung, LG, and Huawei declined to comment on the lawsuits. HTC and three other defendants-Pantech Co., ZTE Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc. -didn't return requests for comment.

谷歌、三星、LG电子和华为的代表拒绝就诉讼置评。宏达国际和其他三家被告公司Pantech Co.、中兴通讯(ZTE Corp.)以及华硕电脑( Asustek Computer Inc.)没有回复置评请求。

'Although BlackBerry owns shares in Rockstar-BlackBerry does not have the voting power to control Rockstar's actions with respect to litigations,' a BlackBerry spokeswoman said. Apple, Microsoft and Ericsson declined to comment. Sony, which makes Android phones, also declined to comment.

黑莓的一位发言人说，虽然黑莓拥有Rockstar股份，但黑莓并没有控制Rockstar提起诉讼的投票权。苹果、微软和爱立信拒绝置评。制造安卓手机的索尼也拒绝置评。

Technology companies have gotten used to patent litigation in recent years. The biggest players have sued and countersued in the U.S. and elsewhere, accusing each other of stealing their inventions.

近几年来，科技公司已经习惯了专利诉讼。最大的几家科技公司在美国和其他地方相互起诉，相互指控对方窃取自己的发明。

Little has been resolved. Some of the suits have settled. Judges or juries have decided several others, most notably the Apple-Samsung that ended last year in a $1.05 billion jury verdict in favor of Apple. The judge on that case later cut the award by about 40% and ordered a retrial on several damages issues, which is set to begin next week. Several cases are on appeal.

到目前为止还没有真正解决什么问题。一些诉讼达成和解。法官和陪审团则对其他一些诉讼做出了裁决，其中最引人瞩目的是苹果和三星之间去年结束的诉讼，陪审团最终做出了10.5亿美元对苹果有利的裁决。该案的法官之后把赔偿金额度降低了大约40%，并下令重新审理几个赔偿问题，审理时间下周开始。还有一些诉讼则处在上诉阶段。

Nevertheless, the Rockstar lawsuits, filed Thursday in federal court in Marshall, Texas, sent shock waves through an industry for which courtroom brawling has become the norm.

尽管科技行业已经对诉讼习以为常，Rockstar上周四在得克萨斯州马歇尔联邦法院提起的诉讼还是给这个行业带来冲击。

The Nortel patent portfolio at the center of the suits had been the subject of a high-stakes battle between Google and the Rockstar group 21/2 years ago. Google bid as much as $4.4 billion for the patents, but Rockstar won with a $4.5 billion bid.

诉讼涉及的关键内容是北电专利组合，这些专利在两年半前曾是谷歌和Rockstar奋力争夺的焦点。谷歌为这些专利出价44亿美元，但Rockstar最终以45亿美元的出价胜出。

The new wave of suits reflects a marketplace where Android-powered phones have outsold their competitors by a wide margin in recent years. Android controls three-quarters of the world-wide market for smartphones, according to research firm IDC. Phones powered by operating systems owned by Apple, Microsoft and BlackBerry make up the bulk of the rest.

新诉讼出现的背景是，近几年采用安卓系统的手机销量远超竞争对手。据研究公司国际数据公司(IDC)的数据显示，全球范围内，安卓手机占据了四分之三的智能手机市场份额。余下的市场主要由采用苹果、微软和黑莓操作系统的手机把持。

Mr. Veschi said Rockstar's lawsuit is legitimate under the settlement with the government. He said the agreements made by Apple and Microsoft and the Justice Department only applied to the patents that the companies held on to, not to Rockstar or its 4,000 patents. 'We got the OK to go off and assert these patents, and that's exactly what we're doing,' he said.

韦斯基说，根据与政府达成的和解，Rockstar提起的诉讼是合法的。他说，苹果和微软与司法部达成的协议只适用于这两家公司拥有的专利，不涉及Rockstar或其4,000项专利。他表示，我们获准提起诉讼并维护这些专利的所有权，这正是我们在做的事情。