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According to Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs said, “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,”
It is old news that Apple (AAPL) has been fighting legal battles across the globe against Google (GOOG) Android vendors. (For background, please see Apple Wins Another Round Against Samsung Galaxy In Germany.)
Now for the first time, Apple has fired at the heart of Google Android with its new lawsuit against Samsung filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif.
It is the first shot at Google’s heart for the following reasons:
Clear Aim at Ice Cream Sandwich
Ice Cream Sandwich is the latest and greatest Android version from Google.
The lawsuit is going after Galaxy Nexus. Nexus is Google’s code for the lead device. Google works with one hardware vendor to offer a lead device for every major version. The vendor gets the first mover advantage in the market place. Google gets a device to the market that fully complies with Android official version without modifications by the vendor.
The official version is also known as ‘stock Android.’ In the past, Google appears to have refrained from implementing infringing features in stock Android.
Going after the lead device running stock Android shows that the clear aim of Apple is Google Android's heart.
Unified Search in the Cross Hair
The biggest threat to Google appears to be from the claim of infringement of United States Patent 8086604 for unified search. Search is the heart of Google, not just of Google Android.
Here is the abstract of the patent: titled ‘Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system’.
The present invention provides convenient access to items of information that are related to various descriptors input by a user, by means of a unitary interface which is capable of accessing information in a variety of locations, through a number of different techniques. Using a plurality of heuristic algorithms to operate upon information descriptors input by the user, the present invention locates and displays candidate items of information for selection and/or retrieval. Thus, the advantages of a search engine can be exploited, while listing only relevant object candidate items of information.
This patent is related to Siri. For background, please see Siri Is Apple’s Post-Jobs Ticket To $1,000.
Jobs was emphatic about defending Apple’s intellectual property. It will be interesting to see if the new CEO Tim Cook behaves differently and opts for a strategy that will be more beneficial to Apple compared to the scorched earth strategy it has pursued.
What I see as a more profitable strategy is outlined in this article, "An Open Letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook to Adopt a New Strategy to Win Patent Wars."
About Me: I am an engineer and nuclear physicist by background, have founded two Inc. 500 companies, and have been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. I am the Chief Investment Officer at The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters to help investors profit from change. Please feel free to write me at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.
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Full disclosure: I, my hedge fund, and Arora Report subscribers are long Apple.
