科技行业巨头之间专利权大战硝烟再起

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。