Post 23: Amazon Anonymous Payment System

Amazon, the largest online merchandiser has just filed a patent on "anonymous mobile payment". Amazon is actively looking for ways to protect users private data and make their shopping processes easier and more secure.

With a new patent filed Amazon found a way for users to exchange less information about each party when they engage in a mobile payment transaction. The patent describes how the information identifying users, such as email and name will be masked under unique identifiers for a seller and a buyer.

Each transaction sellers and buyers will have temporary tokens created to initiate and complete the transaction. Once the transaction is completed, tokens will expire, thus creating anonymity between the parties involved in a transaction. No information will be revealed about each party and Amazon will be the only party involved in the identity of a seller and a buyer.

To initiate a payment, you would have to send a text to Amazon, "pay 20". Amazon would credit your account and send you the code via text, and you could send the code to the seller. The seller would be able then to debit the code onto their account.

Security measures like attaching the code to the payee would decrease the chance of interception of the code by unauthorized parties.

If Amazon were to implement this, it would become the competitor to payment systems like Paypal. Keeping in mind that Amazon is already a competitor to the owner of Paypal - Ebay, this movement would increase Amazon's vertical integration.

Read more on TechCrunch

Video 22: Apple Patent Infringement in China

Video 21: Mobile Patent Landscape

Post 22: Apple's Voice recognition patent infrigement in China

Apple is going through tough times in China. Its Siri personal assistant technology infringes the patent filed by Shanghai’s Zhizhen Network Technology Co.

One year ago once Apple has launched Siri's support in Cantonese and Mandarin in China, it has promptly been sued by ZhiZhen who produced Xiao i Robot for both iOS and Android. Xiao i Robot uses speech recognition to deliver news, weather, and other updates to users.

“The company will ask Apple to stop manufacturing and selling products using its patent rights, once Apple’s infringement is confirmed,” the company’s lawyer told the AFP. Unsurprisingly, he added that the company doesn’t “exclude the possibility of demanding compensation in the future.”

This aggressive tactics pursued by  the Chinese company can hurt Apple's sales in China drastically. Zhizhen, however, is not a troll, but a real company producing voice recognition apps for profit. The differences between Siri and Xiao i Robot can be seen at the following video:

 Apple has already been involved in patent lawsuits and has settled down for $ 60 million in the case against Proview and its ownership of Ipad.

Apple clearly is facing a difficult situation in building its market share in China especially after the attack on it by Chinese Media:

Read more at Venture Beat

Post 21: Mobile Patent Landscape

In its report on Intellectual Property US Patent Office concluded that the entire US economy lies on some form of intellectual property in one way or another because every industry produces some form of it. It has commented in its foreword the following:

“Innovation protected by IP rights is key to creating new jobs and growing exports. Innovation has a positive pervasive effect on the entire economy, and its benefits flow both upstream and downstream to every sector of the U.S. economy. Intellectual property is not just the final product of workers and companies—every job in some way, produces, supplies, consumes or relies on innovation, creativity, and commercial distinctiveness. Protecting our ideas and IP promotes innovative, open, and competitive markets, and helps ensure that the U.S. private sector remains America’s innovation engine.”

The role of mobile devices in our lives has grown exponentially and we can't imagine our lives without them anymore. The demand for mobile devices has increased, and the number of the units manufactured as well. Accordingly, companies strive even further to beat the competition and invent something else more innovative than their competitors. In order to protect their inventions, companies file more and more patents in order to keep their competitive advantage.

The number of mobile related patents has grown significantly over the last decade. The US market saw 390% increase in mobile related patents while European market 173 % increase.

Now every fifth patent is mobile related. This number increased drastically from 5% in 2001.

The leaders in the number of  mobile related patents are the companies who have been players for a long time especially in infrastructure and platform space. Two biggest players are Nokia and Samsung.


 

Conclusion : as we can see from the trends discussed above, mobile is becoming a critical tool to drive technological growth. It is important to analyze the mobile patent landscape and see how the companies are shaping up the ecosystem and in which areas they are focusing their innovation. It is helpful not only for companies in mobile industry but also end users who want to be on edge of the technology and become early adapters. Current trends suggest that in 2014 a quarter of all patents filed will be mobile related. Mobile will keep progressing as the technology engine and the companies that understand the value of intellectual property will keep investing into their IP protection.

Read more at IPCloseup

Video 20: Micrsoft's Involvement in Privateering

Video 19: Free-riding problem in fighting hard agaisnt the trolls