The stylus with haptic feedback, comes with a built-in haptic actuator and a short-range wireless receiver. The vibration commands are sent via tiny wireless transmitters built into the bezel of your iPad.

Wait... did someone say <em>haptic?</em> Hang on, though - <em>stylus?</em> (Thanks @PaulJReynolds for first, aha, pointer)

When asked by [Google counsel Christa] Anderson why he nor his team ever attempted to learn about Sun’s patents, [Android chief Andy Rubin] replied there were a “number of reasons,” first citing that virtual machines weren’t new when Sun created the Java virtual machine. He also pointed out that “there are hundreds of millions of patents worldwide.”</p><p>

“It’s not reasonable to go searching through all this paperwork, not for an engineer,” Rubin remarked. “You need to be a trained lawyer for that.”</p><p>

Possibly recalling the blog post by former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, which has become a sticky subject for Oracle, Rubin confirmed that Sun’s reaction to the debut of Android offered “more confidence” that Google wasn’t violating any patents.</p><p>

“Over the period of the development, we felt it just wasn’t necessary anymore to worry about this stuff,” Rubin said.

Unfortunately, "we didn't look" isn't a defence against patent infringement. Can Oracle prove Android infringes, though?

From the Guardian's Battle for the internet series:

The most enduring front in the battle over code may end up over something even more foundational than an operating system. Up next are software languages and APIs, the raw material from which our digital edifices are built. Arguments continued this week in the case of Oracle v Google, in which Oracle claims that the Sun programming language is itself copyrighted, as are the ways in which software can be written to expect to run in some version of Java. If Oracle wins, projects like GNU will be in danger: simply rewriting Unix from scratch as GNU wouldn't free the Platonic programming language behind Unix of copyright limitations. If a language itself can be copyrighted – and Oracle and Google, in otherwise solemn briefing, engage on whether Game of Thrones's Dothraki or Avatar's Na'vi can be so protected – then anyone speaking or writing in Dothraki or Na'vi would have to answer to those works' creators.

A patent troll is born:

Openwave’s remaining entity will be renamed Unwired Planet, a name that recalls the company’s rich heritage of innovation; it will be focused on Intellectual Property and will remain a publicly traded company. Openwave’s patent portfolio is comprised of approximately 200 issued US and foreign patents and another approximately 75 pending applications, many of which are considered foundational to mobile communications. Openwave intends to provide further details on its plans for Unwired Planet in conjunction with its third quarter of fiscal 2012 financial results conference call.

Here's what Netscape <a href=http://news.cnet.com/Netscape-patents-crypto-protocol/2100-1001_3-203307.html>said</a> in 1997, when it received the SSL patent:</p>

<p>"Netscape Communications (NSCP) quietly received a patent last month for one of the most popular types of encryption on the Internet, but the company says it will continue to give it away for free.</p>

<p>"The encryption in question is the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, or SSL. Both Navigator and Internet Explorer browsers use it to secure Web-based information, including credit card numbers, stock information, and private documents. Netscape applied for the patent back in 1995. The US Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent last month.</p>

<p>Even though SSL is heavily used in servers, browsers, and other networked products, Netscape said it has no plans to start charging developers for the source code or to impose other conditions.</p>

<p>"We don't want to discourage developers from using our platform," said spokesman Christopher Hoover. "An SSL license would be a real hurdle. It's not an income source that's necessary to exploit."

Guess now: which company bought the SSL patent from AOL last week?

You’re attending a baseball game and call Google’s 411 service for information about a nearby restaurant. The cheers of the crowd and the sounds of the announcer are picked up by your phone. Google’s system analyzes the background noise, takes into account your location, determines that you’re at a ballgame and delivers related ads or links to your phone with sports scores and news.

Or maybe you’re making the call from a concert hall, and the sound in the background is the instruments tuning up during intermission. Google figures out that you’re at a concert, and serves up musical news or ads about albums related to the performance.

We recall companies suggesting they would make money from ads piped into phone calls before. Never went anywhere. Will this be different? (Google also acknowledges that users would be able to disable the sensors used to gather the information, for privacy.)

A general view on patent and copyright law in the EU (with analyses on topics such as Acta, Bittorrent blocks, and many others). A really interesting find. (Thanks @plasmold for the link.)

The ITC has put off a decision about Apple v HTC until 14 December; it's got a heavy caseload.

"Whatever the outcome will be, this is still the early stage of Apple's assertions of intellectual property rights against Android. It's not going to be the end for either party's aspirations. If there is an import ban, the key question will be what implications a possible workaround (which HTC and Google are sure to announce) will have."

Links to a Google group discussion of Android developers: one who has implemented in-app payment (which Lodsys claims a patent on) says he's been served.

Meanwhile, in another part of the patent jungle: "Samsung Electronics was told Wednesday to fork over five of its not-yet-released mobile phones to Apple. Sitting in Federal Court in San Jose, Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple deserves the quick production of cell phone samples three months earlier than usual in the litigation process, though she drew the line at requiring testimony from Samsung executives.      <br />
"'Apple has demonstrated good cause for some, limited expedited discovery,' said Koh. 'While Apple has not yet filed a motion for preliminary injunction, courts have found that expedited discovery may be justified to allow a plaintiff to determine whether to seek an early injunction,' said Koh.

"We’re a small company. We have 12 employees that have created 14 products for Mac and iOS. We have been incorporated in the state of North Carolina since 1999. We won an Apple Design Award in 2008.<br />
We’ve been doing product development long enough to know that legal expenses are just a part of doing business. But as we both know, the costs of patent litigation can be staggering. As a small company, we don’t have the resources to defend ourselves, so that leaves us with one option: to pay a licensing fee.<br />
And that worries us and every other iOS developer we know.<br />
In and of itself, paying half of a percent of our App Store sales to Lodsys isn’t going to put us out of business. The fear we have is that this is the first step on a very slippery slope.<br />
"It’s well known that the top titles in the App Store can earn tens of thousands of dollars per day. There are many predators with dubious patents who see dollar signs when they look at the flock of iOS developers."