Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has announced it has agreed to drop a patent dispute with Interdigital over wireless and 3G technologies in the UK.
Interdigital said the lawsuit had pertained to the whether the 36 technologies were “essential to the UMTS third-generation telephony standard.”
The companies had been in the patent battle since 2005 in the UK but despite the latest agreement, still continue to fight it out in the US.
The original suit, filed in July 2005 by Nokia, asked the High Court in London to “declare that 31 European patents of InterDigital were not essential to the UMTS mobile technology standards.” Interdigital countersued in December 2006.
Interdigital continues to be in a similar patent dispute with Samsung.
Result for: Flash
Sony has announced that it will launching a fourth model of the PlayStation 2 in Europe and India on October 28th in an effort to “penetrate India’s and Russia’s burgeoning market for games.”
Sony country manager Atindriya Bose says the launch will be simultaneous for the new markets and that the new model will be a slim model with built-in AC adapters.
“PS2 is an entry-level console, which helps first timers to enter the gaming zone,” added Bose.
Bose also noted the new model will keep the same retail price of the outgoing PS2 models, older, fatter versions.
“We feel PS2 has the potential to penetrate further into the Indian and Russian markets. Console gaming is in its nascent stage in India. These are untapped markets and are new to the gaming world, hence we have no plans to phase out PS2 anytime soon,” he added.
Wont the latest decision impact PS3 sales? “We do not market it as a PS2 or PS3. It is the experience of the PS that we market. PS3 is for the next generation. People who are first timers in the gaming market want to pick up PS2 and experience that, before upgrading to PS3,” Bose finished.
Result for: Flash
Noel Gallagher, songwriter and guitarist for the popular band Oasis is making headlines with his comments suggesting that videogames are partially to blame for the explosion in knife crimes that have occurred in London over the course of the year. So far, 18 teenagers have died in knife related attacks.
“People say it’s through violent video games and I guess that’s got something to do with it,” he said, “If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised to crime because they’re playing these videogames, it’s really, really scary.”
The knife crimes have been big news in the UK over the last couple of months and celebrities have called upon the government to find a solution.
“In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody? I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it’s every single night.
“I don’t even know what Cameron or Gordon Brown are going to do about it,” he added.
In March, the government looked into the impact of violence in videogames on children and released a list of recommendations that included letting the BBFC have a bigger role in game ratings. Publishers have complained however saying that last provision could make games “more expensive or face delays in being released.”
