Posts Tagged ‘lawsuits’

We already know what companies like Google Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. think of patent trolling. Turns out, some politicians aren’t particularly fond of the questionable practice, either.

It’s easy to imagine a list of words Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman might have used to describe Autonomy, the U.K. software firm HP claims it was duped into paying several billion dollars too much for in 2011, but would “magical” have come to mind?

XpertUniverse claimed it was teased with the prospect of becoming part of Cisco SolutionsPlus, a reseller program designed to augment Cisco’s advanced technology products to create complete solutions by placing select products on the Cisco price list and allowing them to be sold by Cisco sales teams and channel partners.

The federal case that was supposed to bring a halt to patent troll Innovatio’s ongoing shakedown of hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops took a strange turn when a federal judge threw out racketeering allegations brought by Cisco, Motorola and Netgear.

Apple is pressing ahead with plans to seek a court injunction barring tablet rival Samsung from selling some of its most popular mobile products in the U.S. Meanwhile, Samsung is looking to Microsoft’s Windows 8 as a mechanism for tablet growth. The net result: Microsoft may ultimately be the winner in the Apple-Samsung feud.

Solution providers often feel at a disadvantage when vendors change the terms of partner agreements, especially when it costs them money. Every business has options for conflict resolution, and not all of them require going to court.