2004:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/13/eu_patent_protest/

'Nokia argues that software patents "provide incentives to undertake research and development in Europe, and to promote licensing and technology transfer"'.

But they promote licensing and technology transfers say Nokia! How come they can block 3G due to licensing problems?

Karma perhaps?

It's pretty clear that patents make a mess of the whole idea of "let's make good products, sell them, and make lots of money" vision of capitalism and instead promote the "let's file a bunch of patents, hire a bunch of lawyers and sue the other guys" vision. Is the great 'ism' war of the 21st century going to be "capitalism vs. capitalism"?

Maybe Nokia will wake up one day and realise that without a market and products, and competition driven by being *better*, not having smarter lawyers, it's going to go the same way as the dodo.

As for you guys at Qualcomm, just when exactly did you sell your soul to the devil in the first place?

I was an early 3G (non)adapter.

Bough expensive 3G capable handset.

Signed expensive 3G contract.

Got charged approx 5p per page for going online.

Got first bill.

Used 3G browsing capabilty once since.

No amount of patent dispute could do the amount of

damage the operators pricing models did.

...the day he agreed that an il-thought-through auction in cahoots with LSE would suffice for selling the spectrum for 3G.

£22.5 billion for five pieces of paper is possibly the most successful scam in the history of scams. Of course the mobile operators are equally to blame. No-one wanted to play chicken so up and up went the valuations on the spectrum.

And what did prudent Gordo do with the cash? He paid down the national debt. So the reason that UK mobile bills are so silly, and the cost of 3G bandwidth (which by 2007 should be free flowing at low cost) is even sillier, is because every mobile phone bill is in effect a bill for interest on the national debt.

Just think, if these companies didn't have to cover £4-5bn in licence costs, they could have slashed the cost of mobile internet, which is the biggest thing holding back its development.

The UK is prime territory for developing products and services around the mobile phone, but £22.5 billion in debt has instead stifled development for years to come.

Just one of the many reasons why the UK is a basket case.

As if the US even had 3G. It's pretty much dead as a door nail here. Everybody is touting 2.5, but I have seen only a limited amount of 3G.