Outage hits Playstation Network

22 April 2011 Last updated at 09:27 ET

Millions of gamers are unable to play online as the Playstation Network continues to suffer a major outage.

In a blog post, makers Sony thanked users for their patience but warned the downtime - which has so far lasted more than 20 hours - could continue for "a day or two".

Users are seeing error messages stating the network is "undergoing maintenance" or is "suspended".

In recent weeks, Playstation has been targeted by hackers group Anonymous.

The network has more than 70 million users worldwide, but Sony were unable clarify how many players had been affected.

However, Twitter messages and blog posts have been posted from all over the world.

This outage is the latest in a series of problems for the network which has suffered extended periods of downtime over the past few weeks.

In response, angry gamers have flooded blogs, forums and Twitter with complaints.

"A full day and you guys still have no clue what is causing this," wrote user Slickshoes in response to the company's blog post.

Another user, Max Smith, contacted the BBC to share his frustration over the delay in news surrounding the problem.

"To be honest I think that Sony need to give more updates towards the gamers via their Twitter account. There has been no update in the past 18 hours which is really making the community go crazy."

Anonymous, the group which gained notoriety over Wikileaks-related attacks, strongly criticised the Japan-based entertainment giant over its treatment of George Hotz, an American hacker who unlocked the games console's closed operating system.

Sony filed a lawsuit against the 21-year-old, arguing that his hack had allowed pirated games to be played on the machine.

The case was dropped earlier this month after Mr Hotz agreed to sign an injunction banning him from similar behaviour in future.

A spokesperson for Sony was unavailable for comment.

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Google fined $5m over patent row

22 April 2011 Last updated at 06:37 ET By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

A judgement by a Texas jury against Google could have major implications for the search giant and the open source world said experts.

The internet titan was found guilty of infringing a patent related to the Linux kernel and fined $5m (�3.2m).

The software is used by Google for its server platforms and could also extend to its Android mobile platform.

The kernel is at the core of the open-source operating system meaning this verdict could be far-reaching.

The case resulted in a victory for a firm called Bedrock Computer Technologies which has also sued Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, PayPal, Match.com and AOL.

"The amount of the fine is not what makes this an important issue," intellectual property activist Florian Mueller told BBC News.

"This is a modest amount considering Google is probably the largest scale Linux user in the world.

"The implication here is really that there is a huge number of Linux users who will be required to pay royalties if this patent holder knocks on their doors in the US. This is definitely a major impediment to the growth of Linux and makes companies, including Google, that rely on open source code particularly vulnerable to patent threats."

That is also the view of other industry watchers who expect a flood of lawsuits against companies who rely on open source code.

"Those looking to cash in on buried patents need only spend time pouring over code and looking for infringements," said Christopher Dawson of technology blog ZDNet.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Apple is going for the jugular by going after several Android device makers"

End Quote Florian Mueller Intellectual property activist

"It costs a lot less than $5m to hire a team of programmers in India to do code review. This, I'm afraid, is just the beginning and stands to do a fair amount of harm to industry momentum and to the private companies that provide vast incentive for the advancement of open source software."

But Google has said it will continue to defend against such attacks like this one on the open source community.

"The recent explosion in patent litigation is turning the world's information highway into a toll road, forcing companies to spend millions and millions of dollars defending old, questionable patent claims and wasting resources that would be much better spent investing in new technologies for users and creating jobs," said Google.

"Going for the jugular"

The Bedrock case underscores the increasingly bitter battle going on in the mobile space which is expected to grow globally by 58% in the next year.

The research firm Gartner also forecast that Android will account for about 39% of that growth.

Mr Mueller said competitors worried about Android are using any means necessary to thwart their rival.

He has estimated that in the last 14 months there have been 41 patent infringement suits levied at Google's Android platform and its rapidly growing developer ecosystem.

Just this week Apple said it was suing Samsung Electronics for allegedly copying the design of its iPad and iPhone.

Samsung's Galaxy products use Google's Android operating system. Samsung has in turn countersued Apple for violating its patent rights.

Last month Microsoft lodged a suit focusing on the Nook e-reader and Nook Colour tablet which run the Android OS.

Meanwhile a high profile patent trial between tech giants Oracle and Google is expected be held before November said a judge.

Oracle claimed Google's Android technology infringes on its Java patents.

Oracle bought the Java programming language through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems last year.

"Android is clearly being targeted by some of the largest tech companies as its market share grows and it becomes more of a threat to others," said Mr Mueller.

"Apple is going for the jugular by going after several Android device makers. In a way it has to do this to survive. No matter how good its financials are now, in a year or two they could see their iPhone business erode because of the Android threat.

"A Microsoft suit is just about seeking royalty bearing licence deals. And with Oracle that is about making Google pay and about who calls the shots when it comes to the Java programming language," added Mr Mueller.

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Samsung returns Apple legal fire

22 April 2011 Last updated at 01:30 ET

Samsung Electronics is suing Apple, claiming its rival violated its patent rights, days after Apple accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying designs of its iPad and iPhone.

The patent lawsuits, filed in South Korea, Japan and Germany, involve infringement of up to five patents, Samsung said in a statement.

Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung last Friday for violating its patents.

It is the latest patent dispute in an increasingly competitive industry.

Rivalry intesifies

"Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property," the statement said.

South Korea's Samsung is one of the fastest-growing smartphone makers in the telecommunications industry.

Its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet computers, which use Google's Android operating system, have emerged as the top competitors so far to Apple's iPhone and iPad.

However, Samsung is also one of Apple's main suppliers of components such as chips and LCD displays.

The legal battle could therefore hurt the earnings of both companies as strong sales of Apple's iPhone and iPad mean added revenue for Samsung.

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