Edited by author 07-22-2003 07:54 AM
First mention of Orange as a company getting caught up in this was in the Telegraph a while back - Sendo announced that Orange management was to be called as a witness AGAINST Microsoft in their Texas court battle.

It's surely a little more complex than "innocent"/"guilty"? If I steal Bill Gates' car, and then sell it to Guy - who buys it in good faith - that's one issue. If the true ownership of the car is subsequently drawn to Guy's attention, and he flatly refuses to hand it back to Bill, then that's another, different, issue.

I believe that this kind of thing DOES happen - although not with Bill and Guy - quite frequently. Usually the purchaser of the stolen car is angry at the prospect of having to pay for it AGAIN if they want to keep it... tough, but that's the law. Orange seem to have been offered the "car" at a good price.. and refused to pay. The law on theft is moderately complicated - if I go into a shop and maliciously put new price-labels displaying lower prices on the goods, causing them to sell them at the new lower prices, then EVEN IF I GAIN NO BENEFIT from doing so, it's classed as "theft" - because my action deprived the rightful owner of the control of their property. If Sendo own the design inherent in the SPV, and any income that derives from that design, then a refusal to pay up by Orange WOULD be a kind of theft - even if it was Microsoft that stole the design and sold it on.

Seen as "two issues", maybe it's not so complicated. The granting of the patent to Sendo (UK Patents aren't as easy to get as most countries') makes "ownership" pretty much an open and shut case, surely?

Sendo's change of direction seems "strategic". They're now back on track to make money from Smartphone sales - and not just the ones Orange sell! - PLUS they get income from UK sales by Orange. Sendo were on the verge of going broke not so long back... now they have the prospect of regaining some of their losses (perhaps more than they lost) and developing a new market. It's perhaps worth remembering that "Sendo" belongs to its shareholders... and the bigest shareholder (IIRC) was a Taiwanese manufacturer, of which it's effectively a subsidiary. The manufacturer now gets to make money on each smartphone sold... without the inconveneinece of having to participate in the making it? They make money from both the smartphone AND its Symbian rival. Whichever handset "wins"... they own a stake in it.