Apple and Samsung to battle it out over damages this fall

By Cody Lee on Apr 30, 2013

It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve heard any news on the Apple/Samsung lawsuit front, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But today, the silence was broken as Judge Lucy Koh issued a new case management order to the two sides.

According to the order, the two will be battling it out over damages from their August trial this fall, with the next hearing scheduled for November 12. Here, Apple will get a chance to get back some of the $500M Koh cut from its settlement earlier this year… Read More

 

No iOS VPN changes on already shipped devices

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 26, 2013

On April 5, Apple acknowledged via a support document that it “will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later” due to a lawsuit by patent holding firm VirnetX file against Apple in November 2011. VPN technology, which stands for Virtual Private Networking, extends corporate networks securely across public networks like the Internet, allowing users to access a private network as if they were directly connected to it.

Apple originally planned to remove the ‘Always’ configuration option for VPN On Demand with the ‘Establish if needed’ option. The revised document specifically mentions Apple will not be changing the VPN behavior on “devices that have already been shipped”… Read More

 

ITC drops Motorola’s complaint against Apple over proximity sensor patent

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 23, 2013

Apple’s patent troubles with the struggling handset maker has largely been viewed as a proxy fight with Google, which acquired Motorola Mobility along with its vast patent portfolio in August 2011 for $12.5 billion. Two and a half years ago Motorola asserted its proximity sensor patent against Apple. Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) threw Motorola’s complaint out of the window, invalidating Motorola’s patent because it’s too obvious. That’s good news for Apple as Google was hoping to leverage that patent to seek an import ban against iPhones… Read More

 

ITC judge finds Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s text selection patent

By Cody Lee on Apr 7, 2013

In a decision issued on March 26, but kept classified until earlier this week, an International Trade Commission judge found Samsung to be infringing on Apple’s US RE41,922 patent that covers things like text selection and translucent buttons.

It’s only a preliminary decision, and the judge only found Samsung guilty of infringement on one of two patents listed in the complaint. But if the decision gets upheld, Samsung could once again be looking at a major product ban in the US… Read More

 

German court invalidates Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent, but it’s not big deal

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 5, 2013

A German court ruled invalid Apple’s patent for a sliding touchscreen unlocking image, marking another win for allies of Google’s Android mobile operating. In its ruling in favor of the Google-owned Motorola, the country’s Federal Patent Court slammed the iPhone maker’s slide-to-unlock patent as devoid of “technological innovation.” Still, a long-running patent dispute which began in 2011 may still live on as Apple’s legal team prepares for a round of appeals, according to Friday reports… Read More

 

Upcoming firmware update to force VPN behavior changes over VirnetX patent loss

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 5, 2013

VirnetX, a patent holding firm with an impressive intellectual property portfolio, in November 2011 sued Apple over a breach of a collection of its network patents, originally seeking north of $900 million in damages. A year later, in November 2012, a federal jury in a Texas court ordered the iPhone maker to pay $368.2 million in damages.

The two parties later worked out a royalty agreement that should be decided upon on April 12, but as a result of the damages awarded to VirnetX, Apple today has acknowledged via a support document that it “will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later”… Read More

 

USPTO again invalidates rubber-banding patent, Apple says not to worry

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 2, 2013

Having rejected Apple’s iPad mini trademark application last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has now dealt another major blow to the iPhone maker. For the second time, USPTO has invalidated the key claim of Apple’s so-called rubber-banding patent, an iPhone feature which bounces the user interface when a user scrolls content past the end of a page. USPTO last October ruled the invention invalid. On the other hand, while this “final” decision certainly has more weight than the first, Apple still has a few options left until the ruling becomes truly final… Read More

 

Apple’s EarPods trademark challenged by HearPod maker Randolph Divisions

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 2, 2013

When you have a few hundred million in walking around money and are worth more than any company on the planet, you become a magnet for lawsuits. That’s the lesson Apple is learning as the iPhone maker fields increasing numbers of trademark infringement legal cases.

The latest: a hearing aid maker claims Apple’s EarPods sounds just too much like its HearPod. Randolph Divisions filed the lawsuit against Apple in Hawaii District Court. According to the company, it registered the ‘HearPod’ trademark in 2007, years before the smartphone maker unveiled in 2012 its EarPods for the iPhone 5. Win or lose, at least Apple’s legal team gets a trip to Honolulu to argue the case… Read More

 

Samsung worried second damages trial could see Apple extract north of $1 billion

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 30, 2013

As you know, United States District Judge Lucy Koh shaved $450 million off the $1.05 billion verdict the jury handed to Apple in the high-stake Apple v. Samsung patent trial last August, citing “an impermissible legal theory.” She ordered a new trial for the remaining fourteen Samsung products and Nokia – of all companies – filed a brief with the appeals court on behalf of Apple, claiming Judge Koh got it all wrong. And in the latest twist to the ongoing legal saga, the South Korean conglomerate in court documents expresses worries that the second damages trial could see Apple win even more than before… Read More

 

DRM tech inventor Intertrust sues Apple, alleges breach of 15 patents

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 20, 2013

The Wall Street Journal reports that Intertrust Technologies, which holds more than 150 patents related to digital rights management, is taking Apple to court over an alleged infringement of more than two dozen of its patents on security and distributed trusted computing. Filed in U.S. Federal Court in the Northern District of California, the suit covers a broad range of Apple products.

Specifically, iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad are named, as are Mac computers and laptops, Apple TV and online services including iTunes, iCloud and the App Store. Intertrust licenses its patents to the likes of Adobe, Motorola, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Nokia and HTC… Read More

 

George Lucas-founded THX takes Apple to court

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 15, 2013

THX, a high-fidelity audio-visual reproduction standard, has filed a lawsuit against Apple before a federal court in Northern California, alleging patent infringement, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

THX was founded by the famous Star Wars producer George Lucas, who used to control the company through his Lucasfilm enterprise between 1983-2001.

THX is now independent and no further details, including a copy of the complaint, were available at press time. Neither Apple nor THX would comment on the news… Read More

 

Judge green-lights Apple’s Siri case against Samsung

By Cody Lee on Mar 9, 2013

Apple and Samsung are still battling it out in post-trial hearings left over from last fall’s high-profile infringement trial. And they have another one coming up this year that involves a whole new range of devices.

But there’s alway room for another case in the world of patent lawsuits. And Judge Lucy Koh just gave Apple permission to move forward on a third lawsuit with Samsung here in the States involving its Siri patent… Read More

 

Apple prevails in UK’s Samsung 3G suit

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 7, 2013

Apple scored another legal victory against rival Samsung. In a UK court, a judge Wednesday ruled that the iPhone maker does not infringe patents held by the South Korean-based Android smartphone manufacturer. The court’s decision marks more than two-dozen failed attempts by Samsung to claim it is owed royalties on standard-essential patents.

The company had alleged Apple did not pay royalties to use its 3G wireless technology patents in the iPhone… Read More

 

Nokia files brief in support of Apple’s bid to ban Samsung products

By Cody Lee on Mar 7, 2013

Since Apple won its monumental case against Samsung in California last fall, things haven’t really been going its way. Its billion dollar settlement has been nearly cut in half, and its request to ban Samsung’s infringing products has been denied.

But it appears that Nokia, of all companies, has been watching the case closely. And according to a new report, it has filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Apple, claiming that Judge Koh got it all wrong… Read More

 

Judge upholds $368 million VirnetX court victory over Apple

By Cody Lee on Feb 27, 2013

Last November, a federal jury ordered Apple to pay patent holding firm VirnetX $368 million in a patent lawsuit. The court found the iPad-maker guilty of infringing on its networking patents with its FaceTime video chat feature.

Today, Judge Leonard Davis upheld the ruling, denying Apple’s request for a new trial. This means that it’s about to have to dole out one of the largest court-mandated settlements in its history to, what is essentially, a patent troll… Read More

 

Samsung’s outrageous VoiceOver suit against Apple stayed in Germany

By Cody Lee on Feb 22, 2013

Samsung has taken another hit in its patent war with Apple today.A Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ordered a stay of its infringement suit against the Cupertino company, pending a validity challenge on the patent-in-suit.

On the surface, this case looks just like any other Apple-Samsung court battle. But it’s grabbing a significant amount of attention this morning due to Samsung’s patent in question, as it’s used in the iPhone’s VoiceOver feature… Read More

 

Judge rules that Samsung did not ‘willfully’ infringe on Apple’s patents

By Cody Lee on Jan 29, 2013

Last August, a California jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on several Apple patents in a high-profile trial. The initial damages awarded to Apple totaled $1.05 billion, but since Samsung was found to have ‘willfully’ infringed, that amount was expected to multiply.

Not so fast. The two companies have been attending post-trial hearings with Judge Lucy Koh over the past few months to plead their cases for appeals and other motions. And tonight, Judge Koh has issued a ruling overturning the jury’s willful infringement finding… Read More

 

Samsung sues Apple over Notification Center in Korea

By Cody Lee on Dec 23, 2012

Samsung has reportedly filed a new lawsuit in its home country against Apple regarding its iOS Notification Center. It says that the feature, which Apple introduced last year in iOS 5, infringes on one of its active patents.

Of course, patent lawsuits have become commonplace between the two tech giants in recent years. Typically, however, Samsung has used its standards-essential, hardware-related IP to go after Apple. But this time it’s software-related… Read More

 

Apple appeals Judge’s decision to dismiss Samsung injunction

By Cody Lee on Dec 21, 2012

As expected, Apple is filing for an appeal on Judge Koh’s decision to throw out its request for a permanent injunction against Samsung’s products. In addition to the $1 billion in damages it won back in August, the iPad-maker was seeking a US sales ban on all of Samsung’s infringing devices.

But in a pair of rulings handed down Monday, Koh denied both Samsung’s request for a re-trial due to jury misconduct, and Apple’s injunction request, noting that it would not be in the public’s best interest to halt Samsung handset sales when only a few features were found guilty of infringement… Read More

 

US Patent Office invalidates another key Apple patent

By Cody Lee on Dec 19, 2012

We’ve seen the United States Patent and Trademark Office reject or invalidate a few important Apple patents in the last few months, including one covering the infamous ‘rubber banding‘ UI feature, and one covering the iPhone.

Today, the USPTO added another key patent to the list, tentatively declaring Apple’s US 7,844,915 invention — widely referred to as the pinch-to-zoom patent — invalid. It’s just a preliminary decision, but it’s still a fairly big deal… Read More

 
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