Is Samsung feeling magnanimous after a U.S. judge refused to ban its smartphones? That could be one reason why the South Korean firm Tuesday dropped its bid to ban Apple products in Europe. Although the company described its decision to withdraw requests to ban Apple devices in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands as “protect[ing] consumer choice”, the Galaxy maker will continue to see Apple for licensing fees of patents it contends were violated by the company… Read More
While the high profile Samsung-Apple trial technically ended back in August, with Apple winning a staggering $1 billion judgement, the fallout is far from over. The two companies must still endure countless post-trial hearings and their subsequent appeals.
In fact, both sides met this month to discuss some of their post-trial demands. In addition to its large settlement, Apple wanted Samsung’s infringing products to be banned, and Samsung wanted the whole trial thrown out on the back of jury misconduct.
Tonight, US District Judge Lucy Koh published her decisions on both requests in a pair of court filings… Read More
Call it a Rodney King moment, or a holiday Hail Mary, but one California judge is asking long-time judicial combatants Apple and Samsung to play nice. Apparently, the idea went over like last year’s fruitcake. Judge Lucy Koh Thursday made the plea as the two rivals met for an appeal hearing where the South Korean smartphone maker objected to its $1.05 billion patent-infringement fine and Apple argued the penalty should be increased… Read More
In a ruling late last night, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered that the patents Apple and HTC are cross-licensing as part of their settlement are to remain unsealed, suggesting that the public will eventually get a look at this information.
The order comes two weeks after US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal granted Samsung’s motion to compel, forcing Apple to disclose the terms of its deal with HTC to its legal team. But now it looks like we’ll all get a peek inside the pact… Read More
A European court has banned sales of some Samsung Galaxy devices which violate Apple’s patent on flipping through photos on a touchscreen. Wednesday, the Court of The Hague limited the ban to Galaxy products powered by at least Android 2.2.1 and don’t use Samsung’s own photo gallery software.
Samsung reportedly must pay Apple $129,000 per day if it does not follow the ban, as well as inform the Cupertino, California company how much profit was made from sales of the affected Galaxy products sold since June 27 of last year. This is the second court case Samsung has lost concerning the photo gallery patent… Read More
Ever since it went after HTC back in 2010, Apple has been known to be on the filing end of patent suits. But it’s also spent its fair share of time on the defendant side as well, and is currently being sued over a number of patent infringement claims.
And one of those lawsuits is set to go to trial today in southern California. Alcatel-Lucent, a Paris-based telecommunications equipment company, is going after Apple and fellow electronics giant LG for knowingly infringing on three of its patents… Read More
Though the current US patent trial between Apple and Samsung, the one that resulted in a $1 billion verdict, is still far from over, another Stateside court battle between the two companies is already heating up.
Unlike the previous case, this new set of lawsuits pertains to more recent products from both sides including Samsung’s family of Nexus devices, Apple’s iPhone 5, and now the new iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini… Read More
Samsung is more than welcome to take a peek inside Apple’s ten-year patent pact with the ailing handset maker HTC, but key data will be blanked out. South Korea-based Samsung last Friday filed a motion to compel, seeking to obtain the settlement and patent license agreement with HTC, saying it’s relevant to its patent battle with the iPhone maker.
As things stand now, a version Apple promised to provide will be marked as “Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” and will contain 33 redacted words. Apple’s generosity knows no boundaries… Read More
Not even Apple can avoid taxes – although it tries. According to a Friday report, the Cupertino, California company owes the Australian Tax Office a nice 28.5 million Australian dollars in back taxes, or approximately $29 million in US currency. Apple’s tax bill for the entire fiscal year 2012, which ended September 24, sits at $94.7 million on $4.9 billion in revenue in local currency. Earlier this week, the French government demanded Amazon pay $252 million in back taxes. The government charged the online retail giant operated a network of smaller units, including a Luxembourgh-based tax haven… Read More
Back in September, a Chinese court sided with China Publishing House in an infringement lawsuit against Apple, and ordered the iPad-maker to pay about $83,000 in damages. The publisher claimed Apple allowed an application into its App Store that contained large chunks if its Encyclopedia of China works without the proper licensing.
Naturally, Apple is now appealing the decision. And what the court decides from here could have some major consequences for the Cupertino company… Read More
Hot on the heels of last week’s screen rotation lawsuit comes another infringement claim aimed at Apple. NovelPoint Tracking, which fits the usual patent troll description, filed a lawsuit against the Cupertino company yesterday in the troll-friendly Texas Eastern District Court regarding its location-based patent…
Apple’s legal team has had a rough go of it in the UK over the past few weeks. After losing a patent suit against Samsung, and then the ensuing appeal, the company was forced to write a public apology on its UK website.
Of course, Apple complied and posted the apology, but the judge wasn’t impressed with its snarky tone. So in addition to asking the iPad-makers to correct it, he’s also ordered them to pay Samsung’s legal fees… Read More
A Boston University study from July pegged the cost of lawsuits filed last year by nonpracticing entities – that’s the code word for patent trolls – at an unbelievable $29 billion. Patents and lawsuits are their ‘products’ and Apple is among their favorite targets. You need look no further than Lodsys or VirnetX, which has expanded claims against Apple after winning $368 million in FaceTime case damages.
You can now add MobileMedia Ideas on your list of Apple patent trolls. Thanks to a Delaware federal judge, its suit against Apple over the iPhone screen rotation and call rejection features can proceed. What’s really peculiar about MobileMedia Ideas, apart from the obvious patent troll innuendo in its name, is that it’s a proxy for Sony and Nokia… Read More
Federal District Judge Lucy Koh will look into claims of Samsung’s attorneys that a foreman in the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit concealed information during the jury selection process. Attorneys for the South Korean conglomerate argue that that jury foreman Velvin Hogan didn’t disclose he’d been sued by Seagate, which led him to file for personal bankruptcy in 1993. Samsung also states that it has a “substantial strategic relationship” with Seagate and insists Hogan should have informed the court about the case… Read More
Hot on the heels of the $368 million payout in the FaceTime suit, patent holding firm VirnetX is trolling Apple again, this time with claims that both the iPhone 5 and iPad mini infringe upon four patents. Both devices, along with the latest iPod and Macs, were added to the lawsuit. Just like the Facetime case could result in a ban of the iPhone 4S, this latest wrinkle might put sales of Apple’s newest products in jeopardy ahead of the fast-approaching holiday season… Read More
VirnetX Holding Corporation is a patent holding firm that has a pretty impressive portfolio of IP (Intellectual Property) related to wireless networking and LTE technology. And as you’d expect, it’s not afraid to use it.
The company is currently entangled in legal battles with the likes of Cisco and Siemens, and it actually took more than $100 million from Microsoft in court. And according to a new report, it just took Apple for 3x that… Read More
The South Korean conglomerate Samsung will get another crack at questioning Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, as part of the appeal proceedings concerning the Apple v. Samsung monster suit, a California court ordered yesterday following a request from Samsung lawyers. Apple must make Schiller available for another deposition this coming Monday. The massive lawsuit culminated when the jury handed the verdict, awarding Apple more than $1 billion in damages (the company wants more) while also ruling it did not infringe upon any of the patents held by its South Korean rival… Read More
Apple has lost a fairly significant court case in Mexico this week. A Mexico City Judge has denied the company’s injunction request that would have allowed it to continue selling iPhone-branded products in the country.
Apparently, the “iPhone” moniker sounds too phonetically similar to iFone, a brand belonging to a Mexican telecommunications company. And the similarity is enough that Apple could be banned from using the name in the region… Read More
Apple’s legal team has suffered some major blows over the past few weeks, in their ongoing battle with Samsung. First, they lost an appeal on a UK ruling that will force the company to publicly state that Samsung did not copy the iPad. And just a few days ago, the USPTO invalidated one of Apple’s more significant patents.
But things may be looking up for the Cupertino litigators. According to a new report, an ITC (International Trade Commission) judge has just ruled in Apple’s favor in a complaint case against Samsung, a ruling that could see some of its devices blocked from entering US… Read More
This is a pretty big deal: the United States Patent and Trademark Office has just tentatively invalidated Apple’s rubber-banding patent. This is the infamous ’381 patent that covers the ‘bouncing’ effect when scrolling on a touch screen.
Why is this a big deal? Because this was one of the major patents Apple used in its $1 billion victory against Samsung back in August. And if the USPTO’s decision holds true, Samsung could be looking at a much smaller penalty… Read More
