Legal

Samsung now more assertive in price negotiations over Apple’s hostile tactics

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Apple appears to be resolving its legal woes with other Android backers such as HTC, reportedly seeking arbitration and even mulling a global settlement with Google's subsidiary Motorola Mobility. On the other hand, the company is to this date entangled in a complicated web of patent disputes with Samsung, from whom it sources components for iOS devices.

And as the frenemies seek to add new gadgets to their respective list of infringing products, one analyst believes Apple's hostile tactics has forced the Galaxy maker to divert from its original business strategy. As a result, the component arm of the South Korean conglomerate has become "more assertive" in price negotiations with Apple, refusing to invest billions of dollars in plants and manufacturing technology without long-term commitment from Apple...

Apple, Motorola seeking arbitration in patent wars as a prelude to global settlement

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Shocker: Apple and Google's handset arm Motorola Mobility are looking to resolve parts of their global patent dispute pertaining to standards-essential patents deemed critical to smartphone technology. Bloomberg points us to a court filing saying Apple wants to end the patent spat "completely". Both parties are now seeking ways to resolve their differences through binding arbitration, hoping to perhaps reach a broad licensing agreement...

Apple hit with $29 million Aussie tax bill

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 16, 2012

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...

Judge rules Apple and Samsung may add Jelly Bean and iPhone 5 to patent suit

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Bloomberg reports that a federal judge has ruled that Apple may add Jelly Bean, the latest and greatest version of the Android operating system powering smartphones and tablets, to its patent infringement claims asserted against Samsung. At the same time, the South Korean conglomerate was allowed to add the iPhone 5 to its suit as the company looks to retaliate for losing $1.05 billion in damages by targeting Apple's latest handset. Though U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal allowed Apple to target the Jelly Bean software, the scope is limited to Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus devices...

China iPad sales up 80 percent on ProView deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Following the successful trademark dispute resolution with ProView over the iPad moniker, Apple's tablet sales in the 1.33 billion people market surged 80 percent, a new survey has it. Apple, as you know, back in July ended its legal spat with China's bankrupt monitor maker by paying $60 million in exchange for ownership of the iPad name in China.

That deal has paved the way for the July 20 iPad launch in the country. According to an IDC research note issued Friday, iPad shipments in China nearly doubled following that deal.

An estimated 2.07 million units of the iPad were sold in China during the third quarter of this year versus the 1.15 million shipments in the previous quarter. Lenovo is a distant second with 278,000 tablet shipments. Samsung? It's ranked as third with only 143,000 units moved...

Apple allegedly asks devs to remove the word ‘memory’ from app names

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 15, 2012

Yes, you read that right. German puzzle and board game maker Ravensburger has apparently decided any iOS app with the word "memory" in its title should be banished from the App Store. The reason? Ravensburger is behind "Memory", a wildly popular puzzle game. While 91 percent of Germans are familiar with it, the game also enjoys international visibility and Ravensburger claims to hold a trademark on the term in over 40 countries. Apple has responded to the pressure and reportedly began emailing select developers to remove the word 'memory' from app names...

Samsung gathering 200 execs to talk biz and Apple litigation strategy

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 15, 2012

A report out Thursday from Korean news organization The Chosun Ilbo has it that some two hundred Samsung executives are scheduled to meet with Samsung's top dogs in December. Corporate matters will be on the agenda, including that long-standing patent dispute with Apple which has poisoned business relationship between the two consumer electronics giants to the point of no return.

The report also mentions that Samsung recently fired its vice president in charge of matters relating to Apple, another indication that Samsung's litigation strategy concerning Apple is about to change. The same news organization earlier in the week asserted that Samsung instituted a massive chip price hike that analysts feared could hurt Apple's margins, but the story was debunked the following day by an unnamed Samsung executive...

Google faces FTC ultimatum over patent and search abuse

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Bloomberg reports that Google is facing an ultimatum from FTC on antitrust deal talks. Apparently, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz is pressuring Google to make an offer and finally settle FTC's antitrust investigation over whether the dominant search engine abused its market power in search and misused patent protection in smartphone wars. And should Google fail to "make an acceptable settlement proposal", sources say, the FTC is prepared to mount a massive case against the search giant whose "Don't be evil" motto has long become the subject of mockery...

In Italy, AppleCare products removed over warranty policy shenanigans

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Bloomberg in October reported of Justice Minister Viviane Reding pushing EU regulators into probing Apple over its ambiguous warranty advertising in the European Union. And earlier in the year, consumer groups demanded that eleven EU countries pressure Apple into complying with EU's consumer laws. As a result, Apple's warranty plans with extended device coverage are about to be pulled from retail channels in Italy. Better still, Apple is finally informing buyers that EU law entitles them to a minimum two-year seller guarantee, free of charge...

Apple’s Android settlement with HTC could be worth at least $3 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 12, 2012

Apple and HTC last Saturday announced a global settlement in their long-standing Android dispute. The agreement dismissed all patent-related lawsuits between the two firms and put forth a 10 year cross-licensing deal for all current and future patents. While the terms of the settlement are confidential, one analyst thinks that Apple gets up to eight bucks per every Android-based HTC phone sold. With 30-35 million Android-based HTC smartphones sold annually, Apple could pocket a cool $280 million annually on this patenting pact...

Apple paid $20 million for iPad Clock design rights

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2012

Remember legal brouhaha involving Apple and iPad Clock app in iOS 6 on one side and Swiss Federal Railways, which holds rights to the iconic timepiece design, on the other? We praised Apple for doing the right thing after it was reported the intellectual property dispute ended by Apple agreeing to license the SBB station clock design for use on iPads and iPhones. Neither Apple nor the Swiss Federal Railways SBB commented on financial terms of the licensing agreement at the time, but sources now claim Apple paid to the tune of $20 million, or 16.5 million euros, for design IP...

Patent troll hits Apple with iPhone screen rotation suit

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 29, 2017

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...