Legal

Apple patent depicts NFC iPhone-controlled connected home

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

A super detailed patent application by Apple was discovered this week, depicting a connected home controllable by an assortment of Apple devices, ranging from the Apple TVs and iMacs to iPods and third-party devices like a cable box and other devices equipped with a near-field communications (NFC) chip.

An NFC enabled iPhone, Apple explains, could be used to control other devices throughout your home, including Apple's own devices but also the stuff like PlayStation controllers, set-top boxes and even television sets...

Google explicitily warned Samsung against deliberately copying the iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2012

This is interesting. Google apparently specifically advised Samsung against ripping off the iPhone. Worse, Samsung reportedly was well aware that its Galaxy smartphones and tablets bore a striking resemblance to the iPhone and iPad. On top of that, the South Korean conglomerate apparently discussed this issue and dimissed concerns from both Google and famous designers who felt strongly that Samsung's Galaxy S smartphone “looked like it copied the iPhone too much".

This is per Samsung's own internal documents that Apple intends use against Samsung in the high-profile Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit scheduled to begin July 30 in the United States. More juice details, including quotes, right after the break...

Samsung to Apple: our patents made the iPhone possible

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Continuing a string of accusations between Apple and Samsung ahead of the high-stake July 30 trial in the United States, the Galaxy maker asserted in court documents that the iPhone wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Samsung's patented technology.

Specifically, Samsung wrote Apple would have sold zero iPhones if it hadn't been for its wireless technology patents that Apple relied heavily upon to enter the telecommunications space. The South Korean conglomerate also pulled an ace up its sleeve: dead-on prior art that allegedly invalidates Apple's patents...

Apple gains important multitouch patent from 1995

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

As Google is shifting gear and asserting that iPhone inventions should become broadly available to everyone, Apple is aggressively bolstering its patent portfolio pertaining to iOS software and multitouch user interface.

Just last week the company was awarded a Goliath of a patent that depicts the iPhone's user interface in excruciating detail. Today, another patent grant has surface in the United States Patent & Trademark Office's (USPTO) database that Apple bought from a Canadian inventor, pressumably for a significant fee...

Apple scores EU-wide sales ban on 7.7-inch Galaxy Tab, loses appeal on 10.1N

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 24, 2012

FOSS Patents reports that Apple has been granted an expanded sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 over design infringement, with a German court issuing a preliminary injunction ruling that Samsung may not sell the device anywhere in the European Union.

A sales ban in Germany has been in effect for a number of months now under a decision related to its larger sibling, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but today's decision extends the ban to all EU countries. At the same time, Apple lost an appeal to bar Samsung’s revised Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet from selling across Europe...

Proview doesn’t pay attorney fees in iPad suit, lawyers sue

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 25, 2016

China-based Proview recently took home a cool $60 million settlement in iPad trademark case which delayed the tablet's launch in China.

Despite the handsome payout, the bankrupt display vendor says it doesn't have money to pay its lawyers their legal fees accrued while fighting Apple over the iPad trademark.

Lawyers being lawyers, they took their former client to court, seeking 2.4 million dollars in legal fees. What goes around comes around, I guess...

Google re-invents patent system, says iPhone inventions belong to everyone

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 20, 2012

Google is feeling lots of heat lately as Apple, Microsoft and Oracle show some notable progress with Android lawsuits. Apple in particular holds a number of patents that cover trademark features the iPhone popularized, like slide to unlock and other multitouch gestures.

The Internet giant should also beware of the latest Apple patent grant which covers virtually all of the iPhone's user interface innovations. Perhaps in realization of its defensiveness, Google has changed tactics.

The company is now arguing that because the iPhone has become so popular, Apple's proprietary and patented inventions should really become industry essential patents. Seriously?

Apple fighting Samsung adverts on its website, here’s Joy of Tech’s funny take

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 20, 2012

Apple is going to appeal a U.K. court ruling from earlier this week which mandates that Cupertino post a public apology on both its website and in British newspapers, basically free advertisement telling the public that Samsung did not copy the iPad's design, per the court's ruling. As this legal mess is being sorted out, Joy of Tech has an excellent take on what this notice could be like, included right below...

UK judge forces Apple to publicly state Samsung didn’t copy iPad design

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2012

What goes around comes around. Following a ruling by a United Kingdom court earlier in the month stating that Samsung's Galaxy tablets did not rip off the iPad's design because "they are not as cool" (yeah, it's exactly how the court put it), Judge Colin Birss today ordered that Apple publicize Samsung did not copy the iPad's design for its Galaxy Tab tablet.

The way things are now, we can't help but ask ourselves was it all worth it? If this is what Apple's copyright infringement claim against Galaxy tablets boils down to, maybe Apple shouldn't have sued in the first place. But wait 'till you hear the best part of the ruling...

US Senator asks Uncle Sam to drop antitrust lawsuit against Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2012

The United States Senator Charles Schumer is urging the U.S. Justice Department to drop its highly-publicized anti-trust lawsuit against Apple and e-book publishers over price fixing allegations because he reckons the suit could encourage Amazon to tighten its grip over the e-publishing industry.

Specifically, Schumer wrote in his column published by The Wall Street Journal that "the suit will restore Amazon to the dominant position atop the e-books market it occupied for years before competition arrived in the form of Apple". And if that happens, he warns, "consumers will be forced to accept whatever prices Amazon sets"...

The verdict is in: Motorola’s Xoom doesn’t copy iPad’s design

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

A German court ruled today that no, Motorola's Xoom tablet doesn't infringe upon the iPad's design, Dow Jones Newswire has it. As a result, Apple won't be able to ban the device across Europe, as it originally planned. It doesn't matter as the Xoom, an inaugural tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, was introduced at CES in January 2011. The device barely passed the one million units mark and in the first quarter of 2012 sold just 100,000 units. The ruling also rejected Motorola's assertion that the iPad's design patent is invalid...

Google in a state of IP denial over Android, warns patent expert

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Dispelling a notion that rivals are taking Google to court out of frustration over their inability to slow down the Android freight train, patent expert Florian Müeller makes a point in a post over at his FOSS Patents blog that a collective market capitalization of the various corporations suing Google is approximately $1.06 trillion versus Google's $188 billion market cap.

More important than that, he says, "the companies who claim that Google's Android infringes on their intellectual property are too diverse to believe in a conspiracy". Müeller also notes that the Japanese giant Fujifilm, which mostly played defensive role in litigation, has also sued Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility for Android's alleged infringement of four of its patents...