Legal

Apple fined $2.29 million over “4G” iPad claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Apple has bent the truth by advertising its iPad in Australia as having "4G" capability, thus misleading would-be buyers. For that, Cupertino has now been fined a whopping $2.29 million, Associated Press reports.

The case was brought by regulators shortly following the iPad's release in Australia, when the company began advertising the tablet as "iPad with WiFi + 4G" though it cannot connect to Australia's fourth-generation LTE network. Apple will also have to pay 300,000 Australian dollars in litigation costs...

HTC vows to fill its patent vault to aid its battle with Apple

Oliver Haslam ∙ June 14, 2012

Once was a time when companies would do battle at the tills, but those days are now long gone. Nowadays however, it seems battles in the courtroom are much more commonplace than good old product lines butting heads, fighting it out for the customer's hard earned money.

HTC, in the middle of a legal spat with iPhone maker Apple, is about to take to the patent office in order to gain the upper hand over the company that is also going after the likes of Samsung.

The news that HTC will be fleshing out its patent portfolio comes after chairwoman Cher Wang vowed that the company would file more patents for its technology in order to protect itself from Apple's own legal shenanigans...

Judge greenlights iPhone location tracking lawsuit

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 15, 2024

Today's a particularly bad day for Apple's legal sharks. Just as we learned that Apple won't be able to stop June 21 launch of Samsung's Galaxy S III in the U.S. as it hoped it would, Reuters now reports that Apple also failed to fend off the high-profile iPhone tracking lawsuit. Though a federal judge ruled against Apple, he conspicuously let the likes of Google, AdMarval, AdMob, Flurry and Medialets off the hook...

Samsung getting even with Apple: the next iPhone is a priority target

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 8, 2012

Looks like Apple is pushing Samsung's buttons by asking the court to put the Galaxy S III smartphone on the list of devices eligible for a preliminary sales injunction in the United States.

So, what's Sammy gonna do? Summon its legal sharks to go after the iPhone 5, of course...

Apple forces guy in Poland to relinquish ownership of ‘aplestore.com’ domain name

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 7, 2012

Apple has finally obtained ownership over the 'aplestore.com' domain name through arbitration.

Furthermore, the iPhone maker is still fighting to win control over a bunch of other interesting domain names, including 'itunes.net' and thirteen others.

By the way, wouldn't you have liked to had registered that one?

Deciding enough is enough, judge scraps Apple-Motorola suit

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Don't you just detest often silly legal proceedings in the technology business? I'm talking about an endless back and forth between Apple and Motorola over who copied whom, with no clear winner in sight.

Well, Apple's and Motorola's past childish behavior in the courtroom has really tested the limits of one judge's patience, who dismissed a patent infringement trial after hearing each side’s damages arguments.

This was bound to the first major lawsuit between Apple and Motorola following completion of the latter's acquisition by search giant Google...

Apple leverages Siri patent to block imports of Galaxy S III to US

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 6, 2012

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Apple has asked the court for permission to add Samsung's latest smartphone to its list of devices eligible for a preliminary injunction.

The company is leveraging its two patents to enforce the ban, one already successfully used to stop imports of HTC devices and the other covering unified search and Siri capabilities that Samsung's device replicates with its S-Voice feature that Cupertino feels shamelessly rips off Siri's user interface.

Looks like Samsung may want to re-think its stance that the S III wasn't designed by lawyers...

No sales ban on Samsung and Motorola tablets in US and Germany

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 5, 2012

A judge in California this morning decided to hold off on a ruling related to Apple's case against Samsung, meaning Cupertino won't be able to impose a sales ban on Galaxy Tab tablet sales in the United States. Apple's also been dealt another blow in Germany as a court said it's unlikely to grant them the same victory against Motorola's tablet as it'd done with last year's sales ban of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet...

Apple calls e-book suit “fundamentally flawed”, says it created competition

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 23, 2012

Apple in court documents wrote that the government’s complaint over an alleged price fixing related to digital books is "fundamentally flawed". Moreover, the company argued that competition had been non-existent prior to its entrance into the market because Amazon was imposing its wholesale model upon the industry and no party was willing to challenge it...

Here’s what Google becoming a handset maker means for Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 11, 2017

Earlier today, Google CEO Larry Page took to company blog to break the big news: having obtained necessary approvals from watchdogs on both side of the Atlantic, the search giant has finally closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of the ailing handset maker Motorola Mobility in a move meant to “supercharge the Android ecosystem”.

The transaction will close by May 23 and is rumored to see Google laying off up to one-third of Motorola staff.

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha is stepping down (not unexpected) and will be replaced by Dennis Woodside whom Apple tried to poach last year. The new CEO already promised "fewer, bigger bets", meaning Motorola should streamline its portfolio to focus on a select few hero devices.

So, Googlerola is alive and the search giant is now officially a handset maker - one sitting on an enormous pile of patents. In fact, the search Goliath is now in a position to directly fight Apple's allegations against Android makers.

Taking it all in, we analyze what repercussions - if any - this development potentially poses for Apple and its ongoing legal spat against major Android backers such as HTC, Samsung and, yes, Motorola...

No, lawyers didn’t design Galaxy S III, Samsung design boss says

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

When Samsung introduced its third-generation Galaxy S smartphone earlier this month, folks immediately took to Twitter, opining how the handset was "designed by lawyers" in a nod at Samsung's ongoing legal feud with Apple over alleged copying of the iPhone's hardware design and software features.

Instead, the phone that was "inspired by nature" and "designed for humans", as the tagline has it, fits in Samsung's five-year redesign plan and went through hundreds of iterations before they settled on a final design....

HTC alters functionality of US handsets to bypass Apple patents

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2012

If you ever wondered whether Apple's patent infringement claims against HTC were worth the pain, here's your answer.

Responding to a recent exclusion order by the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) concerning HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE shipments, the Taiwanese handset maker, once the dominant force in the Android camp, is now pre-loading its U.S. phones with an altered build of Android software.

Designed to bypass Apple patents, it changes the expected behavior of these devices. As a result, flagship HTC phones waiting to be imported into the United States now feature notably different functionality compared to HTC devices shipping elsewhere in the world.

The change is also impacting the uniformity of the Android experience, suggesting Apple was right to sue in the first place...