Patent

From Russia without love: iPad patent appeal rejected

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 29, 2012

Apple's two-year attempt to get the iPad design patented in the Russian Federation hit a dead-end, when regulators ruled there was nothing "distinctive" about the tablet's makeup. The company had appealed an April rejection by the Russian Patent Office. This most recent rejection by the Russian Chamber for Patent Disputes seems to close the door on gaining a patent for the best-selling tablet.

In its response to Apple, written in Russian, the chamber ruled the iPad patent application - which describes rounded corners, a flat surface and round button beneath the screen - involves a design that is "traditional for modern communication devices, manufactured by different vendors"...

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Apple gains partial ban of Samsung Galaxy devices in the Netherlands

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 28, 2012

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...

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Apple granted 36 patents covering Siri mic icon design, Lightning, widgets and more

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Apple this morning has received patents covering more than three dozen different technologies, ranging from the obvious to the obscure. The company's patent filings as of late are even inspiring parody treatments like the Apple alphabet patent. Among today's grants are the filings describing ways to interface sports equipment with your iPhone, iPad or iPod, patents for Mac OS X dashboards and the MacBook keyboard and others seeking to protect icons and designs of popular software features.

Most people know of Apple's long-time association with Nike and the Nike+ app that records your running routine. Earlier this year, the Cupertino, California company filed a patent to go one step farther, interfacing your iPhone with a treadmill, or other workout machine at the local gym. Now it appears that patent was granted. But, wait, there's plenty more gadgets and gizmos Apple wants protected...

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Parody: Apple patents the alphabet

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

When you think of everything wrong with the patent system today, Apple always comes to mind. The iPad-maker has applied for, and surprisingly won, patents on things you wouldn't think you could have exclusive rights to.

That's the basis for this new parody video, in which Washington Post book critic Ron Charles pretends to be an Apple legal attorney explaining the company's strategy behind applying for a patent on the English alphabet...

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Samsung adds iPad mini, iPad 4 and more to latest patent suit

Cody Lee ∙ November 22, 2012

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...

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Judge orders Apple to reveal full HTC patent deal to Samsung

Cody Lee ∙ November 21, 2012

On Friday last week, Samsung asked the court to force Apple to turn over the full details of its recently announced patent settlement with HTC. It feels the terms of the deal could be useful in its ongoing legal battle with the iPad-maker.

Apple has since agreed to allow Samsung to see the pact in a heavily redacted document — leaving all of about 33 words. But tonight, a judge has granted Samsung's motion to compel. So Apple will have to reveal the entire agreement...

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Samsung exec: ‘iPhone would be impossible without our patents’

Cody Lee ∙ November 21, 2012

Earlier this week, the ITC announced that it would be reviewing its September-decision that Apple's products don't violate some of Samsung's patents. It's a pretty big deal, as an overturn could result in a sales ban.

As you can imagine, Samsung is thrilled with the ITC's choice to revisit its previous ruling. And this morning, the company's head of mobile and IT division Shin Jong-kyun had a few things to say about the case...

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CEO says HTC is happy with Apple settlement, but denies details

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

On Saturday, November 10, Apple and HTC announced that they had reached an unprecedented settlement that would effectively end their nearly 3 year-long patent war. The deal also included a 10-year cross-licensing agreement.

Other than that though, details surrounding the treaty have been fairly scarce. Analysts have opined that HTC agreed to pay Apple between $6-$8 per Android handset sold. But according to the company's CEO, that's not the case...

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Digital page turn? Patented!

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2012

If asked to single out a feature of iBooks that provokes most oohs and aahs, I'm sure you'd more or less unanimously opt for the page-turning effect. It didn't take long before other e-book apps and devices began mimicking Apple's animated skeuomorphism in iBooks.

The page-turning trick in various implementations has become a standard feature of Amazon's Kindle apps, Google Play Books software, Sony's recently released iOS app, plus a host of other social news readers and e-reading programs. And just like that, Apple's now been granted a patent for the feature, meaning the company basically owns the page turn...

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Apple acquires over 1,000 patents from Nortel auction

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

Last summer, Apple teamed up with Microsoft, RIM, Sony and others to participate in an auction involving a large amount of wireless and LTE patents. The 'Rockstar consortium' outbid Google, and scored more than 6,000 patents for a cool $4.5 billion.

Of course, since Apple put up a huge chunk of the bid (something like $2.6B), it's always had access to the Nortel IP. But according to a new report, the tech giant has been outright purchasing select patents from the consortium over the past 6 months...

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Apple researching facial-zooming and quieter iPhone vibration

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 15, 2012

Apple has applied to patent new technology designed to solve two annoying problems. One filing addresses that "silent" iPhone which you set to "vibrate" but instead noisily dances across tables and other hard surfaces. The other patent application could come in handy for iPhone and iPad mini owners constantly resizing their screens for a better view. However, the most intriguing invention Apple seeks to patent measures the distance of an iDevice owner's face from a screen, using a combination of the camera or other proximity sensor. Differing modes would then automatically adjust the size of content being viewed...

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