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Judge Koh denies Samsung a retrial following USPTO patent decisions (updated)
After the USPTO decided to take a second look at a bunch of Apple's patents, including the pinch-to-zoom claims later invalidated by the USPTO, Samsung was understandably pressing for a retrial. However, since then the court has certified most of the other IP in question, including the famous claim 19 or "bounce-back" of patent 7,469,381, a lynchpin in the $1 billion judgement favoring Cupertino. As a result, judge Lucy Koh has decided to ignore the Korean company's pleas and press on with Apple vs. Samsung II, meaning that the trial scheduled for November 12th 2013 will proceed as planned. What does that mean for all of us? Yet more legal wrangling and a prolonging of Samsung's California nightmare. Update: The article originally stated that the rubber-banding claim 21 in 7,469,381 was invalidated, but it was actually the pinch-to-zoom claim in patent 7,844,915. We apologize for any confusion that may have caused.
Japan court rules Samsung's Galaxy phones, tablet do not infringe on an Apple patent
Samsung may have lost a billion dollar round here in the US, but it appears to have scored a victory in its patent battle against Apple in Japan today. Reuters and Bloomberg report a judge there decided its Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not infringe on an Apple patent. Apple sued Samsung there in September of last year, however the Tokyo District Court has ruled Samsung did not violate a patent that covered syncing music and video data with a PC. According to The Yomiuri Shinbun, presiding judge Tamotsu Shoji dismissed the claim, saying Samsung's implementation of this specific technology was not covered by the scope of Apple's patent and, Bloomberg reports, ordered Apple to pay the costs of the lawsuit. Just as we're seeing in US District Court in California however, one judgement doesn't mean the seemingly never-ending battle is over however because Apple may be able to appeal this decision to a higher court. There are also other cases ongoing, which The Sankei Shimbun reports includes one focusing on the infamous bounce-back patent, so as usual, stay tuned for further updates.
South Korean court rules Apple infringed on two Samsung patents, fines it $35k; Samsung gets hit too
We have yet another twist in the worldwide patent battle between electronics giants Apple and Samsung, as the Wall Street Journal and Reuters report a Seoul court has ruled in favor of the latter when it came to two patents in a case on its home turf. While it decided that Apple had infringed on two Samsung patents, it also found that Samsung had returned the favor on Apple's "bounceback" design patent, but not on another regarding icon design resulting in damages of about $22,000 Samsung. That's according to WSJ's Evan Ramstad, who also reports that other than the light financial slap on the wrist, the ruling means that the infringing products can no longer be sold in South Korea. The list of affected hardware includes mostly previous gen products like the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, as well as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus. Asia Economic indicates the two patents Apple was found to have infringed are of the much-disputed standards-essential type relating to the transmission of data. This action doesn't appear to significantly tilt the battlefield in any particular direction, so we'll continue to keep an eye on the jury deliberating in California.
