BorisTeksler
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Daily Update for June 19, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy departs for calmer waters
The man in the unenviable position of being deeply involved with Apple's ongoing patent infringement litigation with a number of companies has left Apple. AppleInsider reports that Boris Teksler, formerly Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy, has taken a new job as president of the Technology Group at Technicolor. Teksler testified on behalf of Apple in its US patent infringement suit with Samsung last year, revealing that he warned Steve Jobs and Tim Cook in 2010 that a number of Apple patents might have been infringed upon by Samsung. Teksler outlined the potential infringements to the Apple execs in a presentation showing that "rubber-banding," gesture heuristics and email threading were all appearing on Samsung products. As a result of Teksler's presentation, Jobs and Cook met with Samsung executives in an attempt to reach a licensing agreement. That fell through, resulting in the patent battles still going on worldwide. Teksler has a tremendous history in the world of intellectual property. Before working for Apple, he co-founded HP's Intellectual Property Licensing business while working at the venerable Silicon Valley company for 16 years. At Technicolor, Teksler will help the company in making the most of its intellectual property assets.
Apple details 2010 presentation to Samsung on Android patent infringement, licensing offer
As the battle between Samsung and Apple closed out another week in US District Court, lawyers for the latter focused its argument on evidence and testimony covering a presentation Apple made to Samsung in 2010, and its offer to license the patents. AllThingsD has the deck of slides from the meeting (embedded after the break), specifying areas and specific patents Apple believes Android as an OS infringes or things Samsung specifically copied elements from, plus a report on testimony from Apple executive Boris Teksler. He testified today about the meeting with Samsung, calling it a "trusted partner" (should be, since Apple paid it paid $5.7 billion for parts that year) that both Tim Cook and Steve Jobs spoke to directly about the issue. While more information is expected from Teksler next week, he did have time to put a dollar amount on the licensing deal Apple subsequently offered, at about $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet, as well as royalties also collected from phones running Symbian and Bada, with the possibility of a 20 percent discount if Samsung would cross license its own technology back to Apple. The companies are restricted by Judge Koh to 25 hours each to argue their points (Apple is at 11 and a half hours while Samsung has crossed over 12 with its own arguments yet to come) but we're sure there's enough time left for a few more revelations before any resolution is reached.
