IntellectualProperty
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US judge tells Apple, Samsung to trim down patent lawsuits
In much the way that a parent might tell two fighting siblings to quit being overly dramatic, a U.S. judge has ordered Apple and Samsung to simplify their patent lawsuits by Monday in order to start a trial on July 30, 2012. Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California told the companies to slice the patent infringement and other claims to the point that a jury can not only understand what's going on, but judge the issues in a single trial. This was the second time that the judge had asked the companies to reduce the claims to a manageable level. The companies made a joint statement on Tuesday saying that each had dropped some elements from the case, but 16 patents, six trademarks, an antitrust case, and five "trade dress" claims -- spread over 37 products -- were still left on the table. Judge Koh said "I think that's cruel and unusual punishment to a jury, so I'm not willing to do it." If the companies don't agree to cut down the claims further, the judge suggested that she might push the trial date back to 2013. A completely separate case over a 2012 lawsuit made by Apple against Samsung is tentatively set to go to trial on March 31, 2014.
Potter Voice Technologies sues Apple, Google over voice patent
The latest in a string of patent lawsuits has just been announced: a relatively unknown Colorado company named Potter Voice Technologies claims that all major smartphone vendors, including Apple, are infringing on a patent on natural-language voice control of a computer. Apple's in good company -- the other companies named in the lawsuit include Google, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Samsung Electronics, Sony, LG Electronics, Motorola Mobility, ZTE, Huawei Technologies, Kyocera, Sharp, and Pantech. Potter Voice Technologies is seeking damages "but in no event less than a reasonable royalty," injunctions against the companies, and attorney's fees. Potter claims that Apple, Microsoft and Sony must have known about its patent and that the three companies are guilty of willful infringement, which allows for increased damages to the plaintiff. The patent, "Method and apparatus for controlling a digital computer using oral input," was issued in 1998 and was cited in a 2004 patent filing involving SRI International, the company which developed Siri. Potter's idea was to eliminate the training that was required for other voice-control systems. The patent describes spoken words being received by a microphone, interpreted by voice recognition algorithms, and then being used to "search the contents of a tabular data structure organized in rows and columns." The defendants may have the America Invents Act on their side. The law, which went into effect last year, was designed to discourage patent trolls from going after multiple parties in one suit.
European Patent Office invalidates IPCom 3G patent, gives good news to Nokia and HTC
IPCom's had its way with many mobile manufacturers, including Nokia and HTC, by suing them for patent infringement in German courts. However, the Finnish and Taiwanese firms got good news today when the European Patent Office invalidated one of its 3G patents -- the very same one it used to obtain an injunction against HTC. IPCom's not going away quietly, however, as it plans to appeal the EPO's decision. That means that the folks in Espoo and Taoyuan City aren't out of the woods yet -- but it should at least give them a bit more bargaining power in negotiations to end their (seemingly endless) legal spats.
Pegatron licenses Microsoft's patent portfolio for Android and Chrome devices
Microsoft may make a ton of money by selling Xboxes, operating systems, and other software to consumers, but it also pads its bottom line by monetizing its IP. Its newest patent profits will be coming from Pegatron Corp. -- a Taiwanese ODM that makes parts for a plethora of others, including Apple, ASUS and HP -- as the two companies have entered into a licensing agreement for devices running Android and Chrome OS. The agreement covers e-readers, smartphones and tablets, with Pegatron paying Redmond royalties of unknown amount. So, the Ballmer licensing bandwagon continues unabated, but we just hope all this new-found cash will be put to use creating fantastic new products instead of funding more courtroom conflicts.
ITC issues preliminary ruling, finds Microsoft's Xbox 360 infringes on Motorola patents
Potential bad news to start out the week for Microsofties: a judge from the US International Trade Commission has issued a preliminary ruling that finds Microsoft's Xbox 360 infringes on five four of Motorola's patents (and in Microsoft's favor on one). While the decision is by no means final -- which means that the Redmond outfit could ultimately prevail -- a final ruling would force Microsoft's hand to seek proper licenses for the technologies, most of which relate to H.264 video encoding, or have its gaming console banned from US shelves. For now, the lawyers will go back to the lab to refine their arguments and get ready to present them to a full panel of ITC judges later this year. Who wants to set odds on the outcome?
Motorola's patent enforcement against Apple could cost German taxpayers dearly
In a recent article, FOSS Patents points out a loophole in German law that forces taxpayers to pay for part of the court proceedings between Motorola and Apple. Motorola is currently enforcing an injunction against Apple and has deposited money for the injunction as required by law. Apple is appealing this injunction, and the appeal is slowly winding its way through the German court system. When a settlement or judgment is finally reached in the lawsuit, Germany owes Motorola interest on the injunction money that was set aside. The government can't invest this money while it sits, so this interest payment must come from taxpayer money, says FOSS Patents.
Apple still blocked from using push email in Germany
German users of iCloud and MobileMe are going to have to wait a bit longer for push email to be reinstated on their favorite Apple devices. A regional court in Mannheim has upheld a ban on the service in Germany based on a patent lawsuit brought by Motorola Mobility against Apple. Motorola won the court case in February and was granted a permanent injunction against the services built into iCloud and MobileMe. The court has now upheld the ban and determined that Apple must pay unspecified damages to Motorola Mobility. The lawsuit is related to a patent entitled "Multiple Pager Status Synchronization System and Method," which covers push services. Motorola filed the suit last April prior to the announcement of iCloud, based on the push email service built into MobileMe. Motorola was able to successfully argue that MobileMe is part of iCloud, hence the lawsuit that originally targeted MobileMe has been extended to cover Apple's current cloud services.
US Court: Code isn't property, therefore it can't be stolen
New York's Second Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that computer code cannot be stolen after acquitting former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov. He'd been charged with property theft and economic espionage which carried an eight year prison sentence, but left court a free man after serving just a year of his term. The case hinged upon the definition of both property and economic espionage, and the court found that code, being an intangible, couldn't be property that's capable of being stolen within the definition of the statute -- affirming a state of affairs that's been in place since the British case of Oxford v Moss from 1979. Just as a warning: the Judges advised Congress to amend the relevant legislation in order to prevent thefts of this nature in the future, so we'd hold back on any big data-heists you've got planned.
Microsoft wins injunction in Washington against Motorola, can keep selling stuff in Germany
Microsoft's been waging legal war against Motorola on several fronts for some time now, and today, team Redmond scored a victory in a federal district court in Washington that'll have repercussions in Germany. The judge granted Microsoft's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that prevents Motorola from enforcing any injunction it may obtain in the parties' parallel action in Mannheim, Germany. As a quick refresher, this litigation's all about a bundle of Moto-owned standards-essential WiFi and H.264 patents. Naturally, Motorola claims that Microsoft's infringing its IP, and has sought to stop sales of infringing products in Deutschland. Meanwhile, Microsoft contends Moto's in breach of contract because those patents haven't been made available for it to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. This latest legal victory in the US merely means that Motorola won't enforce any injunction it obtains in Mannheim -- which leaves Microsoft free and clear to peddle its wares in Germany.
Viacom wins appeal against YouTube, gets another chance to prove copyright infringement
It's been almost two years since YouTube's triumph in its copyright infringement case against Viacom. As is the way of things, Viacom appealed the decision, and now the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to breathe new life into Viacom's case. Apparently, the appeals judge didn't see eye to eye with the District Court's ruling that no reasonable jury could have found that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of infringement on its site.You see, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) requires such awareness for service providers like YouTube to be guilty of copyright infringement, and that safe harbor provision was the grounds for YouTube's victory on summary judgment. Furthermore, to succeed on summary judgment, YouTube had to prove that no reasonable jury could find that it knew of any infringing activity. While the lower court felt that YouTube carried that burden, the appeals judge disagreed, and has remanded the case back down for the District Court to determine if YouTube knew about or willfully ignored the infringement. What does this mean? All we can say for sure is that it'll expend more judicial resources and make more money for the attorneys involved. The result could very well end up, once again, in YouTube's favor, but we'll have to wait and see.
Tim Cook meets Chinese Vice Premier in Beijing, talks IP law, worker rights
Tim Cook's visit to China this week marks his first as Apple's CEO, but what originally appeared to be a casual jaunt to Beijing with possible carrier meetings on the agenda, has turned out to be a carefully orchestrated visit, including appointments with top government officials to talk economic development and intellectual property rights. Xinhua, the country's official press agency (and therefore not the most objective of sources), reported that Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang stated that the country will "strengthen intellectual property rights protection" and "pay more attention to caring for workers." Typical of state-sponsored releases, the report failed to expand on either statement, but even if nothing comes of this particular meeting, Keqiang is in line to take over as Premier next year, making him a solid addition to Cook's rolodex. There's a Chinese-language video of the encounter waiting just past the break.
US Judge rejects Hasbro / ASUS sales ban, Transformer Prime prevails
Coming up with original gadget names is tough work, and, after all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery -- right? So it was no surprise when ASUS happened upon an alias that more than slightly resembled that of a popular fictional mutant semi -- you know, Transformer Optimus Prime. However shockingly, Hasbro wasn't a fan, opting to battle ASUS to the death in the U.S. court system. And, after countless weeks and many bank holidays, we finally have a victor. It appears that the leader of the Autobots will continue to share its name with the Taiwanese company's tablet -- that's what you get for leaving the fate of the world to mere human bureaucrats. Just don't be surprised when it comes time to name the world's next Superhero, Ms. Zenbook UX31.
HTC partners with Intertrust, buys 20 percent of SyncTV
It's been a while since we've heard the name SyncTV 'round these parts, but perhaps we'll be seeing a bit more of it now that HTC has a stake in the streaming video company. As part of a deal with Intertrust, HTC has purchased 20 percent of its new partner's subsidiary. In addition, the Taiwanese manufacturer has licensed a broad portfolio of patents from the Sunnyvale firm, primarily dealing with DRM. Unfortunately we have no specifics about how HTC plans to leverage its new media property, but hopefully they're working on some fun surprises even as we speak. (Though, most likely, we're just looking at one more piece of manufacturer-installed bloatware.) Check out the brief, and ultimately not very informative, PR after the break.
Oracle's final damage claim against Google well under $100 million
My, my, my, how the mighty have fallen. In this case, the mighty is the roughly $6 billion Oracle initially sought in its suit against Google. By September of last year that number had dropped to a comparatively paltry $2 billion, which was still too high for presiding Judge William Alsup. Now that has plummeted precipitously, with Oracle's new starting figure sitting at $32.3 million. Of course, the final total for the damages will likely be higher than that, but we'd be mighty shocked if the ultimate settlement was even close to $100 million. Google's own estimates put the valuation at between $37.5 million and $46.6 million -- a far cry from the $100 million starting point Alsup had suggested in July of last year. Now all that's left is for this sucker to actually go to trial. Hit up the source to read the full filing.
The Hague to Samsung: no injunction for 3G patent infringement if Apple's willing to FRAND license
Since it's been more than 24 hours since the last bit of news in the ongoing legal battle between Samsung and Apple, we figured you could do with another litigation revelation. Late last year, the Hague shot down Sammy's request to prevent iPads and iPhones from being sold in the Netherlands. Today, the Dutch court went a step further, telling the Korean company that it can't pursue any other injunctions based upon its FRAND 3G patents as long as Cupertino's willing to talk about licensing them. Not only that, it went on to hold that those patents don't apply in Sammy's case against the iPhone 4S due to the theory of patent exhaustion. The allegedly infringing bits in the handset are made by Qualcomm, who licensed the technology directly from Samsung -- granting Apple protection under the license as a third party beneficiary -- and Apple prevailed using arguments not unlike those it made in a suit it recently filed against Motorola. Score one more legal victory for Tim Cook and company, but as you already know, the war is far from over.
Apple simplifies its ITC suit against Samsung: drops one patent and several claims from two more
While there's been plenty of legal wrangling between Apple and Samsung in Federal courtrooms lately, it's been awhile since we've had news from the parties' parallel proceedings occurring in the ITC. No longer. Last week, Apple received a favorable outcome when the ITC issued its claim construction order, siding with Apple's interpretations of two patents -- for those who aren't familiar, claim construction is the process by which the judge determines the meaning of specific terms in the claims, and it often has great influence on findings of infringement (or non-infringement). The judge found in favor of Samsung regarding one patent in his claim construction order, however, and now Apple has dropped that patent from the proceedings, along with claims from two of its other patents as well. This latest legal maneuvering by Cupertino is pretty standard fare, as paring down the legal issues is something all courts encourage to make the adjudication process more efficient, and Apple is simply distilling its case down to its strongest arguments. Now that the claim construction's complete, next on the docket is the ITC's evidentiary hearing (read: trial) starting May 31st, and afterwards we'll finally get the ITC's decision. Stay tuned.
ITC to review its decision on Microsoft, Motorola patent case
Remember back in December when the International Trade Commission ruled on a Microsoft complaint from 2010 that Motorola's Android products infringed on seven of its patents, siding with Microsoft initially on one of them? Since that's so hard to forget, it probably comes as no surprise to hear that the ITC announced today it would review the decision in part, as Motorola noted in its press release at the time. Don't expect a final ruling for another month or so (we'd keep that NFL Draft window clear if we were you), but if you're looking for details, FOSSPatents has the notes on which segments are under review. Don't worry if you miss a step though, we'll be sure to let you know once it's all over (hint: it will never, ever be over.)
Google pads IP portfolio, purchases Cuil's pending search-related patent applications
Google's been buying a fair amount of IP over the past several months from IBM, and now the Big G has acquired seven new patent applications from the now-defunct search engine, Cuil. Back in 2008, Cuil aimed to take Google's crown as the king of search, but was shut down 2010 because it often failed to provide relevant results (despite its massive site index). Good thing the patent apps Google's gotten are for different methods of displaying search results, as opposed to, you know, finding them. The full list of assignments can be found at the source below, so head on down to get your fill of patent claims and black and white drawings.
Oracle drops patent from Google lawsuit, Google moves to strike Oracle's third damages report
After much sound and fury in its legal proceedings for IP infringement against Google, Oracle's claims continue to be whittled away. Judge Alsup has been on Oracle's case to downgrade its damages claims for months now, and on Friday, he got yet another reason to do so. Ellison's crew has finally withdrawn the last remaining claim of patent number 6,192,476 from the litigation -- the very same patent that had 17 of 21 claims wiped out earlier during a USPTO re-examination proceeding. Additionally, Google has filed a motion to strike Oracle's third damages report for, once again, artificially inflating the monetary damages in its expert report. No one can say for sure how the judge will rule on that motion, but given that Oracle's got less IP than ever with which to allege infringement, it seems likely that the Court will send it back to the damages drawing board.
Student hacks into Facebook, gets eight months in prison, twelve likes
The next time you get caught hijacking your friend's Facebook, remember it could be worse. On Friday, British Student Glenn Mangham was sentenced to eight months in not-so-social jail, for hacking deep into Facebook's servers. Apparently no user details were taken, with Mangham heading straight for "invaluable" intellectual property instead. Facebook alerted the authorities after it discovered the breach last May, the FBI then followed the digital thread back to the Briton's UK address. It's believed Mangham gained access to the inner sanctum after hacking into a Facebook employee's account, though it's not known if the comedy status update and embarrassing profile picture were also part of the attack.
