patent infringement
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Samsung accuses Apple of withholding evidence
Earlier this week, CEOs from Apple and Samsung met for court-ordered mediation talks that turned out to be fruitless. Now, the two companies are back to their legal hijinks with Samsung claiming Apple is withholding evidence, according to a report in FOSS Patents. Samsung is asking the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to penalize Apple for not complying with an April 12, 2012 order that required Apple to provide Samsung with documents from related proceedings. Apple tried to comply, but some of the documents were from ITC investigations and the ITC wouldn't let Apple share them with Samsung. Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents believes Samsung is using this document request to delay the trial. It will take time for the district court and the ITC decide which documents can and cannot be shared with the Korean company. Apple is asking for clarification from the court on this point and is waiting for a response.
Jury issues verdict in Android suit, finds that Google doesn't infringe Oracle patents
It appears that the jury has come to a conclusion in the Oracle v. Google trial, determining that Android does not infringe Oracle patents. Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for Northern California exonerated the search giant following a trial that lasted three weeks, ruling that Google did not infringe on six claims in US Patent RE38,104, along two claims in US Patent 6,061,520. Jurors were dismissed following today's ruling, with the trial's damages phase reportedly set to begin on Tuesday. According to The Verge, the jury did determine that Google was responsible for two counts of minor copyright infringement, relating to the order of Java APIs and several lines of rangeCheck code, which could be matched with a maximum penalty of $150,000 for each count. Regardless, it appears that the lawsuit, which dates back to 2010, when Oracle filed against Google for copyright and patent infringement related to Sun's Java code, could finally be coming to a close.
Apple files (again) for a preliminary ban against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
If you found yourself longing for the minor tweaks Samsung made to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany earlier this year, you may be in luck: Apple's filed for a preliminary injunction against the slate stateside. It isn't the first one, either, Cupertino filed something similar back in February, though it didn't quite pass legal muster. After gaining some headway earlier this week, Cook's crew is in for round two, according to FOSS Patents, asking for Judge Koh to rule in their favor without a new hearing. Concerned consumers, however, can sidestep the whole mess by simply opting for an injunction-exempt Galaxy Tab 2. Details and speculation can be found at the source link below, just in case you aren't already sick to death of the whole Samsung / Apple spat.
ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent (updated: MMI responds)
At the end of last year, an Administrative Law Judge issued an initial ruling that Motorola's mobile devices infringe a bit of Microsoft's IP. Now, the Commission has affirmed that decision and issued an exclusion order to ban Moto's offending devices from importation into the US. In case you weren't aware, the four patent claims at issue generally cover technology for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device. So, unless Motorola removes the feature, pays for a license or whips up a workaround Microsoft's patent in short order, its inbound RAZRs, Droid 4s, Bionics and other offending handsets will be stuck in customs alongside HTC's One X and EVO 4G LTE -- that is, unless Obama steps in to save the day during the prescribed presidential review period. Microsoft, naturally, is quite pleased with this development and has issued a statement: Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft's efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We're pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft's intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents. -- David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Microsoft We've reached out to Motorola for comment on the matter as well, so stay tuned to see what it has to say. Update: Motorola has issued an understandably somber statement on the ruling: Microsoft started its ITC investigation asserting 9 patents against Motorola Mobility. Although we are disappointed by the Commission's ruling that certain Motorola Mobility products violated one patent, we look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning. Motorola Mobility will not experience any impact in the near term, as the Commission's ruling is subject to a $0.33/per unit bond during the 60 day Presidential review period. We will explore all options including appeal.
Apple, HTC ordered by judge to sit down, try and make nice on August 28th
There's a trend starting to emerge of judges wanting Apple to talk settlements with others rather than duke it out in the courtroom. Just two weeks after Apple and Samsung were steered towards talking about a potential deal, a Delaware court has ordered Apple and HTC to meet on August 28th in the hopes that they could shake hands and put an end to an increasingly hectic legal battle under the eyes of a mediating judge. Whether or not that happens is very much up in the air. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he's not a fan of lawsuits, but he hasn't showed indications that he would take legal action off the table just yet. Likewise, HTC is no doubt eager to eliminate phone shipping delays stemming from Apple's court wins, but the lack of immediate pressure and the hopes of winning countersuits might lead it to hold off. Still, if the court's ideal vision of the world comes to pass, you could see HTC's Cher Wang shopping in an Apple Store without staff giving her the evil eye. [Image credit: mobile01]
Apple gets another bite, wins appeal to pursue preliminary injunction against Samsung
We'll forgive you if you've forgotten, given the myriad Apple/Samsung legal shenanigans, but back in February, Apple attempted to obtain a preliminary injunction against Samsung to prevent the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a few phones from being sold in the US. Samsung emerged victorious, as the district court denied Cupertino's request because it questioned the validity of a couple of Apple's patents and didn't see how Apple would be irreparably harmed if it failed to get Sammy's products banned. Naturally, Tim Cook's crew appealed that decision, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has decided to give Apple another crack at obtaining an injunction. The CAFC upheld the lower court's ruling as to three of the four patents, but found fault with the District Court's holding that Apple's tablet design patent had substantial questions of validity. Essentially, the lower court held that Apple's patent was likely no good because it was an obvious design in light of two tablets that were created long before Apple patented the iPad's look. However, the CAFC found that one of the previous slate's asymmetrical bezel and lack of an unbroken, all-glass surface (among other differences) were sufficient to render Apple's patent non-obvious. Basically, the appellate court found that the District court "construed the claimed design too broadly," and remanded the issue so that the district court could complete its preliminary injunction analysis. So, Apple's cleared a big hurdle towards getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 off the US market, but the company's still got to persuade Judge Koh that it'll be irreparably harmed without the injunction. This decision assures even longer legal proceedings, but given how well both of these tech titans are doing these days, we're pretty sure they can afford the attorneys' fees.
Apple and Samsung drop some claims but still disagree
Apple and Samsung are battling in a California courtroom over Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. On Monday, the Cupertino company limited the scope of the case by cutting its patent and trademark infringement claims in half, says a report in FOSS Patents. Samsung responded by dropping 5 of the 12 patents in its counterclaim. Despite this reconciliatory move, the two companies still disagree about many details of the lawsuit. The two companies are bickering about the ability of the case to go to trial starting this summer. Apple says Samsung is being uncooperative, while Samsung blames Apple for keeping the case too broad. The two companies also disagree about the infringement with Apple calling Samsung a copycat and Samsung arguing it used "innovative, independently developed technologies." You can read a detailed analysis of these latest developments on FOSS Patents's website.
Apple and Samsung finally agree... to drop a plethora of claims from their patent spat
Last week, Judge Lucy Koh informed Apple and Samsung that they would have to reduce the number of patent claims at issue in the parties' Northern District of California litigation. And now, each has complied, with Samsung dropping its total number of asserted patent claims from 75 to 15, while dismissing two patents from the case altogether. For its part, Apple has reduced its case to one claim from each of its asserted utility patents, its four iPhone and one iPad design patents, and its trade dress claims for those two devices. Keep in mind, however, that they did so without prejudice, which means that either party can reassert these dismissed claims in a later lawsuit. That said, the parties have at least attempted to placate Judge Koh in order to keep their July 30th trial date, which is when the real legal fireworks begin. Feel free to check the filings below for the full scope of this most recent patent pruning.
Apple and Samsung set to meet May 21st, hug it out over 48 hours
These two brawlers were given until July to come together and mediate over their numerous globe-spanning patent lawsuits, but it appears neither side needs to wait that long. According to Foss Patents, May 21st and 22nd have been circled on the calendar of a certain San Francisco courthouse, where Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero will attempt to arbitrate in a calm, soothing voice for two days straight. Presenting himself as a confidant who sits outside of the main litigation being conducted in San Jose, Spero has already asked both parties to open up and provide "candid" statements about the strengths and weaknesses of their own cases, as a first step towards identifying areas of compromise. Fortunately, he still has a few weeks in which to devise further cunning plans.
Nokia gets nose bloodied in IPCom patent case, says it doesn't care anyway
Mannheim is gaining a reputation as the place where patent disputes go to die. The latest loser? Nokia, in a case against German firm IPCom. A saving grace for the Finnish firm, this time, seems to be that the patent in question was granted in February 2011 and all the handsets involved predate this, and are no longer on the market. That's according to the firm's spokesman at least, who also added that it would be seeking a ruling from a higher court to clarify whether current handsets are also affected by the ruling. Well, they do say things come in threes...
Samsung claims Apple is infringing on eight patents in California documents
Executives from Samsung and Apple may be sitting down to discuss patents and infringement, but the legal battle between the two companies is far from over. According to a report from FOSS Patents, Samsung accused Apple of infringing on eight patents in a California lawsuit filed last Wednesday. Rather than target only mobile devices in this suit, Samsung took out the big guns and is aiming at iPhones, iPads, Mac computers, Apple TV, iCloud and iTunes. This suit may be difficult for Samsung to win as two of the patents are FRAND patents which are essential to technology standards and must be licensed under fair and reasonable terms. Five patents, including the two FRAND patents, are from Samsung and three were acquired from Hitachi. Samsung has filed several lawsuits against Apple globally and has yet to win a judgment against the Cupertino company.
HTC says its touchscreens don't violate Apple patents in UK court
Apple and HTC are exchanging blows in a London court case over claims the Taiwanese manufacturer infringes on four Apple patents, says a Bloomberg report. These patents cover various multi-touch gestures, photo zooming and scrolling, slide-to-unlock and the use of a multilingual alphabet when sending text messages. HTC argues that it does not infringe on these patents because "We are dealing with extremely simple implementations of commonly known techniques." This is one of several lawsuits between the two companies, and a win over Apple in the UK could help HTC in these other cases.
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.
Ubisoft sued for patent infringement over Rocksmith technology
Guitar Apprentice sued Ubisoft last week for patent infringement on a "media system and method of progressive musical instruction" in USP 8,119,896. Guitar Apprentice filed this patent on October 12, 2010, while Ubisoft's Rocksmith launched on October 18, 2011 in North America and is due to hit Europe and Australia in September this year.A summary of the Guitar Apprentice patent describes its initial function as follows: "A method is provided for progressive musical instruction using a media system with processor-executable software modules storing musical performances each having a plurality of segments."Ubisoft has previously acknowledged that Rocksmith took inspiration and technology from Game Tank's Guitar Rising, and it is currently in a legal dispute with the UK band Rocksmith, who claims it owns all rights to the name.
Qualcomm, Intel provide source code in patent battle
Apple has some unusual bedfellows, Intel and Qualcomm, in a patent infringement case that it's fighting with Samsung in Australia. According to a Bloomberg report, Intel and Qualcomm agreed to provide the Australian court with source code that'll prove Apple isn't infringing on patents held by Samsung. The trial is slated to begin July 9 and will run through October 12. The Sydney Federal Court is expecting the trial to be a blockbuster affair and may assign a second judge and a court-appointed expert to serve at the trial.
Facebook fights back, countersues Yahoo
Surprise, surprise, Facebook has decided to sling a lawsuit Yahoo's way after the latter first filed a patent infringement action against Zuckerberg's crew a few weeks ago. According to Florian Mueller over at FOSSPatents, the social network's alleging some IP infringement of its own -- claiming that Yahoo has run afoul of ten of its patents. The patents in question cover myriad technologies, ranging for ad placement and information arrangements on web pages to privacy controls for managing what info is shown to individual users and instant messaging using email protocol. Just another ho-hum legal battle between tech behemoths here in Silicon Valley, folks, with mere millions of dollars at stake. But, if you're yearning for more, you can read the full complaint at the All Things D source link below.
Oracle and Google get a trial date, April 16th is the start of Android armageddon
As regular readers of this site are well aware, Google and Oracle have had an ongoing legal spat for nearly two years now. In the time since the lawsuit's filing, the legal claims have been narrowed, damages claims have been adjusted, reduced, and reduced again. All that activity, plus continuous settlement talks caused the trial to be delayed several times. But now it appears that the two sides have officially reached an impasse, and so the tech giants will go to trial on April 16th to determine if Android illicitly pulled code from Java. Will Oracle get paid? Will Google and its green bots be gloating in the end? Pop some popcorn and settle in, folks, we'll start getting some answers in a couple weeks.
Apple approached Samsung in attempt to avoid litigation
Last year Apple lawyer Richard Lutton said Steve Jobs contacted Samsung prior to any legal skirmish and tried to give Samsung the "chance to do the right thing." Spotted by The Verge, a recent filing by Apple in a California Federal Court confirms that Apple met with Samsung four times between July and September 2010. During these meetings, Apple warned Samsung about its trade dress and patent infringement concerns well before it filed suit in April 2011.
Microsoft and TiVo agree to drop ongoing patent suits, we ask the world to follow
At last. A pair of companies decide that bickering (and spending) in the courtroom over patents just isn't worthwhile. In an era where it seems like every technology company under the sun is suing at least one other for nondescript "infringements," TiVo and Microsoft are laying aside their differences. Purportedly, both outfits have reached an agreement "under which both companies will dismiss pending litigation over patents." According to a regulatory filing, nary a patent right was granted to Microsoft by TiVo, but for whatever reason, the two have decided that both can continue operations without any more meddling. It all started early last year, when the folks in Redmond alleged that TiVo was infringing on four of its patents; predictably, TiVo slung one of its many patent-related suits in Microsoft's direction. Those looking to dive fully into the last chapter in this one can hit the links below; for the 99 percent, just scoot your eyes down to the next article and exhale in relief. So, Samsung, Apple -- you guys paying attention?
Apple loses ITC ruling against Motorola Mobility in patent infringement case
Florian Mueller over at FOSS Patents noted yesterday that Apple's patent infringement case against Motorola Mobility has been dealt a nearly fatal blow in the courts of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC). The suit alleged that Motorola Mobility was infringing on three Apple patents: one all-important patent for a multipoint touchscreen, an "object-oriented system locator system" patent, and a patent for an "ellipse fitting for multi-touch surfaces." The ITC's preliminary ruling in January found no proof that Moto was infringing on Apple's patents, and Friday's final ruling (PDF) upheld the initial finding. That doesn't make this the end of the road for Apple in the fight against Motorola Mobility. In fact, Mueller notes that the company will most likely appeal the decision in a U.S. Federal Circuit Court, as it is doing with another ITC ruling that found in favor of smartphone manufacturer HTC. There is a much better chance that the Federal Courts will overturn the ITC ruling, but Mueller says that this will take a significant amount of time. Smartphone-related patent infringement claims at the ITC tend to have a very high drop-out rate, so many manufacturers are now taking cases to German courts for "fast and furious" decisions. Mueller notes that the courts in Munich and Mannheim are twice as speedy as the ITC, and patent holders like Apple often win favorable rulings. This explains Apple's reasoning in taking a number of other patent infringement complaints to the German courts for swift rulings that result in injunctions on sales of new products.
