patent infringement
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Apple ban on original Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 stands in Germany
Apple achieved a quasi-victory today in the ongoing intellectual property battles with Samsung when an appeals court in Dusseldorf, Germany upheld Apple's requested preliminary ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The court's decision also covers the Galaxy Tab 8.9, but not the Galaxy Tab 10.1N -- the version of the tablet that Samsung tweaked slightly to get around its similarity to the iPad. A decision on the 10.1N is expected on February 9, 2012. Why is this a partial victory for Apple? Well, the ban was upheld not on Apple's design rights, but a breach of German unfair competition laws. That weakens Apple's assertion that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 models blatantly copied iPad design features. In addition, this verdict is limited to Germany alone and does not apply to other European Union member states. The Netherlands rejected a previous ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 just last week, and if the 10.1N and other lightly-modified tablets remain on the market, it indicates that competitors don't have to make a lot of modifications to iPad copies for them to stay on the market. However, all is not lost for Apple. Samsung is losing its claims on 3G patents in Germany, and was also recently the target of an EU investigation regarding alleged abuse of those patents. This is the year that many of the worldwide patent lawsuits that Apple and Samsung are embroiled in should reach resolution in the courts.
Samsung faces EU antitrust investigation over mobile patents
Samsung's European legal woes don't look to be abating anytime soon, as the EU today formally launched an investigation into the Korean manufacturers' competitive practices. At issue are, not surprisingly, a collection of patents that Samsung has used to launch a series of lawsuits against rival companies. The manufacturer maintains that these patents are essential to complying with European mobile standards, but the EU says Samsung may be in violation of a promise it made more than ten years ago. Back in 1998, the firm said it would license these essential telephonic patents to competing manufacturers, under the terms outlined in FRAND. The Commission explained the obligation and its potential ramifications in the following statement: The Commission will investigate, in particular, whether in doing so (seeking injunctions on patent infringements in 2011) Samsung has failed to honor its irrevocable commitment given in 1998 to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to license any standard essential patents relating to European mobile telephony standards on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The Commission will examine whether such behavior amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. No word yet on how long the investigation may take, but we'll be sure to keep you updated going forward.
US government rules three Barth patents invalid, sends Rambus scrambling
Suing's easy. It's the "winning" that trips folks up. Such is the case with Rambus, who has been relying oh-so-heavily on the so-called trio of Barth patents to actively pursue just about every technology company on the planet. For those unaware, Rambus has christened itself as a "technology licensing company," but with the last of three patents used to win infringement suits against NVIDIA and HP being declared invalid, it's probably scrambling for new tactics. According to a Reuters report, an appeals board at the US Patent and Trademark Office declared the patent invalid a few days back, with the previous two being knocked back in September. A couple of months back, Rambus' stock lost 60 percent of its value after a court decision led to the loss of a $4 billion antitrust lawsuit against Micron and Hynix, and we're guessing things won't be any happier when the markets open back up on Monday. The company's next move? "We're evaluating our options," said spokeswoman Linda Ashmore.
German court rejects Samsung's second 3G patent complaint against Apple
About a week after suffering a legal setback in Germany, Samsung received another bit of bad news this morning, when the Mannheim Regional Court rejected the second of its patent infringement claims against Apple. As with last week's ruling, today's decision addresses one of Samsung's arguments that Apple's 3G / UMTS technology infringes upon its patents. Judge Andreas Voss officially shot down these claims early this morning, though he didn't offer an immediate reason for his ruling. As FOSS Patents points out, however, these initial decisions against Samsung may be based on the validity of the specific patents themselves, and would therefore have no bearing upon the outcome of the Korean manufacturer's three other claims -- all of which are based upon different 3G / UMTS patents. In addition, the company is pursuing two lawsuits based on patents not related to 3G standards, including one, apparently, that details a way to type smiley emoticons on a mobile handset. We're still awaiting more information on today's outcome and will update this post as soon as we hear more.
Ericsson, ZTE shake hands, drop patent infringement lawsuits
Back in April, Ericsson and ZTE filed patent infringement lawsuits against each other, with each party claiming that its 4G / WCDMA / GSM technology had been illegally appropriated. Today, though, the two have apparently decided to bury the hatchet, and withdraw their lawsuits. In a statement issued yesterday, ZTE said the two firms arrived at the decision after "extensive discussion and consultation," adding that the move will bring an end to "the patent infringement lawsuits filed by Ericsson against ZTE in the U.K., Germany and Italy, as well as the patent infringement lawsuit filed by ZTE against Ericsson." The company went on to deny earlier reports that it was forced to pay €500 million (about $647 million) to Ericsson, though Ericsson has yet to offer any comment on the matter.
Apple files German lawsuit against Samsung, targets Galaxy S II, nine other smartphones
With patent infringement accusations going every which way in recent months, we're certainly familiar with Apple/Samsung banter in the international arena. Now Apple has thrown yet another punch at the Korean smartphone maker, targeting its Galaxy S II, Galaxy S Plus and eight other handsets, claiming -- yes, you've got it -- patent infringement. The suit was filed in Dusseldorf Regional Court -- the same venue that the company used to target the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, which was created specifically to sidestep a September injunction, also in Germany. It's becoming rather difficult to keep track of all the IP hubbub across the pond, but we'll surely be back with more as soon as the German court has a ruling to share.
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble agree to eliminate one patent and multiple claims from ITC infringement case
Patent lawsuits start out the same way: company X hurls a slew of infringement allegations at company Y, the court demands that the fat be trimmed, and the case's scope is distilled so that only the strongest claims remain. Microsoft's ITC patent case against Barnes & Noble is currently in the midst of this streamlining process, and the parties have agreed to drop claims from four of the patents at issue and eliminated one patent from the proceedings altogether. A full accounting of all the bits of IP that have been eliminated can be found at the source link below.
M-Edge suit accuses Amazon of corporate bullying, patent infringement over Kindle cases
Case maker M-Edge filed suit with a Maryland court last week accusing Amazon of "unlawful corporate bullying" and patent infringement relating to the company's line of Kindle cases. According to M-Edge, the company signed a three-year agreement with Amazon in November 2009 for a 15-percent sales commission, only to have the retail giant demand a new contract with a 32-percent cut a mere two month later. A lawyer for M-Edge told The Wall Street Journal that Amazon punished the case maker over its refusal to play ball, after threats of burying the company's products on its site. According to the filing, M-Edge finally caved and signed a new contract in July of last year, given the fact that Amazon apparently drives nearly 90-percent of the small company's revenue. The suit also accuses Amazon of "knocking off" its reading light-packing covers with lighted jacket designs for the Kindle 3. Amazon, for its part, has refused to comment on the matter.
Sprint sues Time Warner, Comcast, Cable One and Cox for infringing twelve digital phone patents
Sprint's lawyers have been hanging out with nothing to do for a few days, so it's time for them to get back to work. The Now Network is now focusing its sights on Time Warner, Comcast, Cable One and Cox, slapping each one with a separate lawsuit claiming they have been infringing on up to twelve of their patents. The technology the companies have been using, Sprint states, relates to the transmission of voice data packets and was patented in the 1990s. Interestingly enough, several of these patents were the subject of its 2007 infringement case against Vonage, in which the VoIP company was ordered to fork over $80 million. In the filings, Sprint mentioned that the four entities "have realized the great value in this technology and have misappropriated it without Sprint's permission." Our world may be frightening and confusing, but it sure can be lucrative at times. And let's face it -- Sprint has quite a few bills to pay over the next couple years.
ITC judge issues initial ruling that Motorola infringes Microsoft patent
Well, it's a busy holiday week for the International Trade Commission. The agency just announced an initial ruling that Motorola infringed on four claims of Microsoft patent number 6,370,566, which deals with "generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device," but not the six other patents that were part of last year's ITC complaint. This is an initial ruling by an administrative judge at this point, unlike yesterday's judgement issued by the ITC, which theoretically banned the sale and import of some HTC phones beginning in April 2012. There's certainly more to come in this particular intellectual property saga, however, so stay tuned. Update: The spin cycle is on full blast, as Motorola has just issued a downright bizarre press release celebrating the fact that it was cleared on six of the seven patents. Evidently, that's enough for a mega-corp to holler "victory!"
Apple alleges more Samsung IP infringement in Oz over copycat tablet and phone cases
In case you hadn't heard, relations between Apple and Samsung aren't exactly peachy keen these days. Their global legal conflict has been particularly fierce in the land down under, and it seems Apple just poured a bit more gas on the fire by alleging that Sammy's infringing its designs for tablet and phone cases. According to Bloomberg, Cupertino informed the Australian court of its latest legal allegations in a hearing in which it was attempting to push back the case's March trial date. Apple's already issued a notice of this newly alleged infringement to the Korean company, and a statement of its new claims is forthcoming, so details of the infringed-upon IP aren't yet available. What we do know is that it looks like Samsung's attorneys in Oz just got a lot more work to do over the holidays.
ITC sides with Apple, bans sale and import of some HTC phones (updated)
The ITC has issued a ruling in favor of Apple Inc., banning the sale and import or certain HTC phones in the US. The ruling, which was widely expected to finally be handed down today after being delayed twice, finds that HTC violates a pair of claims patents a patent held by the Cupertino company regarding the formatting of data (such as phone numbers) in otherwise unstructured documents (such as emails) allowing users to interact with them. The ban isn't scheduled to be enacted until April 19th of 2012, giving HTC and Google plenty of time to address the court's concerns. The Taiwanese manufacturer could also simply remove the feature from its phones, though, the ability to interact with such information across apps, such as tapping a phone number in an email to dial it, is an ability most consumers expect their devices to support. The International Trade Commission did not find that HTC violated two other patents in question, which related to realtime signal processing and would have been much more difficult for HTC to circumvent. Of course, this saga is far from over and we expect these two (along with practically every other mobile manufacturer on the planet) to continue to duke it out in the courts as opposed to in our stores. You can check out the full PDF of the ruling at the source. Update: Looks like HTC already has a plan in place to make it all better. Not shocking, but there it is, check out its statement after the break. Update 2: HTC reached out to us to clarify that the company was not found to be violating a pair of patents, but that it was "two claims in a single patent."
Motorola wins injunction against Apple Sales International in German patent dispute (update: Apple appeals)
After issuing a default judgment against Apple last month, Germany's Mannheim Regional Court has now granted a "preliminarily enforceable" injunction against Ireland-based Apple Sales International, on the grounds that its products may violate some of Motorola Mobility's patents. At issue is Motorola's European Patent 1010336 (B1), which covers a "method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system." According to Foss Patents, the court's injunction encompasses the iPhone (3G, 3GS and 4), iPad 3G and iPad2 3G. The ruling also states that Apple can avoid the injunction if it removes the patent-infringing elements from its devices, though it's more likely that Cupertino will appeal to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, in the hopes of obtaining a stay. We've already reached out to Apple for comment, and will update this post as soon as we get more information. Update: And as expected, Apple intends to appeal the ruling which, if enforced, would only apply to future shipments. So grab that existing stock while you can.
Samsung and Apple patent skirmishes heat up
Another day, another patent skirmish with Samsung. The battles are heating up on two fronts, with news of a possible Samsung victory in Australia and Apple unleashing a legal salvo against the Korean foe in Germany. On the Western front, an Australian federal court lifted a preliminary injunction imposed by a lower court banning sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 Down Under. Apple still has a chance to respond -- the same court offered a stay until Friday afternoon so that Apple's lawyers can figure out another legal maneuver to keep the iPad lookalike out of stores until after the critical holiday buying season. Meanwhile, on the Eastern front, Apple filed a preliminary injunction request in Germany to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. This model of the Galaxy Tab was a revised version of the original -- which was already banned in Germany -- with a slightly different bezel design and relocated speaker. The 10.1N was an attempt by Samsung to squeak around Apple's assertion that the Galaxy Tab design is just too close to that of the iPad. The two companies meet up in a German court in Dusseldorf on December 22nd for a hearing, which means that the Samsung tablet is still ripe for consumer plucking this holiday season.
ITC rules Apple didn't violate S3 Graphics' patents
According to the FOSS Patents Blog, earlier today the US International Trade Commission entirely dismissed the first S3 Graphics complaint against Apple. Interestingly, the official notice (PDF link) has no explanation why the Administrative Law Judge was overruled. There is still one pending complaint by S3 Graphics against Apple which has not been ruled on. Part of what makes this an issue is that HTC is in the process of buying S3 Graphics, and a couple of strikes against Apple patent-wise would have just sweetened that deal. At least we don't have to wait long for more progress on the ITC front, as a date of December 6th has been set for a ruling on Apple's first complaint against S3 Graphics. And don't forget there's still a bit of tussling between Apple and HTC going on as well, with a patent infringement throwdown still not yet decided between them, either. Whew! It's all a bit confusing at first glance, so get comfy, get ready to take some notes, and head over to the FOSS Patents Blog for more information and links to other coverage that will help you make sense of all the legal wrangling.
Samsung modifies tablet to satisfy German ruling, begins selling Galaxy Tab 10.1N (update: Samsung speaks)
Sick of those trips across the border to smuggle a banned Galaxy Tab 10.1 into Germany? Samsung has come to the rescue, modifying its familiar Honeycomb tablet to work around the injunction issued in August and upheld in September as part of Apple's patent litigation in Düsseldorf. It's not entirely clear what's different with the relaunched tablet, which appears to have a black bezel that extends slightly further towards the metal rim, but the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, as it is now being called, has appeared on a German e-tailer's website with a shipping window of two to four days, along with the text "Galaxy Tab is back!" at the bottom of the listing. Samsung isn't entirely in the clear just yet, but unless its new "N" model is also found to be infringing on Apple's patents, gadget-hungry Germans shouldn't have to worry about the iPad-alternative disappearing again anytime soon.Update: Samsung has just issued a statement on the modified Galaxy Tab, with some clarifications on its design changes. "The newly modified device will be renamed the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and we've made two changes to the design," spokesman Jason Kim said. "The design of the bezel has been changed and the speaker has also been relocated."
Judge tells Apple to reveal Australian contracts to Samsung
Things are really heating up between Apple and Samsung in Australia. In the war between the two electronics behemoths, a judge ruled that Apple Inc. must now provide Samsung Electronics Co. with copies of contracts with Australian mobile-phone carriers. If you remember this story, Samsung has sued Apple in Australia claiming that the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 infringe on patents that the company holds for various wireless technologies. For some reason, Samsung asserts in the patent lawsuit that carriers are contractually obligated to subsidize iPhone sales -- that's not surprising, since that's standard procedure for many carriers and many phone manufacturers. However, Australia Federal Court Justices Annabelle Bennett ordered Apple to produce agreements that it has with Vodafone, SingTel Optus, and Telstra if they don't agree on the assertion. Apple's lawyer Andrew Fox told the judge that "This is quite clearly a fishing expedition," and that Apple will fight the disclosure, suggesting that it's an effort to find other damaging evidence. The Samsung lawsuit was filed in September after Apple requested a court order to bar the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Apple did win that battle, with an injunction granted on October 13. Apple has also been required to turn over 220 pages of documents to Samsung relating to the source code for the iPhone 4S firmware, but Samsung wasn't happy with what they got, stating that there was a "missing file."
German court grants injunction against Apple for infringement of Motorola patents (update: Apple responds)
Motorola just confirmed that earlier today, the Mannheim District Court in Germany granted a default judgment in its case against Apple that bars the sale of Apple products in Deutschland. In addition to the confirmation, Motorola also issued the following, rather unrevealing statement: "As media and mobility continue to converge, Motorola Mobility's patented technologies are increasingly important for innovation within the wireless and communications industries, for which Motorola Mobility has developed an industry leading intellectual property portfolio. We will continue to assert ourselves in the protection of these assets, while also ensuring that our technologies are widely available to end-users. We hope that we are able to resolve this matter, so we can focus on creating great innovations that benefit the industry."The ruling comes as a role reversal of sorts for Apple, which most recently received a pair of injunctions in Germany, banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country, along with the rather embarrassing removal of the Tab 7.7 from the show floor at IFA. According to FOSS Patents this is a default judgment, meaning Apple did not respond to Moto's filing and as a result got hit with the injunction, which could result in its products being pulled or the company being required to pay damages. And so the saga continues... Dust off the pocket translator and hit up the source link for the full ruling in German.Update: We just got the following statement from Apple regarding the ruling: "This is a procedural issue, and has nothing to do with the merits of the case. It does not affect our ability to sell products or do business in Germany at this time."So, it appears our iDevice-loving German friends have nothing to worry about, at least for now.Update (11/7): FOSSPatents has posted a second update accessing the procedural rules, how they (might) affect this case and whether or not Apple has anything to worry about. If you can't get enough FRAND and Zivilprozessordnung news you can read through it -- we'll just hang on until the courts make another decision or someone's products actually get pulled from shelves.
Samsung loses attempt to ban iPhone 4S sales in Italy
Here's the latest news from the front in the battle between Samsung and Apple: Apple is victorious in a skirmish in Italy. Samsung was attempting to block the iPhone 4S release in Italy, which is scheduled for November 4, saying that the new phone infringed on two patents that the Korean manufacturer holds. In the courts in Milan, Italy, judges turned down Samsung's request, but agreed to requests by both manufacturers to submit more evidence to support their positions in the dispute. After yesterday's hearing, Apple is planning to release the iPhone 4S on schedule next Friday. This was the latest in a series of small, yet important, victories for Apple in the ongoing intellectual property war.
Galaxy Nexus built to avoid Apple patents
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Nexus, a 4.65-inch handset with Android 4.0, at a press event in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Other smartphones and tablets in Samsung's Galaxy lineup are the subject of several patent infringement lawsuits filed by Apple in the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany and the Netherlands. Samsung hopes the Galaxy Nexus, though, will be free of this legal wrangling. Samsung's mobile president, Shin Jong-kyun, told reporters that the Korean company will "avoid everything we can and take patents seriously." Shin stated Samsung took steps to ensure the Galaxy Nexus does not include any known Apple patents, but didn't elaborate on how the handset manages to avoid this infringement. He believes the patent battle with Apple will last for a "considerable time" and, though the Galaxy Nexus was designed carefully, he's not 100% certain the handset will be free from future Apple lawsuits.
