Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its counter suit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go? Samsung drops counter suit against Apple — Apple’s still got a bone to pick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posts Tagged ‘legal’
Samsung drops counter suit against Apple — Apple’s still got a bone to pick
July 2nd, 2011 
jedwan 
Posted in att, engadget 
Tags: apple, att, court, cupertino, drops suit, iphone, iphone 3g, legal, legal-battles, san jose, south-korea 
No Comments »Apple seeks preliminary injunction on Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge, and Galaxy Tab 10.1
July 2nd, 2011 jedwan Drama. Rather than leaving well enough alone — at least long enough for its lawyers to properly enjoy the Independence Day weekend — Apple has seemingly kicked its ongoing legal battle with Samsung up a notch. According to a filing discovered by FOSS Patents , the perturbed in Cupertino have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction with the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Interestingly, the motion hones in on just four devices: the Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge, and Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s a pretty bold move on Apple’s part — if this thing holds, and it’s determined that the aforesaid products may well indeed be infringing on Apple’s rights, Sammy could be forced to yank those products from US shelves within a couple of months. If it falls through, however, Apple’s entire case will likely take a serious hit. We’d ponder why everyone can’t just get along, but at this point, we’re guessing the act of forgiveness has become a foreign concept for both parties. Apple seeks preliminary injunction on Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Kodak granted reprieve in its ITC battle with Apple and RIM
July 2nd, 2011 admin Kodak scored a small victory this week in its International Trade Commission (ITC) case against Apple and RIM for their devices’ infringement of Kodak’s patent on picture previews. Back in January, an ITC administrative law judge (ALJ) made an initial determination that the patent was invalid and that iPhones and Blackberrys don’t infringe Kodak’s IP. After reviewing the decision per the parties’ request, the Commission changed a few of the ALJ’s patent claim interpretations and remanded the case for fresh analysis regarding both infringement and validity. Kodak, naturally, is painting the remand as a victory, even going so far as issuing a celebratory press release. Such swagger seems a bit premature, however, as the judge could once again find in favor of the crowds from Cupertino and Waterloo. The next Kodak moment isn’t until August 30th, when the ALJ is due to render his ruling. Stay tuned. Brian Heater contributed to this post. Kodak granted reprieve in its ITC battle with Apple and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: apple, att, bit-premature, commission, decision, engadget, infringement, itc, kodak, lawsuit, legal, parties, patent-infringement, patentinfringement No Comments »Samsung denied preview of iPad 3, iPhone 5 in ongoing Apple infringement suit
June 23rd, 2011 jedwan A US district judge this week handed Apple a victory in its ongoing legal battle with Samsung, denying the latter its reciprocal discovery request for a peek at prototypes of the upcoming versions of the iPhone and iPad. The request followed a similar one filed by Apple, in order to view Samsung products, including the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G, and Droid Charge. Samsung, for its part, argued that taking an early look at the Apple’s upcoming phone and tablet would be relevant to the legal ruling, seeing as how any changes made in those upcoming products would affect the trade dress (“total product image”) of the line, and thereby potentially alter the possibility of consumer confusion, an important factor in determining infringement with certain unregistered trademarks with the product. The court denied Samsung’s motion on a number of grounds. For one thing, Apple’s initial complaint pertained to infringement of existing products, parameters deemed legit by the court. Also, the court took into account the fact that Apple tends to be far more tight-lipped about its product releases, whereas Samsung made a point of offering up information about forthcoming products into the public domain, including the release of 5,000 Galaxy Tab 10.1 units as samples to the public. That said, the judge was careful to note that Apple’s suggestion that court protection of its trade secrets was insufficient “is not well taken.” More details after the break. Continue reading Samsung denied preview of iPad 3, iPhone 5 in ongoing Apple infringement suit Samsung denied preview of iPad 3, iPhone 5 in ongoing Apple infringement suit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: att, galaxy, ipad 3, ipad3, iphone, legal, samsung, samsung-galaxy, samsunggalaxy, seeing-as-how No Comments »Apple files motion to intervene in Lodsys patent lawsuit
June 10th, 2011 jedwan Apple’s already made its position on the whole Lodsys situation pretty clear, and it’s now taken things one step further after the patent holder hit iOS developers with a lawsuit at the end of last month. As noted by Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents , Apple has filed a motion to intervene in the case, and he says Apple is “fairly likely” to be admitted as an intervener based on precedent. In the case that happens, Apple has also concurrently filed its answer to the complaint and its counterclaim, which unsurprisingly line up with its earlier position on the matter: that Apple has already licensed the patents in question on the developers’ behalf, and that they are “entitled to use this technology free from any infringement claims by Lodsys.” Hit the source link below for the complete filing, along with FOSS Patents’ analysis of it. Apple files motion to intervene in Lodsys patent lawsuit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: apple, att, complete-filing, ios, legal, lodsys, motion, patent, patent lawsuit, patent-holder, patentlawsuit, patents, technology, the-developers No Comments »Clearwire ditches plans to produce phones, satisfied Sony Ericsson drops logo lawsuit
May 15th, 2011 admin We thought Clearwire might have had a chance at legal victory against Sony Ericsson , but the wireless carrier has apparently dropped out of the ring. Clearwire told a federal court it no longer plans to produce a smartphone — which basically nullified Sony Ericsson’s worry that upcoming Clearwire handsets would oh-so-similar swirling orb logo. As a result, Sony Ericsson’s reporting today that it’s dropped the trademark infringement lawsuit, which sounds good for all involved, except it leaves Clearwire not producing much of anything now. Clearwire ditches plans to produce phones, satisfied Sony Ericsson drops logo lawsuit originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget, htc Tags: all-involved, ericsson, lawsuit, legal, legal-victory, longer-plans, not-producing, sony-ericsson, sonyericsson, trademark infringement, wimax No Comments »Google bids $900 million for Nortel patent portfolio, will use it as shield against patent trolls (update)
April 5th, 2011 jedwan Google and Nortel have agreed on the princely sum of $900 million to start off a “stalking horse” auction — wherein outside parties are still free to outdo Google’s bid — for the acquisition of Nortel’s rather vast patent portfolio. The sale comes as part of the latter company’s bankruptcy selloff and involves some 6,000 patents and patent applications, which encompass both wired and wireless communications, semiconductors, data networking, voice, and the internet — going so far as to even touch on web search and social networking. The thing is, Google’s not really enamored with these tidbits of intellectual property to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. No sir, a rather bitter blog post from the company this morning makes it quite clear that Google’s acting in order to bolster its own intellectual property library and to “create a disincentive for others to sue .” Both Android and Chrome get obliquely mentioned in Google’s announcement as benefiting from the move, which should be completed by June of this year pending other bids and regulatory approvals. Update: Microsoft has noted that it has “a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel’s patents that covers all Microsoft products and services, resulting from the patent cross-license signed with Nortel in 2006.” That license will also transfer with the sale of the patent rights. All that means is that Microsoft cannot be sued for infringing on that bundle of rights as it is already licensed to use them. That means Microsoft is extremely unlikely to participate in this auction — other than, of course, as a means to prevent others from obtaining the same rights. Continue reading Google bids $900 million for Nortel patent portfolio, will use it as shield against patent trolls (update) Google bids $900 million for Nortel patent portfolio, will use it as shield against patent trolls (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: auction, bankruptcy, bankruptcyauction, comes-as-part, law, legal, makes-it-quite, nortel, patent, patent-law, purchase No Comments »Motorola slaps Microsoft with a pair of patent infringement lawsuits, says it’s such a shame
November 11th, 2010 jedwan Looks like Motorola’s about to fight a legal battle on two fronts — Apple on one hand , and Microsoft on the other. Microsoft fired the first shot last month with a nine-patent ITC complaint and a second salvo alleging that Motorola was charging unfair licensing fees for 802.11 WiFi and H.264 video last week, it’s now Moto’s turn to retaliate with a pair of legal complaints. The cellular company now claims that Redmond’s infringing a total of sixteen patents with everything from Microsoft Exchange to Bing Maps to the Windows operating system itself — as well as the aforementioned video codecs and wireless tech, of course. Moto’s also determined to rub a little salt in the wound, it seems, as the company just pushed out a press release with the following statement: “It is unfortunate that Microsoft has chosen the litigation path rather than entering into comprehensive licensing negotiations, as Motorola has mutually beneficial licensing relationships with the great majority of technology companies industry-wide.” PR after the break. Continue reading Motorola slaps Microsoft with a pair of patent infringement lawsuits, says it’s such a shame Motorola slaps Microsoft with a pair of patent infringement lawsuits, says it’s such a shame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: after-the-break, apple, att, breaking-news, engadget, lawsuit, legal, microsoft, motorola, patent, patentinfringement No Comments »Apple v. Nokia: USITC comes out on Nokia’s side in pre-trial hearing
November 4th, 2010 admin It’ll be a good, long while before the various spats between Nokia and Apple over intellectual property ever get fully resolved — but Espoo’s got an early ally in the form of the US International Trade Commission. The USITC has said early in the patent trial — in which Apple is the plaintiff — that “the evidence will not establish a violation” on Nokia’s part, elaborating that portions of some patents were invalid and others simply weren’t infringed at all. The judge in the case isn’t expected to lay down the law (quite literally) until next February — and he isn’t obligated to take the USITC’s side on the matter — but we’re sure the boys and girls over in Finland are high-fiving a bit on the news. Apple v. Nokia: USITC comes out on Nokia’s side in pre-trial hearing originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: apple, att, engadget, entry, international, itc, legal, nokia, plaintiff, take-the-usitc, usitc No Comments »Apple awarded limited patent on pinch-to-zoom
October 14th, 2010 admin Boom: Apple was just awarded a patent on pinch-to-zoom for multitouch displays. That’s the first directly applicable patent we’ve seen on the gesture since we first started looking during the Apple / Palm war of words in January 2009, and it certainly gives Apple some potent ammunition against its competitors — although there are some specific limitations on what Apple’s been granted that will prove to be important. Let’s break it down, shall we? Patent #7,812,826 was first applied for on December 29, 2006, and over the course of the patent process the claims have been significantly narrowed to cover a very specific set of actions: A multitouch display detects at least two contacts. Those contacts perform a first gesture. That gesture adjusts an image in some way: magnification, orientation and rotation are specifically claimed, but the patent is broad enough to cover virtually any adjustment. The first set of contacts is broken. A second set of contacts is detected. The second contacts perform another gesture within a pre-determined period of time . The gesture continues to adjust the image in the same way. It’s steps 5, 6, and 7 that are critically important here: Apple doesn’t have a patent on “pinch-to-zoom” generally, but rather pinching to zoom, and then pinching to zoom again within some fixed period of time. How long that period lasts is totally up in the air, but it has to be defined somewhere — this patent doesn’t really apply unless there’s a clock running and a second gesture takes place. Still, it’s the first granted patent on the now-ubiquitous gesture we’ve seen, and based on its filing history it’s essentially effective as of December 30, 2005 — long before anything multitouch products with pinch to zoom had arrived on the market. That’s no small weapon to bear — we’ll see what Apple does with it. P.S.- Apple was also awarded some 17 other patents yesterday, including two more that deal with multitouch, but none of ‘em are nearly as interesting as this one. Hit the via link for more on those. Apple awarded limited patent on pinch-to-zoom originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget Tags: apple, awarded-limited, certainly-gives, engadget, image, legal, patent-on-pinch, patents, pinch to zoom No Comments »
