08
Apr
gavel

In California, Using Your Maps App Is Just As Illegal As Texting While Driving, Court Says

Posted by in Legal, News

Texting and driving is a pretty heinous crime. Bad enough that it's spawned entire ad campaigns devoted to educating the public on the dangers of such acts. Of this, you are no doubt aware. What you may be less aware of is the fact that figuring out where you're going is exactly as dangerous as sending someone a message that says "Doesn't the Peachoid look like a giant..."

California, despite having no known Peachoids, knows this very well and a court has ruled that using a mapping application is just as bad (and illegal) as texting behind the wheel. This isn't the first time California has come down hard against GPS in cars.

01
Mar
gavel

Judge Koh Vacates $450m From The $1b Samsung Owes Apple, Second Trial To Reassess Damages

Posted by in Legal, News
Last Updated: March 3rd, 2013

Last year, Apple won what was perhaps the largest legal victory in its war on Android when a court ruled that Samsung infringed its patents on a significant number of devices and owed the Cupertino company in excess of a billion dollars. Today, however, that same judge is vacating $450m from that total until a second damages trial with a new jury can commence.

That amount won't be stripped away entirely, mind you. The problem comes from the fact that the jury made some errors when it passed judgment on 14 of the infringing devices. Samsung's lawyers broke down the numbers for its damages and discovered that there were certain flaws in the way they were calculated.

03
Nov
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Apple Posts Revised Court-Ordered Apology, Skips The Passive Aggressive, Judge-Undermining Remarks

Posted by in Legal, News

Let this be a lesson to you all: if a judge orders you to issue a statement saying X, it might not be a good idea to say "Well, that guy said X, but everyone else in the world thinks he's an idiot, so it doesn't really matter." That's roughly what Apple did when it posted this court-ordered concession on its website. When the UK judge came back and said, "Um, no, try that again," the Cupertino company was forced to issue a new version, sans snark. Here it is in full:

Samsung / Apple UK judgment

On 9 July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic(UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computers, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do notinfringe Apple’s Community registered design No.

30
Aug
nexusae0_court-gavel_thumb

Tokyo District Court Delivers Win To Samsung, Dismissing Apple Patent Claims And Call For ¥100 Million Damages

Posted by in Legal, News, Samsung

A court in Tokyo returned a favorable ruling for Samsung Friday, finding that Samsung's mobile devices were not in violation of an Apple patent related to inter-device media transfer.

This news comes one week after Samsung lost in what was (and continues to be) one of the most compelling trials tech has seen in a long time, with a San Jose jury ruling that Sammy owed Apple over $1 billion in damages over various trade dress and patent claims levied by Apple. By contrast, the jury awarded no damages to Samsung, finding that Apple didn't violate any of Samsung's patents and that all of Apple's patents retained validity.

26
Aug
samsung_v_apple

[Weekend Poll] What Effect Do You Think The Samsung v Apple Case Will Have On The Industry?

Posted by in Polls, Samsung

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Is Your Primary Android Device Rooted?

In the (annoyingly) highly-publicized case between Apple and Samsung, it took the jury just a few short days to come to the conclusion that Samsung had infringed on many of Apple's patents. The trial is certainly far from over (and there are doubts about how much attention the jury paid to detail, given that they answered 700 questions in 3 days). Still, that Samsung has to pay nearly $1.05bn in damages to Apple is likely to shake up other Android manufacturers no matter how the case plays out through the inevitable appeals.

06
Jun
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[Update: Samsung Responds] Apple Amends Lawsuit Against Samsung To Include Galaxy S III, Requests Preliminary Injunction

Posted by in Galaxy S III, Legal, News, Samsung

Update: It should come as no surprise, but Samsung has responded to Apple's attack on the Galaxy S III, saying it will "demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S III is innovative and distinctive."

Apple and Samsung's ongoing litigation in California federal court has become something of a three-ring circus. Back in December, the presiding judge denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against a wide variety of Samsung products. Apple has since filed for more such injunctions on newer products, and the newest is the Galaxy S III.

s3

Apple claims the devices infringes the same "data tapping" patent it has accused HTC (again today) and Motorola of infringing - which it is now extending to the core Android long-press action dialogue menu for URLs (eg, links in Gmail, browser, etc).

02
Feb
French_Flag

French Court Finds Google Guilty Of Abusing Market Dominance With Google Maps, Orders To Pay Up €515,000

Posted by in Google, News

Let this be a lesson to all major tech companies: if you have a ton of users and you want to enter a new market, you'd better charge some kind of arbitrary fee, lest you end up in trouble with the French judicial system. Google is feeling that sting this week, as a French court ordered the company to pay €500,000 in damages to Maps competitor Bottin Cartographs as well as a €15,000 fine.

The plaintiff claimed that Google was using its market dominance to muscle out smaller competitors in the mapping software market. Here's what Bottin Cartographs' lawyer, Jean-David Scemmama, had to say on the ruling:

"We proved the illegality of (Google's) strategy to remove its competitors...

08
Dec
samsung-galaxy-tab-10

Australian Court Lifts Ban On Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales, Sammy Confirms Pricing And Promises Pre-Christmas Release

Posted by in Galaxy Tab 10.1, Legal, News

After lifting an injunction against the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 last month, Australia's High Court ruled that it would not hear Apple's application for special leave to ban the Tab once again, meaning would-be 10.1 owners in Australia have only to wait a matter of days before they can get their hands on Sammy's super sleek tablet.

image

Following the ruling, Samsung Australia announced that the 10.1 will be available "in time for the Christmas shopping period." The manufacturer also divulged that a 16GB WiFi-only model will be available for $579, and a 16GB 3G/WiFi version will cost a cool $729 AUD.

28
Sep
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T-Mobile Follows Verizon's Lead, Tells Court Not To Allow Apple To Ban Import Of Samsung Android Devices

Posted by in 4G, Android OS, News, Samsung, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Everyone's getting on the peace train, it seems. T-Mobile, in concert with Verizon's filing last week, submitted an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief to the Federal Court for the Northern District of California this morning in regard to the ongoing patent and trademark suit between Samsung and Apple. Its contents? Basically the same thing Verizon's said - that denying Americans their 4G Samsung devices just for some silly little patent infringement will hurt 4G deployment in the US and decrease access to high-speed mobile broadband. T-Mobile actually refers to Verizon's brief in their own document, basically saying "Yeah, whatever he said, too."

tmo

After T-Mobile's statement regarding the fact that it still doesn't have the iPhone earlier this week (as though customers needed a reminder), this brief is a pretty logical step for the company to take.

24
Sep
verizonwirelesslogo

Verizon To Apple: Banning The Import Of Samsung Android Devices Is Not Something We're OK With

Posted by in News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events. In Samsung and Apple's ongoing attempts to sue the pants off one another in every court conceivable, an unlikely player has stepped into the arena as a voice of reason (sort of).

Verizon Wireless, the US's largest wireless carrier, has requested permission to file a brief in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California on the part of Samsung in one of the many lawsuits it is involved in with Apple. Apple filed a motion previously for a preliminary injunction, asking the court, in light of Samsung's alleged patent infringement, to ban the import of four Samsung Android devices (the Infuse 4G, the DROID Charge, the Galaxy S 4G, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1).

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