10
Aug
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Documents Reveal That Apple Asked Samsung For Up To $30 Per Phone And $40 Per Tablet For Patent Licenses

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, News, Samsung

As most of our readers are surely aware, the Apple vs Samsung case is still boiling, and over the course of nearly two weeks since the trial's beginning, document after document has revealed juicy details from both sides regarding previously unreleased designs, plans, and even sales figures. While so far we've avoided piecemeal coverage of the case's twists and turns, a new development (reported earlier this evening by The Verge) reveals something particularly interesting.

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We've known for some time that Apple attempted to sell Samsung on patent licensing back in 2010, but according to a document released today (and the testimony of Apple Exec Boris Teksler), Apple had proposed specific dollar figures per license – up to $30 per Phone and $40 per tablet, to which (according to Apple's slide deck) "Samsung should respond favorably." According to the proposal, Samsung would be responsible for a base rate of $30 per touchscreen phone (including phones running Android, Windows, Symbian, and Bada) and $40 per tablet (which would decrease to just $30 over two years).

30
Jul
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Samsung's 11.8-inch 2560x1600 Tablet Confirmed In Apple Lawsuit Documents

Posted by in News, Samsung

We'd heard that Samsung was planning an oversized tablet with an incredible screen resolution, but after said 11-inch Galaxy Tab failed to appear at both CES and Mobile World Congress, the Android world moved on to bigger (though not necessarily better) things. In today's opening salvo of legal back-and-forth between Apple and Samsung, the tablet was revealed as part of the latter's strategy for 2012. The slightly larger 11.8-inch, 2560x1600 tablet has no designation beyond "P10", but it looks like Samsung definitely intended to release it when the document was created last year.

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This is a confirmation of Samsung' intentions, but not its future.

26
Jul
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Samsung Says It Didn't Mean To Remove Universal Search From International Galaxy S III, Will Put It Back Soon

Posted by in Galaxy S III, Legal, News

Well, this is awkward. While it was recently reported that Samsung removed the universal search feature from its international Galaxy S III devices, it turns out Samsung didn't mean to. Oops. According to the Korean manufacturer, the company only intended to remove the feature from certain US variants of the handset. Samsung told TechRadar, a UK-based tech publication, that the feature would be returning to the UK variant of the Galaxy S III. It's unclear if this means that it will only be returning to the UK variant, or if Samsung is simply informing TechRadar and the BBC of the versions relevant to their readers.

18
Jul
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Google Play Books Arrives In France Following The Settlement Of All Outstanding Legal Disputes

Posted by in Applications, Google, News

Last month, Google announced that it would be ending all legal disputes with French authors and publishers in an effort to bring books to a wider audience. The announcement came following the French Publishers and Author's Associations withdrawal of their suits against Google, and marked a "win-win solution" which opened "the possibility for out-of-print books to reach a wide audience," while maintaining commercial rights for authors.

Following up on that announcement, Google added a post to its European Public Policy Blog today indicating that Google Play Books has officially arrived in France.

In the post, Google explains that France, which is the fifth European country to gain access to Play Books (after Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK), will enjoy a Books launch including Google Play's full selection of millions of books.

06
Jul
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9th Circuit Court Denies Stay Of Galaxy Tab 10.1 Ban, Temporarily Lifts Galaxy Nexus Ban Awaiting Apple Response

Posted by in Android OS, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Legal, News, Samsung

Samsung swiftly appealed the preliminary injunctions slapped on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus issued by a California district court, and the presiding circuit court has issued its response.

First, the court declined to even consider lifting the sales ban (preliminary injunction) on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 - meaning that ban will stay in effect unless Samsung wins out at trial. Second, it decided that Samsung had made a plausible case for denying the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus, and has lifted that ban temporarily, awaiting Apple's response, which is due by next week. This doesn't mean much for the moment, and might not mean much overall - Samsung probably stopped making Tab 10.1s months ago, and the Galaxy Nexus will be receiving an OTA update soon enough to avoid Apple's patent infringement allegations.

26
Jun
20111

US Judge Issues Injunction To Stop Sale Of Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple Parties Like It's Mid-2011

Posted by in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News

I have bad news, good news, and news that goes both ways. The bad news: one of Apple's 8,000 lawsuits has finally borne fruit, and it's rather substantial. A US judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, meaning that once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond, the Tab 10.1 will have to be yanked from store shelves. (That $2.6 million is in case the injunction is later reversed, so that Apple can compensate Samsung.)

Luckily, there's that other news. The news that goes both ways: the American legal system is @#$%ed (obviously), and not only stifles innovation, it clogs up the system for an ungodly amount of time.

08
Jun
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Judge Throws Out Apple's Patent Lawsuit Against Motorola, Says Neither Party Can Prove Any Real Damages

Posted by in Legal, Motorola, News

The presiding judge in the Motorola v. Apple case in Illionois, Richard Posner, has just handed down an order dismissing all claims of both parties in the case, just as it was set to go to trial on Monday. Posner's preliminary order (he'll be writing a full decision soon, which I can't wait to read) basically says neither party was able to show that the infringement of patents by the other resulted in the production of evidence that said infringement actually caused them any harm.

Posner goes even further, in fact, and declares that Apple (and Motorola's) requests for injunctive relief are simply not tenable in a case where the patents in question are such small parts of much larger products:

Because the parties believe that damages are an adequate remedy for the alleged infringements (though they failed to present evidence on damages strong enough to withstand summary judgment), and because injunctive relief would impose costs disproportionate to the harm to the patentee and the benefit of the alleged infringement to the alleged infringer and would be contrary to the public interest, I cannot find a basis for an award of injunctive relief.

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.

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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).

06
Jun
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Apple Renews ITC Complaint Against HTC For Data Tapping, Now Says Android Itself Infringes With Long-Press URL Dialogues

Posted by in Android OS, HTC, Legal, News

Apple has filed a new complaint with the ITC against HTC over the same data-tapping patent that caused a substantial disruption of HTC's supply line into the United States, and resulted in delayed or stifled launches for a number of phones.

After removing the multi-option dialogue that appeared upon pressing a phone number in an email or webpage from its devices, HTC proclaimed it was clear of Apple's patent on data-tapping techniques. Apple seems to think they're wrong - and is now claiming that a core Android functionality (long-press URL action prompting a multi-selection dialogue) is infringing on the patent.

05
Jun
Android-Money

Oracle Wants Some Karma Back, Sues Patent Troll Lodsys, Wants All Its Patents Invalidated

Posted by in News

What an interesting turn of events - Oracle just sued a notorious patent troll Lodsys, seeking invalidation of four of Lodsys' patents. In fact, these are all the patents Lodsys owns - if Oracle wins, Lodsys will have nothing to threaten innocent developers with.

If you haven't been following the Lodsys drama for the past year+, let me step back for a brief history lesson. Lodsys LLC, a Texas patent troll shell corporation, has been harassing various developers since early 2011, including many with Android apps in the Play Store. The patents Lodsys used to threaten Android developers, large and small, are 7,222,078, to which everyone refers to as simply "078" and 7,620,565 ("565").

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