24
Jul
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Apple Wants $2.5 Billion From Samsung For Infringed Patents, Offers Half A Cent For Each Samsung Patent

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, News, Samsung

Over at FOSSPatents, Florien Mueller has gotten his hands on a copy of a filing containing Apple's damages claim against Samsung in their much-publicized California lawsuit. The contents indicate that Apple is seeking $2 billion in unjust enrichment damages (the amount Samsung has wrongly profited infringing Apple's design patents), along with $500 million in lost profits. A smaller $25 million royalty for various technical patents like tap to zoom and overscroll bounce is included, but only in regard to a few products.

The design patents are the damages headliners because only design patents offer the option of seeking unjust enrichment as a remedy (there are various and good reasons for this).

17
Jul
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Google Wants To Co-Defend HTC Against Nokia In Patent Lawsuit

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, News

According to a header from a sealed document unearthed by FOSSPatents, Google has requested to intervene in an ITC patent lawsuit between HTC and Nokia as co-defendant to the Taiwanese smartphone-maker. This is the first time Google has ever filed as an intervening 3rd-party in a patent lawsuit between one of its hardware partners and a competitor, so it may be the sign of a shift in strategy for the company.

12-07-16 ITC-847 Google motion to intervene

There's also the fact that Google has requested an antitrust investigation against Nokia in the EU, so maybe Google is just piling on the Finnish firm to makes its stance even more clear.

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.

22
Jun
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Judge Posner To Apple: Injunctions Are Not Meant For Small Software Feature Patents, Case Tossed

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, Motorola, News

After an injunction hearing earlier this week, Judge Posner has issued his final decision on whether to throw out the Motorola v. Apple case. The result? You're (both) outta here.

Judge Posner dismissed both parties' cases with prejudice earlier this evening (meaning Apple and Moto cannot refile against one another on these issues in any other federal court). Apple will, of course, appeal.

Posner's feeling on Apple's insistent demand for an injunction against Motorola's smartphone products was summed up best by the following excerpt from the decision:

And while the patents themselves (or some of them at least) may well have considerable value, after the claims constructions by Judge Crabb and myself and after my grants of partial summary judgment only a handful of the original patent claims remain in the case; infringement of that handful may not be a source of significant injury past, present, or future.

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.

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).

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.

18
May
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Microsoft Wins Order To Ban Import Of (Some) Undisclosed Motorola Android Smartphones Into US

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, Motorola, News

According to an exclusion order issued by the ITC, some of Motorola Mobility's smartphone devices are in violation of four claims in a Microsoft patent related to scheduling meetings in a calendar. The specifics really aren't important - basically, the ITC found that Motorola infringed a Microsoft patent related to mobile software for creating and sending meeting invitations.

Motorola and Google had argued that an exclusionary order banning the import of offending Motorola devices wasn't in the public interest, but the judge didn't buy it. More importantly, it's unclear exactly which Motorola devices fall under the scope of the exclusionary order, which should go into effect roughly 60 days from now.

16
May
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Sprint Officially Confirms That The EVO 4G LTE Launch Is Delayed Due To US Customs, Provides Pre-Order Cancellation Options

Posted by in EVO 4G LTE (Jewel), HTC, Legal, News, Sprint

We reported last night that, due to an ITC order on an Apple patent infringement claim, at least some of HTC's One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones had been halted at shipping ports by US Customs.

The implications of this for the EVO 4G LTE just got worse, as Sprint has been forced to concede that the planned May 18th launch will have to be delayed until the customs investigation is completed. Here's Sprint's full statement:

  • HTC EVO 4G LTE availability

The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed.  HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels.

15
May
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United States Customs Halts HTC One X And EVO 4G LTE Shipments At Ports Pending "Investigation" Of Apple Patent Claims

Posted by in AT&T, EVO 4G LTE (Jewel), HTC, Legal, News, One X (Endeavor), Sprint

US Customs has halted at least some shipments of the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE (presumably at the Port of Los Angeles), as a result of an earlier ITC order won by Apple over a patent lawsuit for "data tapping" (context-sensitive text-based actions) in the browser and messaging apps on some HTC phones.

These features, HTC contends, have been removed from the One X and EVO 4G LTE, and HTC is "confident" that it is in compliance with the ruling:

The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S.

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