patent infringement - 3/4 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

Comcast Sues Sprint For Patent Infringement On SMS/MMS, Mobile Broadband, And Network Technologies

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Sprint

It seems Sprint just can't catch a break lately. After the LightSquared LTE fiasco (it seems eminently likely Sprint will be forking over $65 million and have to cancel the deal), this just seems a bit like kicking the company when it's already down. Comcast has filed suit in Pennsylvania against the nation's number-three carrier, and it's for patent infringement.

Namely, Comcast alleges that Sprint is violating patents it owns covering technologies like SMS/MMS, mobile broadband cards and hotspots, as well as certain traffic routing technologies (IP/MPLS). Here are some excerpts from the complaint regarding the patents:

No. 7,684,391: Communications System for Delivering Multimedia Internet Protocol Packets Across Network Boundaries.

Jan

Editorial: Android May Be Winning (Or Not Losing) Battles Against Apple In Court, But Don't Expect An End To The Lawsuits Any Time Soon

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Legal, News

Last Updated: January 27th, 2012

A recent Newsweek article has been making the rounds claiming, through an unnamed Apple "insider," that Apple has spent north of $100 million litigating its various grievances against HTC since late 2010. Verifying the accuracy of this number is pretty much impossible. But that doesn't really matter. It may just as well be $80 million, $150 million, or $300 million - the conclusion drawn would remain the same: Apple is spending quite a chunk of income on its growing lawsuit habit.

Apple currently has open suits against Motorola Mobility, Samsung Electronics, and HTC in the ITC (International Trade Commission), a number of US District Courts, and various other buildings in which judges are known to sit in ornate leather chairs for long periods of time around the world.

Jan

Motorola Mobility Cleared Of Apple's Infringement Claims By ITC, Faces Other Battles

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Legal, Motorola, News

International Trade Commission Judge Theodore Essex decided in Washington today that Motorola Mobility did not violate three of Apple's Patents, as the Cupertino tech giant had claimed. Two of the patents related to touchscreen features, including multi touch, and a device's ability to recognize various types of manual input, like sliding and pinching gestures. The third, as Bloomberg explains, "is for a way to add components without having to run an installation program or rebooting."

This case comes as one of many in a long saga of attacks on Android for alleged patent infringement, part of an effort by Apple across four continents to prove that Android copies pieces of the iPhone's functionality.

Dec

ITC Rules For Apple, Bans Import Of "Some" HTC Phones Into US: Why You Shouldn't Care

Posted by David Ruddock in HTC, Legal, News

The blogosphere is currently aflutter with talk of the ITC (International Trade Commission) patent infringement decision in favor of Apple, and the resulting court order banning the import of infringing HTC devices starting April 19, 2012 (4 months from now). The ITC ruled that HTC infringed on two, relatively narrow claims in a patent related to "data tapping" that occurs at the system level in Android.

You know how your phone can automatically "see" an address or phone number on a web page or e-mail and send you to the appropriate app? That's what the ITC claims HTC, and by relation Android, is infringing on.

Nov

Motorola Says Apple's iCloud Infringes On Patent In Germany, Presiding Judge Seems To Agree

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Legal, Motorola, News

A court in Mannheim, Germany today held a preliminary hearing in a patent dispute between Motorola Mobility and Apple Sales International (a European Apple distribution subsidiary), and it seems like Apple's on the ropes.

While the hearing didn't discuss the particular merits of Motorola's patent infringement claim against Apple, the presiding judge issued substantial blows to Apple's defense by indicating that he believed the patent-in-suit was ripe for trial. The judge also seemed to agree with Motorola's reading of that patent (also known as "construction claims") in important ways that would allow it a broader scope of applicability at trial.

The judge did not seem interested in many of Apple's defenses, such as Motorola's claim lacking specificity, the patent in question being invalid, or that the patent should be construed more narrowly.

Oct

Oracle And Google's Epic Battle Will Have To Wait - This Month's Trial Postponed Indefinitely

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Legal, News

It looks like there's finally been a new development in the Oracle vs. Google fight. For those who may be out of the loop, Oracle (who owns Sun and the Java programming language) have had patent infringement and copyright lawsuits boiling against Google for quite some time now. The patent claims are essentially related to Google's use of Java in the Android platform. Oracle claims that Android includes code which violates patents gained through the acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

The billion-dollar trial was set to begin on October 31st, but District Court Judge William Alsup has decided to postpone the proceedings.

Oct

Amazon's Upcoming Tablet Already 'Under Fire' For Patent Violations

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Kindle Fire, News

What do you do if you're a known patent troll and a major company announces a new device that is sure to sell millions of units? Try to sue the heck out of them, of course. That's exactly what's going on with Amazon's upcoming Kindle Fire, the still-unreleased tablet from the online retail giant.

The story goes a little something like this: Amazon announces the Fire for an ultra-affordable price. Everyone is happy and wants this new device, so pre-orders are through the roof. Acacia hears about this amazing new technology and, being an innovation-stifling patent troll, decides to hit Amazon with some patent violations.

Aug

HTC Sues Apple For, You Guessed It, Patent Infringement

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, News

After Apple decided to sue HTC last month in Delaware for patent infringement, it seems the handset maker is preparing to put on a little bit of high-profile litigation of its own.

This morning, HTC filed a claim in the U.S. District Court in Delaware alleging three counts of patent infringement against Apple, seeking all the typical damages bells and whistles that makes it sound like the world as we know it is at stake. The lawsuit is a typical response in high-tech IP infringement cases, where both parties "posture" and square off to see who has the more robust patent portfolio.

Aug

Apple Is Now Going After Motorola Over XOOM Design

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, XOOM

Yesterday a German court sided with Apple against Samsung, disallowing the sale of Galaxy Tab 10.1 units in the European Union. Buried deep within this filing is mention of yet another complaint -- but this one is against Motorola, allegedly over the design of the XOOM.

This has been a back-and-forth battle between the two companies for sometime now, with Moto originally going after Apple for violating 18 patents in iOS and some Macs back in October of 2010. Apple quickly fired back, accusing Moto of violating six of its patents in the Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, and other smartphones.

Jul

Apple Started It - Unsealed Ruling Indicates That Apple Infringed HTC’s Intellectual Property

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in HTC, News

Developments in the Apple v HTC patent war are coming in fast and it looks like things are heating up.

In a preliminary ruling (discussed further in our earlier article) the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found HTC liable for infringing Apple’s patents. Google’s executive chairman then hit back with his view on Apple’s strategy of litigating its competition into oblivion.

But, now Bloomberg is reporting that an unsealed (not made public) ruling dating back to July 1 may have turned the tide in favour of HTC. According to the earlier ITC ruling Apple’s Mac OS X is utilising technology that infringes two GPU patents owned by S3 Graphics.