patents - 2/2 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Samsung Retaliates Against Apple, Files For Preliminary Injunction To Ban iPhone 4S In Japan And Australia

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Legal, News, Samsung

Samsung just announced in a blog post today, that they have filed preliminary injunctions in the Tokyo District Court and in the New South Wales Registry to ban the sale of Apple's iPhone 4S in Japan and Australia, respectively. Additionally, in Japan, Samsung have also requested an injunction to bar the sale of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2.

According to Samsung, the injunction request in Australia is premised on Apple infringing various patents relating to wireless telecommunications standards, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA). In contrast, in Japan Samsung has filed on the basis of Apple infringing one HSPA standard-related patent and three user interface patents.

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

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.

May

Google Buys Up Modu's Patent Portfolio For $4.9 Million, More Android Protection Money?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, News

Last month, Google bid $2 million for the patents of the now-defunct micro-cell phone company Modu, fueling speculation as to just what Google's plans would be with that intellectual property. Today, it was announced that the bidding process for the last remnants of Modu's legacy had ended, and Google was the winner (albeit by a narrow margin of $10,000), with a final offer of $4.9 million.

If you've never heard of Modu before, don't worry - the company came out of Israel, and was generally unknown to most of us in the US-of-A until it started having financial troubles. Modu was famous for developing extremely small smart/featurephones (like the little guy in the thumbnail), a market that all but dried up in the US by the time Modu was founded in 2007.