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.

18
Oct
gavel

Apple Still Required To Run 'Samsung Didn't Copy Us' Ads In The UK After Appeals Ruling

Posted by in Legal, News, Samsung

It may be pretty hard for Apple to get away from the ruling that it has to state publicly on its website and in advertisements that Samsung didn't copy the iPad. An appeals court has ruled that the previous sentence should still be in place. The judges stated that, if Apple wasn't the one to clear up the confusion, the damage caused by the lawsuits all over Europe would be irreparable to Samsung.

Said the judges:

The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth. Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely.

The one thing the appeals court did change is that the web-based disclaimer doesn't need to take up a large amount of real estate on Apple's homepage, and instead a simple link to "Samsung/Apple judgment" will suffice.

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.

18
Jul
gavel

UK Judge Orders Apple To Publicly State On Its Website That Samsung Didn't Copy The iPad

Posted by in News, Samsung

Well, that certainly didn't go the way Apple would've liked. A UK judge presiding over one of many lawsuits involving Apple products—specifically concerning the Galaxy Tab line's alleged infringement of the iPad's design—has ordered Apple to publicly post on the UK version of its website that Samsung did not copy the iPad. Said the internet, "Oh, snap!"

The UK judge presiding over the case was the same one who made headlines recently for saying the Galaxy Tab lineup was "not as cool" as the iPad, and thus unlikely to be confused for Apple's slates. It's really hard to imagine an outcome that could be less flattering to both sides.

03
Dec
galaxy-tab-8.9

Respite For Samsung As U.S. Judge Denies Apple's Request To Block Sales Of Galaxy Devices

Posted by in Android OS, Legal, News, Samsung

The patent wars between Samsung and Apple are stretching everyone pretty thin, lawyers and judges from 10 countries are contending with over 20 cases, manufacturers are having to make last minute adjustments to devices, and most importantly reporters, including yours truly, are having a hard time keeping up with it all.

Bringing the discussion stateside, on Friday a U.S. District Judge in California denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung. Apple had earlier sued Samsung in the U.S. claiming that the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and the iPad. However, the Judge disagreed and noted that "it is not clear that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed".

29
Nov
galaxy-tab-10.1-5144819

Australian Court Lifts Injunction Against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple Ready To Appeal

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

Prospects of purchasing a Galaxy Tab 10.1 are looking a bit better for our Australian friends, after a court today overturned the injunction leveraged against Samsung's super-thin tablet by Apple. While this is great news, the Australian court stated that it would keep the injunction in place until Friday, and Apple has already indicated an impending appeal.

GALAXY_Tab_10.1-Product_Image-1

Leading to the injunction's overturning, the Australian court ruled that there was not enough evidence that Samsung had infringed Apple's touchscreen patent. Samsung has already released a statement on the subject, indicating that a release date for the 10.1 in Australia is forthcoming, further stating "We believe the ruling clearly affirms that Apple's legal claims lack merit." Right now, things are looking pretty good for Samsung in Australia, but we'll be sure to report any new developments as they happen.

24
Aug
apple-patent

[Updated] Dutch Court Bans Sales Of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones In The European Union

Posted by in News, Samsung

Looks like today is going to be a bad day for Samsung, as a Dutch court has just granted Apple's request for a preliminary injunction banning the sale and importation of the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace smartphones from the European Union. This decision follows Apple's earlier victory in Germany where distribution of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was banned everywhere in the EU, save for the Netherlands.

As identified by Reuters earlier this month, the Dutch port of Rotterdam is a key point of entry for goods imported into the EU from Korea. Hence, although the ban imposed by the Dutch court is only on Samsung subsidiaries registered in the Netherlands, it could nevertheless have devastating consequences on Samsung's European distribution and logistical network.

28
Jul
apple-v-htc_2

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

Posted by 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.

19
Jul
Schmidt

Schmidt To Apple: Stop Litigating And Start Innovating

Posted by in Android OS, HTC, News

In a recent patent suit between HTC and Apple, the US International Trade Commission found the Taiwanese manufacturer liable on two counts of patent infringement in its Android-based devices (see our earlier post for a detailed analysis of the case and its effects).

Although this suit only involves Apple and HTC, its legal ramifications could affect Android as a whole - since the alleged infringements are core parts of the Android OS developed by Google.

Giving his views at Google's Mobile Revolution conference in Tokyo, Google's mouthpiece and executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has hit back with a stinging criticism of Apple's lawsuits.

Page 1 of 212