Legal - 5/12 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Sep

Apple Seeking $707 Million More In Damages On Top Of The $1 Billion It Already Won Against Samsung

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Samsung

After winning a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung for alleged trade dress dilution and patent infringement, Apple has filed a motion with the presiding judge of the tech world's biggest trial requesting a massive increase in the initial jury award.

An additional $707 million has been tallied up by Apple's lawyers as being due to the company, and unfortunately, the logic here is sound. The jury in the case found Samsung willfully infringed Apple's design and software patents (meaning they should have known they were infringing, basically), and under US statute, this entitles Apple to an award of triple the amount of the actual damages resulting from infringement.

Sep

Samsung Will Add The iPhone 5 To Its Existing Lawsuit Against Apple In The US

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Samsung

Reuters is reporting that Samsung will be amending its counterclaims against Apple in the two companies' second lawsuit in California, currently scheduled for trial in March 2014. Here's what Samsung is saying:

"Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product ... Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models."

This trial focuses squarely on software patents Apple is claiming are violated by the entire Android operating system (eg, the app picker, unified search, auto-correct), and has essentially nothing to do with product design.

Sep

Yes, Apple Is Accusing The Galaxy S III Of Infringing Its Patents, No, This Is Not Surprising Or Really All That Important

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News

Have you heard?! Apple now says the Galaxy S III is infringing on its patents. Woe is us!

Except, this is a.) completely unsurprising, and b.) not really important in the grand scheme of things. Yesterday, Reuters reported that Apple had tacked on the Galaxy S III (including the Verizon version specifically, for whatever reason), the Note 10.1, and the original Galaxy Note to its upcoming California lawsuit against Samsung. And yes, they'll probably add the Galaxy Note II just as soon as Samsung gets around to releasing it here in the US.

But, innovation! Thermonuclear war! The Galaxy S III was designed around avoiding Apple patents, right?

Aug

Tokyo District Court Delivers Win To Samsung, Dismissing Apple Patent Claims And Call For ¥100 Million Damages

Posted by Liam Spradlin 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.

Aug

Samsung Is Working With US Carriers To Strip Phones Of Features Infringing Apple's Patents

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

According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung isn't wasting time on keeping the eight smartphones Apple is demanding injunctions against on store shelves. And no, I'm not talking about an appeal.

Samsung is currently working with the carriers selling at least five of those phones in order to strip them of the features described in the software patents they were deemed to infringe as part of Friday's verdict in Apple v. Samsung. This includes things like scroll bounceback, tap-to-zoom, and multitouch scrolling.

The problem? It may not help at all. Apple is just as (if not more so) entitled to injunctive relief under the design patents Samsung was deemed to infringe, so these efforts may be for naught.

Aug

Most Patent Claims 'Don't Relate To The Core Android OS' Says Google, Samsung Releases Own Memo

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Legal, News, Samsung

The reading of Friday's verdict was no doubt an intense moment for just about everyone interested in the mobile tech world. Apple swept up decisions for $1.049 Billion in damages, Samsung was denied its claims against Apple across the board by the nine-person California jury, and both sides immediately released impassioned responses to the decision, calling on the feelings of spectators and case-long mantras that kept onlookers from both sides in rapt attention.

Google, which has stayed mum throughout most of the Apple v Samsung proceedings, spoke up today. The Mountain View giant released a statement significantly more even-handed than that of either Samsung or Apple, though from Google's perspective, the decision is (rightly) perceived as an entirely non-cataclysmic event.

Aug

Samsung Reacts: 'Today's Verdict … A Loss For The American Consumer. It Will Lead To Fewer Choices, Less Innovation' [Update: Apple's Response]

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Legal, News, Samsung

There's no question – today's verdict dealt Samsung a heavy blow. The massive $1.04 billion sum Samsung will now be responsible for paying Apple in damages aside, the trial will undoubtedly have an effect on the rest of the industry.

Being all too aware of this fact, Samsung has already issued an official response to the verdict, stating that the verdict is not a win for Apple, but a loss for consumers and a blow to innovation.

Here's the statement:

Today's verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices.

Aug

Apple Just Obliterated Samsung - What Happens Now?

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

If you were following our meta-live coverage, you'll know that the outcome of Apple v. Samsung was basically really, really bad for Samsung. To the tune of slightly over a billion dollars. Yikes. Samsung did escape any successful allegations of infringement through its tablets, but on the smartphone front, they really did get destroyed.

Samsung was found to infringe on two major iPhone design patents on almost every device Apple accused, including the D'677 patent, which covers the front fascia of the iPhone, pictured below. They also successfully asserted that Samsung infringed the design and layout of the iPhone's homescreen, another design patent.

Aug

Jury Awards Samsung $0 In Damages, Finds Apple Not Infringing On Any Patents

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Legal, News, Samsung

If you're anything like us, you've been closely eyeing the Apple v. Samsung verdict as it was just read (a bit sooner than expected). While Apple won just under half its requested sum in damages, and swept up a handful of patent infringement victories, Samsung had some patent-related bones to pick with Cupertino.

In a broad motion, the jury found Apple not to be infringing on any of Samsung's purported patents, awarding Sammy a grand total of $0.00 in damages to be paid by Apple. Samsung's patent claims were primarily against the iPhone, iPhone 3G/s, and the iPod Touch, including the '711, '893, '406, and '516 patents.

Aug

Breaking: Jury In Apple v. Samsung Reaches Verdict - Apple Winning On Multiple Devices And Counts

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

Breaking live from TheVerge, who are in the courtroom, we're hearing that the jury in Apple v. Samsung has rendered a verdict. Now, this is complicated - there were around 700 questions for the jury to answer on the instructions they were provided, so there are a lot of issues to go through here.

Apple's Claims

Samsung has been found to infringe on many of the accused devices for all three of Apple's asserted software patents. These patents can result in injunctive relief (decided at a later date), but are relatively small in terms of monetary implications. These include things like Apple's patents for scroll bounce back.