Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola and Samsung just caught a break from the law after a few hard knocks. A Mannheim, Germany court has ruled that neither company infringes on an Apple patent covering how an OS responds to and ignores touch events. While we don’t yet know the full details, patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller suggests that the German judge took the same point of view that thwarted Apple’s claims in the Netherlands and the UK: the particular patent was just too broad to stick. It’s a potentially important win, as a ruling of violation could have led to serious problems with keeping Android-based Motorola and Samsung devices in stores; other patents are more easily circumvented. However, it’s still something of a Pyrrhic victory for a pair of companies that have lately been facing the threat of near-term bans and steep damages.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don’t violate Apple touch event patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The federal court jury in the patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung has presented its verdict after deliberating for just 21 hours and 37 minutes following the three week trial. This particular case started with Apple’s lawsuit last April and now the jury’s decision is that Samsung did infringe on Apple’s ‘381 bounceback patent with all 21 of its products in question. For the ‘915 patent on pinch-and-zoom, the jury ruled all but three of the devices listed infringed, and more damningly, found that Samsung executives either knew or should have known their products infringed on the listed patents. The jury has also found against Samsung when it comes to Apple’s contours on the back of the iPhone and its home screen GUI. The Galaxy Tab, was found not to have infringed upon Apple’s iPad design patents. The bad news for Samsung continued however, as the jury decided that not only did it willfully infringe on five of the seven Apple patents, but also upheld their validity when it came to utility, design and trade dress.

The amount of the damages against Samsung is in: $1,051,855,000.00 (see below). That’s less than half of the $2.5 billion it was seeking, but still more than enough to put an exclamation point on this victory for the team from Cupertino. The final number is $1,049,343,540, after the judge found an issue with how the jury applied damages for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE and Intercept. The jury also ruled that Apple did not infringe upon Samsung’s patents with the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and has awarded it zero dollars in damage. We’ll have more information for you as it become available.

Update: Both companies have released statements on the matter, with Apple stating via the New York Times the ruling sends a loud and clear message that “stealing isn’t right.” Samsung has its own viewpoint calling this “a loss for the American consumer” that will lead to fewer choices, less innovation and high prices. You can see both in their entirety after the break.

Continue reading Apple v. Samsung jury finds Apple’s patents valid, awards it nearly $1.05 billion in damages

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Apple v. Samsung jury finds Apple’s patents valid, awards it nearly $1.05 billion in damages originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple rested its side of the case in its main lawsuit against Samsung on Monday, and with the switch of focus came a small sacrifice. While Samsung failed in a Hail Mary bid to have the suit dismissed, it successfully argued that a few devices should escape the clutches of a full-fledged ban. Don’t get too excited, though: the exclusion list mostly touches on phones that only reach US shores through unofficial importers, including the Galaxy Ace as well as international editions of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. The decision still leaves the American variants of phones under scrutiny, and it doesn’t change Apple’s hopes of a large licensing fee for all the alleged transgressions. We’d still say the exemption provides some small amount of relief for Samsung, however. Most of Apple’s early, less-than-flattering accusations of trade dress violations focused on the more familiar-looking foreign Galaxy models and lose some of their thunder when leveled against the conspicuously altered designs that eventually set foot in the US.

Filed under: Cellphones

Judge cuts international Galaxy S and S II, Galaxy Ace from Apple lawsuit against Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple filed a stealth lawsuit last summer alleging that the Motorola Xoom violated the design patent that underpins the iPad. While Apple has had some success leveling its big patent gun against Samsung, the same can’t be said for Motorola: a German court just declared that the reference Android tablet doesn’t infringe on Apple’s design claim. The ruling isn’t a complete win for Motorola, however, as the court wouldn’t invalidate the patent — it could theoretically be leveled against other tablets in the future. The loss will still sting for Apple, which now has to resort to a multi-touch patent claim (among others) if it wants to make Motorola feel the heat in Mannheim.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

German court rules Motorola Xoom doesn’t violate Apple’s iPad design patent originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Things were looking grim for gaming in April, when the International Trade Commission decided that the Xbox 360 violated Motorola patents and the console’s US future was in doubt. The agency hasn’t necessarily reversed its decision, but it just gave Microsoft a significant (and possibly permanent) reprieve. The Commission has remanded Motorola’s case back to the Administrative Law Judge that gave the initial ruling, which very nearly restarts the clock: a new ruling won’t come for months, and the usual review process guarantees even more of a delay even if the decision once more works in Motorola’s favor. Patent suit watcher Florian Mueller is now confident that the Xbox 360 won’t face any real risk of a ban in 2012, at a minimum. If the new decision doesn’t clear Microsoft outright, it still pushes any ruling past a Microsoft lawsuit’s trial in mid-November, when Motorola might be blocked from attempting any ban using its standards-based patents. We’ve rarely seen a majority or total reversal of this kind of ITC patent dispute before it reaches the appeals stage, but there’s a distinct chance of that flip happening here — especially as the ITC is using Apple’s successful dismissal of an S3 Graphics victory as the judge’s new template.

Microsoft catches a break: ITC remands Motorola case, Xbox 360 dodges at least a 2012 ban originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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