Hasta La Gadget!

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Following Ericsson’s decision to file a lawsuit against Samsung in November, which eventually resulted to a request to ban U.S. import on some products, the South Korean technology giant is now suing back the former. Samsung said on Wednesday that it has filed a complaint to the International Trade Commission accusing Ericsson of breaching seven of its patents. Samsung is also requesting a U.S. sales and import ban on a few of the Swedish company’s products. (more…)

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Sometimes, a patent grant is less about the technology itself than what it could mean for others. Case in point: a newly granted Apple patent for a “mini-SIM connector.” The design complements earlier work and represents a straightforward approach to a SIM slot that prevents damage from inserting the card the wrong way and ejects the card through a plunger system. By securing the patent, however, Apple gains a bargaining chip in phone technology disputes, especially for SIM-related tussles; companies are less likely to start a fight if Apple can return fire. The claim doesn’t give Apple a lock on subscriber modules by any means, but it could lead to other adopters treading carefully.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

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Source: USPTO

While Apple and Google are competitors in terms of smartphone platforms, they aren’t exactly suing each other, and interestingly it seems that both companies have even gone as far as teaming up together to buy Kodak’s patents for a whopping $500 million. There are other companies reportedly part of this deal, such as Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures, RPX Corp and Asian makers of Google’s Android products. This teaming up is due to the asking price of Kodak’s patents, $500 million which neither side wanted to fork out all by themselves.

We imagine that this purchase of Kodak’s patents will not only boost the portfolios of the companies involved, but at the same time should neutralize Kodak’s lawsuits against Apple and some of Google’s manufacturing partners, whereby Kodak claims that those companies had infringed upon some of their digital imaging patents. While the lawsuits could be neutralized with the purchase of these patents, this will at the same time allow Kodak access to the $830 million exit financing which was contingent on its sale of their patents.

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Apple‘s ’949 multi-touch patent, more commonly referred to as the “Steve Jobs patent,” has been used in many patent lawsuits against various companies. Now it looks like karma may be taking a bite out of Apple, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office stating, tentatively, that it is not valid. As reported by FOSS Patents, the Patent and Trademark Office issued a first Office action, the second one in less than 8 weeks.

This latest first Office action is in reference to U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949, a “touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics.” The USPTO has rejected all 20 claims of the patent, filing the action on December 3. This comes after a judge made a preliminary ruling back in late October that deemed the ’949 patent valid and Samsung responsible for having infringed upon it.

A re-examination of this patent was requested back in 2010, which the Patent and Trademark Office rejected. This current reexamination is the result of a second request, with its preliminary results being less-than-ideal for Apple. Just because a first Office action has been taken, however, doesn’t mean that patent won’t carry on in the future.

The first Office action is preliminary, and there is a process that the USPTO will follow in ultimately making its decision. If the decision pans out in the long run, however, companies that Apple has used the patent against will appeal in an effort to invalidate various rulings. For now, it’s just a matter of waiting to see which direction the Patent and Trademark Office will go.

[via Android Community]

Apple’s “Steve Jobs” multitouch patent may be invalid is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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While Judge Lucy Koh may not pull down the same staggering wage or get as much TV time as that other well-known arbiter, she’s just as outspoken in her own courtroom. While presiding yesterday over the neverending story that is Apple v. Samsung, she called for “global peace” between the two. Inciting chuckles from the crowd, she reaffirmed her point: “I’m not joking… it would be good for consumers and good for the industry.” Head lawyer for Samsung said the company was “willing to talk,” but the opposition wasn’t so amicable, claiming that the billion-odd judgment in its favor was a mere “slap on the wrist,” and that clear boundaries were necessary for setting a precedent.

Cupertino‘s camp also attacked Samsung’s design decisions, saying they were knowingly taken to the limit of what it could legally get away with, while the Korean manufacturer’s team thinks Apple wants to “compete through the courts rather than the marketplace,” and was using the courts to conduct a smear campaign. When commenting on the patent rows in a TV interview yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook repeated his stance on litigation, but said there was “no other choice,” and that “in a perfect world,” companies would “invent their own stuff.” Sadly, it looks like Judge Koh’s plea for resolution won’t have much of an impact, but we’re with her in thinking: if only this had all played out during a 10-minute segment on daytime TV.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Samsung

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Source: Financial Times