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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If you go through tin foil like there’s no tomorrow (or because you think there’s no tomorrow), you might want to head down the store. A recent 2 – 1 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that law enforcement agencies can obtain cellphone location data, without the need for a warrant. The decision comes after a defendant in a drug-related case claimed protection from his phone’s GPS location data being used under the Fourth Amendment. Judge John Rogers stated that the defendant didn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy for data given off by a voluntarily purchased phone, going on to state that if tools used in such crimes give off a trackable signal, police should be allowed to use it. Rogers likened it to the use of dogs tracking a scent, and criminals complaining they didn’t know they were giving one off, or that the dog had picked it up. The use of technology in crime prevention, be it police tools, or that belonging to the greater population, has long been a source of complex discussion, and this latest development is unlikely to be the end of it. But for now, at least one guy is rueing his decision to get a better phone. Hit the source for the full case history.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

Sixth Circuit rules that law enforcement doesn’t need a warrant to track your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll leave labeling of InterDigital to the individual — whether you prefer patent troll or non-practicing entity, the semantics don’t concern us. What does concern us, however, is the IP firm’s ongoing legal battle with Nokia, and its recent victory over the Finnish manufacturer in the US Court of Appeals. The ruling reverses a previous decision handed down by the ITC that found Nokia did not violate InterDigital’s patents, but the trio of judges hearing the appeal disagreed. The claims in question relate to 3G radios and networks — the same patents that the firm used to target ZTE and Huawei. It doesn’t appear that there will be any immediate repercussions for Nokia, either in the form of import bans or settlement fees. The Windows Phone champion is considering its next move, which may involve appealing the appeal.

Filed under: Cellphones

InterDigital wins appeal in never-ending Nokia patent battle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung is having slightly better luck in Munich than it is here the US in its ongoing legal battle with Apple. The high court upheld a previous ruling that Cupertino’s patent relating to “list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display” was invalid. The end result is that the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus will stay on shelves in Germany, while Apple undoubtedly looks for a new avenue of attack against its primary competitor (one we presume will also be of the legal variety). The decision to deny an injunction against the 10.1N comes only two days after the same device passed a similar challenge in Dusseldorf, where the cosmetic design was the focus. Samsung was obviously pleased with the result, saying that it confirmed the company’s position that its Android products did not infringe on Apple’s IP. Cupertino, on the other hand, remained predictably silent. Of course, this war is far from over, and it’s only a matter of time before a new ruling hands one of the two manufacturers another small victory.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs

Apple denied Galaxy Nexus and Tab ban in Germany originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 17:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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