Apple adds Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Galaxy Note 10.1 to Samsung lawsuit

Apple is trying to add Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, and the Galaxy Note 10.1 to yet another patent infringement court case against Samsung in California.

Apple argued yesterday that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system infringe on its patents and should be added to an existing California lawsuit against Samsung.

Appearing in a federal court in San Jose, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, Apple’s lawyers sought to expand the lawsuit against Samsung with additional patent infringement claims. This follows Samsung’s attempt to add patent infringement claims against the new iPhone 5 back on October 1.

The judge has not issued a ruling yet.

Most notable among Apple’s claims is the inclusion of Google’s Android 4.1 operating system, also known as Jelly Bean. Apple insisted that the Galaxy Nexus is the only phone with Jelly Bean that it is seeking to add to the patent complaint, for now. The implications of this are serious for Google and it’s the first time that Apple has included the Android platform specifically in its cases against Samsung.

It seems the Cupertino-based company is also now looking to add devices with a stylus, such as the Galaxy Note 10.1, and Apple’s attorney mentioned adding a further 17 devices that could use a stylus, but don’t ship with one.

This case is not scheduled for trial until 2014.

We will find a resolution to the highest profile case so far sooner than that. The jury verdict saw Apple awarded $1.05 billion in damages. As we reported before, Apple is seeking more money while Samsung is claiming juror misconduct. Those arguments will be heard in December and there will also be a decision on Apple’s attempt to get eight Samsung smartphones banned from sale in the U.S.

We’ll keep you posted on all the news about Judge Grewal’s decision and the December hearing as it breaks.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Verizon pays out $500 million + to settle two patent disputes

Verizon is facing an expensive payday today, having settled two different lawsuits surrounding patent infringement for DVR technology and having to pay out $510.4 million in costs.

Attention, Verizon customers: Your bills may be taking a slight trend upwards over the next few months, as your provider finds itself saddled with a brand new $500 million+ debt following the settlement of two separate lawsuits surrounding potential patent infringement concerning the company’s Video on Demand technology.

The company announced today that it has settled lawsuits with both TiVo and a company known as ActiveVideo over allegations that Verizon had infringed on proprietary technology relating to VoD, DVR and interactive televisions. In the case of the ActiveVideo settlement, describing it as a settlement is definitely positive spin on Verizon’s part; the situation there is less “settlement” and more “finally agreeing on just how much money to pay in damages,” considering that that particular case had been decided twice in court – once in “regular” court, and once on appeal – and both times decided in ActiveVideo’s favor.

The exact sum Verizon owes ActiveVideo is uncertain at this time; the appeals court ruled that the former company owed $260 million to the latter, but exact terms of the settlement between the two have not been publicly disclosed at this time, meaning that it’s possible that the actual figure is significantly higher.

In addition to that sum, Verizon has also settled a long-lasting dispute with TiVo over DVR technology patents, with the agreement between companies seeing Verizon pay an initial $100 million payment, followed by additional quarterly payments until July, 2018 that will ultimately total somewhere in the region of $150.4 million. Additionally, Verizon will pay monthly fees to continue to use the particular technology if its DVR subscriber base rises above a certain level, and has until December 21 of this year to come to an agreement with TiVo that will see the two essentially go into business together, with – it’s believed, Verizon offering TiVo boxes to its customers. If that happens, then Verizon will earn a $29.4 million credit towards the total $250.4 million it owns TiVo.

(Another possible collaboration would see TiVo boxes carry a streaming video service currently being piloted by Verizon and Constar’s Redbox as a Netflix killer. If the company ends up going with this, then it will be in addition to TiVo’s existing streaming offerings with Netflix and Amazon Prime.)

This is, of course, just one of many patent infringement suits that TiVo has launched over its DVR technology. The outcome, in many cases, mirrors what’s happened here, with all parties either settling out of court, and the court finding in TiVo’s favor, and the infringer ending up paying a monthly fee to essentially license out the technology from that point on. In a statement accompanying news of the settlement, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers seems to recognize that this latest result only strengthens the company in any similar legal action, being quoted as saying that the company “believe[s] this settlement positions us well with respect to future enforceability of our patents.”

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung win: Patent violation case brought by Apple in Japan dismissed by judge

Apple had been hoping to score another win over Samsung in its ongoing global patent infringement battle with the Korean tech firm. However, its latest claim, heard in a Tokyo court on Friday, was dismissed by the judge.

Apple may well have scored a big win against Samsung last week in the patent battle between the two tech giants, but it’s not all going the Cupertino company’s way.

In a Tokyo court on Friday, a judge dismissed Apple’s claim that Samsung had infringed on a patent relating to the synching of music and video data with servers.

Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji told the court it was “hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant.” Apple was ordered to pay the costs of the lawsuit following the court’s decision.

In a statement given in response to the ruling, Samsung said, “We welcome the court’s decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple’s intellectual property.”

Friday’s decision comes exactly a week after a California court ordered Samsung to pay Apple just over $1 billion dollars in damages after a jury ruled the Korean firm had violated a number of Apple patents related to its mobile devices. The Korean firm now faces the prospect of having eight of its smartphones banned from sale in the US, with a hearing set to take place on December 6.

After last week’s decision, Samsung shares slumped 7.5 percent, wiping $12 billion dollars off the firm’s market value.

Courts around the world are dealing with a number of patent violation cases where Apple and Samsung are accusing one another of infringement regarding various aspects of their respective mobile offerings.

In another case last week – this time in South Korea – a Seoul court ruled that Apple and Samsung had violated each other’s patents, resulting in the judge slapping a national sales ban on a number of products made by both companies. Besides the sales bans, the court ordered Apple to pay 40 million won ($35,500), and Samsung 25 million won ($22,000). Such sums pale into insignificance when compared to the billion dollar fine that Samsung has to pay to Apple in the US.

Still, Samsung can take at least a crumb of comfort from the fact that not all court decisions in its various patent infringement battles with Apple are going against it.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Apple claims Samsung stole universal search from the iPhone, seeks ban

Samsung is trying to get the Galaxy Nexus ban lifted as Apple claims infringement of its patent relating to unified search.

The big Samsung vs. Apple trial is only part of the patent infringement war between the two companies. Bloomberg has reported on the progress of another case involving the two leading smartphone manufacturers, which concerns an Apple patent on unified search. Apple wants to secure a ban on the Galaxy Nexus being sold in the United States. Samsung, naturally, disagrees, arguing that it shouldn’t be banned. The trial isn’t scheduled to start until March 2014 so the importance of deciding on a ban now is clear.

Samsung has already started removing the unified search feature from some of its products, including the Galaxy S3, although it’s far from clear whether Apple can really prove the validity of this patent. How can Apple lay claim to the idea that you can search multiple sources, such as the Internet and contacts simultaneously, on a phone? Even if it can, should a smartphone be banned from sale because of one small feature?

Apple argues loss of sales

Apple’s lawyer Perry spoke against the Nexus, contending that it was Samsung’s big attempt to take down the iPhone. “This was the top of the line, Cadillac phone they trotted out to compete with the iPhone.”

He went on to suggest that anyone choosing the Galaxy Nexus over the iPhone could be lost to Apple as a customer because people tend to stick with the same operating system on their next phone. He also spoke about the loss of Apple revenue for things such as applications and accessories.

Samsung argues “minuscule” sales

Samsung lawyer, John Quinn, argues that the idea that the Galaxy Nexus has put a dent in iPhone sales is ridiculous. He said, “This is a product that, at most, captured 0.5 percent of the market.”

With sales of $250 million from its first two quarters on the market, the Galaxy Nexus is hardly an iPhone beater. That compares to sales of $16.2 billion for the iPhone over the same period.

Google reportedly weighed in by saying the patent relates, “at best, to a very minor aspect of the Galaxy Nexus phone’s overall functionality which was never shown to drive sales.”

Sprint also got in on the act, calling itself an “unwitting victim” and pointing out that the ban would harm its reputation.

Central argument is hard to swallow

Apple is essentially saying that Samsung copied the unified search feature, which is apparently what makes Siri so compelling. Can it prove that it lost market share to the Galaxy Nexus, or that the unified search feature stimulated sales of the iPhone or the Galaxy Nexus? It seems unlikely, but then again, it seems unlikely that a company could be granted a patent for this in the first place.

As Google went on to point out, smartphones are packed with features, and if patent owners block sales of devices based on single features then “the design and manufacture of similarly complex technological marvels would become economically infeasible.”

But Google may not be listening to its own advice. Google’s Motorola filed a new patent lawsuit against Apple to block imports of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers into the U.S. — a signal that the gloves are coming off. It looks like Google vs. Apple is kicking off; even before the Samsung trial is settled.

There’s no end to this patent madness in sight and, as we discussed before, it’s consumers who will end up paying for it, one way or another.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

‘It’s time for peace’ – Judge calls on Apple and Samsung to settle before verdict

As the Apple and Samsung patent infringement court case nears its end, presiding judge Lucy Koh has urged the two sides to settle before the jury delivers its verdict, telling them "it's time for peace."

As the patent infringement court battle between tech giants Apple and Samsung draws to a close in California following three weeks of arguments and testimony, presiding judge Lucy Koh has come up with a rather novel idea: she’s told the two companies to talk on the phone at least once to try to reach a settlement before the jury comes to give its verdict.

But many who’ve been following events at the San Jose federal court would probably agree there’s about as much chance of that happening as there is of Apple boss Tim Cook and Samsung chief Choi Gee-sung parachuting off the Burj Khalifa together wearing penguin suits singing “You Are My Sunshine.”

In the multi-billion dollar patent battle, Apple is accusing Samsung of ripping off the design of its iPhone and iPad devices in the creation of some its own smartphones and tablets, including the Korean company’s Galaxy range of mobile devices.

The Cupertino company wants a permanent sales ban imposed on these Samsung products, as well as monetary damages. But it’s not all one-way traffic. Samsung accuses Apple of infringing a number of its patents, including ones linked to the way smartphones deal with email attachments, photos and the playing of music files.

Peace

Speaking in court on Wednesday, Koh told lawyers for Apple and Samsung, “It’s time for peace.”

Reuters reported that the judge told both sides they had “succeeded in raising awareness about the importance of their intellectual property rights.”

She added that she saw risks for both companies in leaving the outcome of the case to the nine-member jury – risks highlighted in this recent DT article by Simon Hill. He suggests that if Apple and Samsung don’t settle by themselves and it’s instead left to the jury, there’ll be “a storm” in the world of tech.

But both Cook and Gee-sung have already met once in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute. When the two company bosses sat around a table in April, they failed to reach any agreement – hence the current court case.

And after three weeks of costly court-based back-and-forth between Apple and Samsung, does anyone really believe Koh’s plea will come to anything?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com