As the Apple v. Samsung trial to recalculate the damages Samsung owes continues, Phil Schiller took the stand yesterday. Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing was called up to speak with just 11 minutes left in the session.
But that still proved enough time for Schiller to dish out some interesting details about his role at Apple, and its early days of iPhone development. He said around 100 people worked on what was referred to as the 'bet the company' product...
"Boy, have we patented it!", quipped Steve Jobs in wrapping up the segment of his January 2007 MacWorld Expo presentation dealing with the iPhone's multi-touch user interface.
Months later, Jobs through the combination of sheer willpower, yelling and F-bombs would impose restrictions on early Android releases.
The goal was to prevent Google's smartphone software from employing multitouch gestures on mobile devices that Apple had been researching for years. The strategy eventually failed, prompting Apple to launch proxy battles against Android backers such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola over prized iPhone inventions.
One guy was unimpressed, though: a California inventor has been claiming for years now that he holds a patent related to an essential iPhone feature. He's not afraid to take the consumer electronics powerhouse to court in order to prove the infringement and seek a five percent cut of Apple's US sales, Bloomberg reported Tuesday...
Canadian-based patent troll Wi-LAN lost its bid to force Apple to license patents covering several major wireless technologies. A jury found Apple did not infringe on two Wi-LAN patents dealing with CDMA, HSPA (3G), Wi-Fi and LTE. The patent company wanted Apple to pay $248 million.
In a statement, Wi-LAN said it was disappointed with the court's decision, but feels the Marshall, Texas federal ruling will not hurt previous licensing deals now in place.
Samsung, HTC and BlackBerry are among the companies which have settled lawsuits...
A court earlier this week denied motions by Samsung to delay a probe into whether it improperly disclosed a confidential 2011 licensing agreement between Apple and Nokia.
Although Samsung lawyers argued the original judge made mistakes in ruling the South Korean firm committed a breach of privacy, Judge Lucy Koh found the decision "eminently reasonable".
Earlier this month, Apple filed a legal motion claiming Samsung illegally disclosed details of the patent licensing agreement in order to improve negotiations. The iPhone maker alleges the information revealed was part of documents turned over as part of the Apple v. Samsung case...
U.S. President Barack Obama is opting to let stand a ban on Samsung product imports. The South Korean firm had requested the American president overturn an earlier decision by the US International Trade Commission. The failure to veto the import on Samsung products follows a last-minute veto of an import ban on Apple's iPhone 4S in August...
The beat goes on for primo patent troll Lodsys. Apple's attempt to intervene in a concerted clipping of iOS developers failed after a patent-owner friendly judge dismissed the tech giant's legal motion. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in East Texas ruled Apple's motion "is far outside the scope" of his courtroom.
The decision effectively opens the door to Lodsys settling all cases with defendants, thereby ending a 2011 effort by Apple to shield hundreds of thousands of individual iOS developers from being sued for patent-infringement by Lodsys...
Google may have become the first convicted patent troll, after a federal jury Thursday fined the internet giant $14.5 million related to licenses held by Motorola. The Seattle-based jury upheld Microsoft's claim that the Google-owned Motorola demand $4 billion to license Wi-Fi and video patents that were supposed to be available under fair and reasonable terms.
The finding comes just a week before Apple's appeal of a similar claim against Motorola is to be heard. This week's judgement against Motorola opens a legal can of worms for both Google and Motorola, according to one keen patent observer...
A German appeals court has finally decided to lift the injunction that has prevented Apple from offering push notifications for its iCloud email service in the country. The feature has been disabled for German users since February 2012—so about 18 months.
The injunction spawned from a lawsuit by Motorola Mobility, which as we all know is now owned by Google. The company claims that Apple's iCloud push notification feature infringes upon its patents, and is seeking both a permanent ban and punitive damages...
Last Friday, Samsung was dealt a huge blow as the ITC ruled that some of the company's mobile products infringe on two of Apple's patents. As a result of the ruling, those products will be banned from US import next month unless President Obama steps in.
Following the decision, Samsung released a statement saying that the order wouldn't affect product availability in the United States, indicating that it had developed a workaround. But the fact that it posted bond with the ITC today tells a much different story...
If you're not familiar with the name VirnetX, you should be. The Internet security software and technology company (also known as a patent troll) has filed a patent infringement suit against every major tech company in the business, including Apple.
In fact, last fall Apple was ordered to pay VirnetX a staggering $368 million after a Texas jury found the iPad-maker guilty of infringing on its IP. And the battle is far from over, as the security firm just announced that it's been awarded two new patents...
In a sign that tech companies have moved beyond the patent litigation stage of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, Apple and Google-owned Motorola Mobility Monday dropped more than a dozen patents in preparation for a Florida patent-infringement lawsuit.
The move signals both companies are seeking the strategic upper-hand in a case which has exasperated the presiding judge. In the case scheduled for August of 2014, Google-owned Motorola dismissed eight patents while Apple dropped six yesterday, after previously trimming two patents, according to a joint stipulation filed before the District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami...
Apple and Samsung have reportedly renewed settlement talks, in an effort to put an end to their ongoing, global litigation. Since 2011, the two tech giants have been involved in countless patent lawsuits, in over 10 countries.
Word of their resumed resolution efforts comes by way of The Wall Street Journal. Citing people familiar with the matter, the outlet says the two even came close to an agreement in February, but things have since cooled off...