Apple

Samsung wants to settle EU antitrust case over Apple to sidestep $17.5B fine

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2013

The European Union six months ago launched a formal investigation into a potential breach of EU antitrust rules by Samsung. The antitrust investigation focused on the South Korean conglomerate's handling of industry-essential patents that EU regulators insist should be licensed to others on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND).

The investigation determined that Samsung was abusing its patent portfolio by seeking high royalties it knew didn't make business sense, just so it could later assert those patents against rivals such as Apple. ”Samsung has been involved in settlement discussions for several months now," an unnamed source told Reuters on Tuesday. "Samsung wants to settle”...

Tokyo court finds Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s ‘rubber banding’ patent

Cody Lee ∙ June 21, 2013

On Friday, a Tokyo court found a number of Samsung's legacy smartphone models to be guilty of infringing on one of Apple's patents. More specifically, it's the infamous 'rubber banding' patent, which Apple has used in a number of courtroom battles.

For those unfamiliar with the 'rubber banding' property, it covers the software action that triggers the bounce-back animation when a user reaches the end of a scrolling document. And the Japan court feels older Samsung handsets infringe upon it...

Apple’s key ‘rubber banding’ patent validated by US Patent Office

Cody Lee ∙ June 13, 2013

Apple's 'rubber banding' patent has been under heavy scrutiny in recent months, invalidated twice by the US Patent Office. It used the patent, which pertains to a software feature that allows content to 'bounce back' during scrolling, in its big $1 billion victory over Samsung.

But good news today for the Cupertino company. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (or USPTO) has said it will issue a re-examination certificate that confirms the formerly invalidated invention, clearing up any doubts of the patent's weight or validity...

Apple looking to settle THX patent suit out of court

Cody Lee ∙ June 5, 2013

Earlier this year, sound engineering company THX filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging patent infringement. The studio, which was founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas, claims Apple is using its speaker technology in its iOS and Mac products without a license.

The iPad maker is, of course, no stranger to patent litigation. It just suffered a huge blow yesterday in its ongoing battle with Samsung, and it's involved in countless other frivolous suits. So it's no surprise that reports claim it's trying to settle this complaint out of court...

ITC finds Apple guilty of infringing Samsung patent, bans certain devices

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 3, 2013

This is huge. The United States International Trade Commission just ordered a US import ban against older iPhones and iPads, after finding Apple guilty of infringing on a cellular standard-esential patent asserted by Samsung.

The ban, which encompasses a number of various iOS device models including the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS and 3G iPads, will go into effect within 60 days unless vetoed by the White House during a Presidential Review period...

Apple and Samsung to battle it out over damages this fall

Cody Lee ∙ April 30, 2013

It seems like it's been a while since we've heard any news on the Apple/Samsung lawsuit front, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But today, the silence was broken as Judge Lucy Koh issued a new case management order to the two sides.

According to the order, the two will be battling it out over damages from their August trial this fall, with the next hearing scheduled for November 12. Here, Apple will get a chance to get back some of the $500M Koh cut from its settlement earlier this year...

No iOS VPN changes on already shipped devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 26, 2013

On April 5, Apple acknowledged via a support document that it “will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later” due to a lawsuit by patent holding firm VirnetX file against Apple in November 2011. VPN technology, which stands for Virtual Private Networking, extends corporate networks securely across public networks like the Internet, allowing users to access a private network as if they were directly connected to it.

Apple originally planned to remove the 'Always' configuration option for VPN On Demand with the 'Establish if needed' option. The revised document specifically mentions Apple will not be changing the VPN behavior on "devices that have already been shipped"...

ITC drops Motorola’s complaint against Apple over proximity sensor patent

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2013

Apple's patent troubles with the struggling handset maker has largely been viewed as a proxy fight with Google, which acquired Motorola Mobility along with its vast patent portfolio in August 2011 for $12.5 billion. Two and a half years ago Motorola asserted its proximity sensor patent against Apple. Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) threw Motorola's complaint out of the window, invalidating Motorola's patent because it's too obvious. That's good news for Apple as Google was hoping to leverage that patent to seek an import ban against iPhones...

ITC judge finds Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s text selection patent

Cody Lee ∙ April 7, 2013

In a decision issued on March 26, but kept classified until earlier this week, an International Trade Commission judge found Samsung to be infringing on Apple's US RE41,922 patent that covers things like text selection and translucent buttons.

It's only a preliminary decision, and the judge only found Samsung guilty of infringement on one of two patents listed in the complaint. But if the decision gets upheld, Samsung could once again be looking at a major product ban in the US...

German court invalidates Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent, but it’s not big deal

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 5, 2013

A German court ruled invalid Apple's patent for a sliding touchscreen unlocking image, marking another win for allies of Google's Android mobile operating. In its ruling in favor of the Google-owned Motorola, the country's Federal Patent Court slammed the iPhone maker's slide-to-unlock patent as devoid of "technological innovation." Still, a long-running patent dispute which began in 2011 may still live on as Apple's legal team prepares for a round of appeals, according to Friday reports...

Upcoming firmware update to force VPN behavior changes over VirnetX patent loss

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2013

VirnetX, a patent holding firm with an impressive intellectual property portfolio, in November 2011 sued Apple over a breach of a collection of its network patents, originally seeking north of $900 million in damages. A year later, in November 2012, a federal jury in a Texas court ordered the iPhone maker to pay $368.2 million in damages.

The two parties later worked out a royalty agreement that should be decided upon on April 12, but as a result of the damages awarded to VirnetX, Apple today has acknowledged via a support document that it "will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later"...

USPTO again invalidates rubber-banding patent, Apple says not to worry

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Having rejected Apple's iPad mini trademark application last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has now dealt another major blow to the iPhone maker. For the second time, USPTO has invalidated the key claim of Apple's so-called rubber-banding patent, an iPhone feature which bounces the user interface when a user scrolls content past the end of a page. USPTO last October ruled the invention invalid. On the other hand, while this "final" decision certainly has more weight than the first, Apple still has a few options left until the ruling becomes truly final...