Lawsuit

BlackBerry wins injunction against Typo keyboard case

BlackBerry won a key victory yesterday in its fight against Typo. A federal judge agreed with the Canadian company that the iPhone keyboard case likely infringes on their patents, and issued a preliminary injunction late Friday to halt sales.

For those that missed it, back in January BlackBerry sued the makers of the Typo iPhone case over patent infringement. The case features a built-in battery, and a physical, backlit keyboard that looks nearly identical to those used in BB devices...

Apple engineer offers detailed look at development of original iPhone software

Steve Jobs standing in front of slide at the January 2007 iPhone introduction showing the tagline "Apple reinvents the phone"

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting interview with Apple senior software engineer Greg Christie yesterday, in which Christie offers a detailed look at some of the events that led up to the original iPhone. Apparently the Cupertino company gave him permission to discuss the development process of the handset.

Admittedly, a lot of the things mentioned we've heard before—from book excerpts, court testimonies, etc.—but Christie does provide a few new details. For instance, he says at one point Jobs gave him and his team two weeks to come up with something or he would be reassigning the 'iPhone software' project to another group...

Samsung removes standard-essential patents from upcoming Apple trial

Apple and Samsung will duke it out in the courtroom over technology patents later this month. As the second California trial looms (it begins March 31), the two technology giants have filed a stipulation with the United States District Court of California which narrows the second case, patent blogger Florian Müeller reported on his blog, FOSS Patents.

Under the stipulation, Samsung withdrew its asserted claims based on three standard-essential patents while Apple dropped all of its counterclaims relating to these patents...

German court dismisses $2 billion patent troll suit against Apple

Earlier this month it was reported that Apple was getting sued for over $2 billion by known patent troll IPCom. The german company alleged that the iPad-maker violated one of its patents pertaining to priority access to channels for emergency responder.

But it doesn't look like the suit will ever make it to trial. FOSS Patents is reporting that in a string of rulings handed down by the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany today, two of IPCom's suits against Apple and one against HTC have been dismissed...

Apple top target for patent trolls, sued 92 times in 3 years

Apple has taken much criticism over the years for its patent litigation efforts, for going after Samsung, Motorola and other companies for violating its intellectual property. But what many don't know is that the iPad-maker defends itself against just as many lawsuits.

In fact, according to some recently filed FTC documents, Apple has been litigated against by PAEs (or Patent Assertion Entity, commonly known as a patent troll) 92 times during the past 3 years. And that's just the number of cases that actually made it to a courtroom...

German patent troll hits Apple with $2+ billion claim over standards-essential patent

Apple and its billions are definitely the favorite target of patent trolls around the world and this newest case just exemplifies the fact. IPCom GmbH, a German patent holding firm, is suing Apple for patent infringement and is seeking north of $2 billion in damages over the use of a standards-essential wireless patent pertaining to an emergency service standard.

The use of the emergency service standard is required by law in many countries around the world! A trial in this case is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11, before Germany's Mannheim Regional Court...

University of Wisconsin takes Apple to court over A7’s performance-enhancing tricks

The University of Wisconsin via its patent-licensing arm, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging the company's in-house designed A7 chip infringes the foundation's patent designed to improve "the efficiency and performance of contemporary computer processors" by introducing a new process for allowing quicker execution of processor instructions.

It's been reported Monday that Apple's 64-bit A7 chip, which acts as the primary engine driving the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display, apparently uses this technology without permission...

VirnetX files motion to add Apple’s newest products to latest infringement suit

VirnetX announced today that it will attempt to add Apple's most recent slate of products—including the iPhone 5s and iPad Air—to its ongoing patent infringement suit against the company. It filed the motion this morning in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

For those unfamiliar with VirnetX, it's a well-known patent holding firm that won in upwards of $400 million in damages from Apple in a case involving the FaceTime feature last year. Apple has since changed the feature to avoid further infringement, but apparently not enough...

The Apple-Nokia patent deal is expiring December 31, 2016

You may remember that back in June 2011 Apple lost a patent infringement case that the Finnish handset maker Nokia had filed against the Cupertino company, resulting in an undisclosed one-time payment and ongoing royalties to Nokia for use of their patents. The Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was “very pleased” to have Apple join Nokia licensees.

However, the essentials of the contract have for the most part remained confidential. Today, we get to learn more about the terms of the deal as Samsung told a U.S. court that the patent pact is expiring on December 31, 2016...

Apple, Samsung CEOs agree to mediation ahead of patent trial

According to new paperwork filed earlier this afternoon, Apple and Samsung have agreed to attend a mediation session next month ahead of their second major US patent trial, which is slated to begin on March 31.

The meeting is to take place on or before February 19, and is to be attended by Tim Cook, Samsung's Oh-Hyun Kwon and their respective in-house lawyers. And they will attempt to discuss settlement opportunities...

BlackBerry going after Ryan Seacrest’s ‘Typo’ keyboard for patent infringement

Last month, we told you about an interesting new accessory coming out this year for the iPhone called the 'Typo.' It's a case with a built-in Bluetooth keyboard that bills itself as the perfect solution for the folks who still carry both an iPhone and a BlackBerry.

Well, as you can imagine, this hasn't sat well with BlackBerry. And today the Canadian handset-maker announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Typo, co-founded by TV personality Ryan Seacrest, for "blatantly" copying its iconic QWERTY keyboard design...

Apple and Samsung again discussing patent dispute settlement

Apple and Samsung are said to again be conferring over a possible settlement to their years-long patent dispute. According to a new report, the two companies are in "working level discussions" regarding a potential deal.

There are still major obstacles though, and the two firms have a lot of work to do in terms of narrowing their differences over royalty fees and patent access. Apple, for example, wants Samsung to pay up to $30 per device...