Lawsuit

MOG founder suing Beats for more than $20 million

Cody Lee ∙ May 16, 2014

As Apple moves closer to finalizing its Beats acquisition deal, a new report is out on a recently-filed lawsuit against the headphone-maker. The plaintiff is David Hyman, founder of music service MOG (now Beats Music), and he feels that Beats owes him a lot of money.

In the suit, shared by The Wrap, Hyman claims that he was offered a stout compensation package when Beats purchased his company and made him the CEO of Beats Music, which he never received. So now he's suing the firm for at least $20 million plus interest...

Apple litigation won’t cripple Android, Samsung lawyer insists

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

The Great Apple-Samsung Legal War has been raging on for years now, and on a scale almost unprecedented in business history. The latest in the saga involves a California court awarding Apple $119.6 million in damages over Samsung patent infringement, a far cry from the $2 billion the iPhone maker was shooting for.

The ruling has prompted many watchers to question the wisdom of Apple's thermonuclear war on Android. Adding the latest damages award on top of the $900+ million awarded to Apple from the first patent megatrial barely results in $1 billion. I'm certain this is the price Samsung is happy to pay for profiting from willfully lifting Apple's patented iPhone technology.

But no amount of litigation will ever stop Android dead in its tracks, argues an attorney for Samsung who represents the South Korean conglomerate in the courtroom...

Samsung employees allegedly swallowed documents containing legal evidence

Jake Smith ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Following Apple winning its second trial in the US against Samsung for patent infringement, Vanity Fair is out with a piece extensively detailing the Apple and Samsung smartphone war that has been raging on for years.

It details the back-story behind the two smartphone giants and the public trial, like misconduct at Samsung revolving price fixing, then COO Tim Cook expressing his concern over infringement to Samsung president Jay Y. Lee in August 2010, and theorizes why Apple may win the battles but still lose the war...

Recalculated damages in Apple vs. Samsung suit leaves $119M award unchanged

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

After finding Samsung guilty of infringing upon three of the five Apple patents included in the second Apple vs. Samsung suit in California and awarding the iPhone maker maker a paltry $119.6 million in damages, the jury on Monday found that the Galaxy maker did not owe Apple any additional money.

Therefore, the original verdict has stayed intact.

Judge Lucy Koh asked the jurors to recalculate the damages after Apple's legal sharks complained that one infringing Samsung device was left out of the final tally. Hit the jump for the full details...

The verdict: Samsung ordered to pay Apple $119.6M in damages, Apple to Pay $158,400

Sébastien Page ∙ May 2, 2014

The verdict has just been given in the second trial opposing Apple to Samsung, which has taken place in California over the last month.

After hearing 50 hours of testimonies and deliberating for three days, the jury has finally come to an agreement and found that Samsung has infringed on three Apple patents, while Apple infringed on one Samsung patent...

Apple engineer explains how FaceTime came out of work done for Game Center

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 24, 2014

When Apple was unveiling a new video-calling capability on the then new iPhone 4 at the WWDC 2010 keynote, Steve Jobs presented the feature as one of his famous 'one more thing' moments.

FaceTime debuted as a hassle-free video calling service between iPhone 4 devices and was initially Wi-Fi-only, but Apple eventually rolled it out across the lineup so it's available across Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices on both Wi-Fi and cellular.

The engineer behind the feature, Roberto Garcia, was forced to spill the beans on how FaceTime came out of work done for Game Center in his testimony during the fourth week of the second Apple vs. Samsung trial in California, here are the juiciest bits...

Apple, Google and others settle anti-poaching suit

Cody Lee ∙ April 24, 2014

Reuters is reporting this afternoon that Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel have reached a settlement in their long-running antitrust lawsuit filed by employees who claim the companies agreed to not hire employees from one another.

The settlement comes just a month before the trial was slated to begin in the US District Court of northern California. The lawsuit covered more than 60,000 workers, and damages from the trial were expected to exceed $9 billion...

Google covering some of Samsung’s legal fees, liabilities in Apple trial

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2014

We've known pretty much all along that Google was going to be more involved this time around in the Apple-Samsung trial. Many of the features Apple claims infringe on its software patents are baked right into Android, so of course it would be in the Mountain View company's best interest to become much more involved.

But I'm not sure anyone knew the extent of Google's involvement until yesterday, when a lawyer for the tech giant said that it had reached an agreement with Samsung to foot the bill for a large portion of its legal fees. It also told the Korean firm it would cover much of the damages, should it be found guilty of infringement...

Samsung expert says Apple should only get $38M for patent infringement, not $2B

Cody Lee ∙ April 21, 2014

The court battle between Apple and Samsung raged on in California today, with Samsung calling a damages expert to the stand. Judith Chevalier, a professor of economics at the Yale University School of Management, testified that if found guilty of infringement, Samsung should only have to pay Apple $38 million.

The figure, which is actually $38.4 million, is miles away from the $2.2 billion number that Apple's damages expert called for last week. Chevalier argued that a reasonable royalty rate for Apple's patents would've been $0.35 per patent, per device, and doesn't think the company should receive damages for lost sales...

For Samsung, Steve Jobs’ death was ‘the best opportunity’ to unleash anti-iPhone ad blitz

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 16, 2014

Apple's second California trial against Samsung over smartphone patents has given us an unprecedented insight into Samsung's obsession with beating Apple and Apple's worries over losing the cool factor to Samsung due to the snarky ads that ridiculed the iPhone as an outdated and dull phone.

As you know, Samsung's campaign headlined under the 'The Next Big Thing' tagline went viral in September of 2012, thanks to a particularily scathing ad that ridiculed folks who'd wait in line for an iPhone 5.

The commercials were meant to counter the iPhone 5 "tsunami," as Samsung execs put it, and have managed to enrage Apple's marketing boss Phil Schiller so much that he proposed in an email to CEO Tim Cook that the firm fire its longtime ad agency.

According to a highly confidential email exchange between Samsung execs, we now know that the South Korean firm saw Steve Jobs's death as the “best opportunity to attack the iPhone” and tarnish the Apple brand...

Tech companies ask court to keep Steve Jobs’ personality out of hiring trial

Cody Lee ∙ April 15, 2014

Although the patent battle with Samsung is far from over in northern California, Apple's legal team has to start preparing for another high profile trial coming up next month. The iPad-maker, along with Google and others, is being sued over no-hire agreements in Silicon Valley.

This week, those companies in a joint court filing asked that witnesses in the upcoming suit not be allowed to offer evidence that Steve Jobs was "a bully." Emails regarding the case are fine, but excerpts from the Isaacson bio and other sources should be barred from admission...

Samsung exec: we didn’t copy Apple’s iPhone, we just had better marketing

Jake Smith ∙ April 14, 2014

Apple is claiming in the latest patent trial on-going in a California court that Samsung ripped off its iPhone to become the top-smartphone maker in the world, while Samsung says it was just pure marketing genius that helped turn the smartphone tide over the years.

Todd Pendleton, the chief marketing officer for Samsung’s American division, became the first Samsung executive to take the stand on Monday in the latest patent spat. He explained that marketing Samsung's phones as the "Next Big Thing" helped it beat Apple, HTC, and BlackBerry, who in 2011 all held a lead over the South Korean electronics giant.

“I think people knew Samsung for televisions," Pendleton told the court, when reminiscing on 2011. “But in terms of smartphones, there was no recognition for what our product was or what it stood for.”