Lawsuit

Apple calls in expert to explain why it deserves $2 billion in damages from Samsung

Cody Lee ∙ April 9, 2014

The high-profile patent trial between Apple and Samsung wages on, with Apple on Tuesday calling in a damages expert Chris Vellturo to speak to the jury. The MIT-trained economist's job was to help the company explain why it deserved the damages it's asking for.

For those who missed it last week, Apple is asking the court to award it $2 billion ($2.19B to be exact) in damages from Samsung for infringing on 5 of its utility patents. And according to Vellturo, that amount is fair based on a mix of lost profits and owed royalty fees...

Samsung’s #1 priority for 2012: beat Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2014

A treasure trove of internal documents have been leaking out of Apple's second California trial against the Galaxy maker Samsung.

Not only has the confidential material given us an unprecedented look into the firm's development process for the iPhone and Steve Jobs's wish list for the Apple TV (apps, something called 'magic wand' and more), it's also provided us with valuable insight into Apple's marketing survey explaining why the iPhone's growth has been slowing and another internal research highlighting the most often requested features by early iPhone 5 adopters.

And now, a new set of internal Samsung documents proves the South Korean conglomerate has been pretty much obsessed with crushing Apple in the marketplace, so much so that it devoted all of its energies throughout 2012 to one goal: beating Apple.

The presentation entitled '2011 Summary & Lessons Learned / 2012 Business Forecast' made it clear to Samsung's managers that beating Apple was their #1 priority for 2012. "Everything must be in context of beating Apple," reads the memo.

The document offers an insight into Samsung's thought process, marketing tactics and how it went about containing the iPhone threat by pouring billions into advertising, playing ball with carriers and carpet-bombing the market with countless variants of devices with different screen sizes and price points...

Internal Apple slides explain why it thinks iPhone growth is slowing

Cody Lee ∙ April 6, 2014

Despite posting 50+ million iPhone sales last quarter, Apple's stock slid some 6%. As impressive as the numbers were, they still fell short of Wall Street expectations and reaffirmed fears of slowing growth. Apple's YoY (year-over-year) iPhone growth is now down to just single digits.

The question is why? And Apple has a pretty good idea of what the answer is. According to some internal documents brought to light by the ongoing Samsung trial, the company attributes the slowing in iPhone growth to consumer want for larger, cheaper handsets and other factors...

Steve Jobs email reveals past Apple TV ideas: apps, ‘magic wand’ remote and more

Cody Lee ∙ April 5, 2014

We're only a few days in, but we've already learned a lot from the Apple-Samsung patent trial. With it being a legal proceeding, the public is given access to information it wasn't previously privi'ed to by way of executive testimonies, corporate emails and other evidence.

In fact, earlier today a particularly interesting email surfaced from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The document, which was submitted as evidence in the case, features a list of things Jobs wanted to discuss at the company's 2010 'top 100' meeting, including the Apple TV...

Apple engineer explains how the iPhone was designed for ‘normal people’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

The Samsung trial marched on today, with Apple's Greg Christie taking the stand. You might remember Christie, the senior software engineer, from this WSJ article last month, where he detailed some of the early stages of original iPhone development. And this afternoon, he did the same thing in court.

More specifically, Christie shared some new details on the development of the iPhone's 'Slide to Unlock,' which is one of the patents that Apple's accusing Samsung of infringing. He said initially, his team wanted the handset's display to be always on, but they quickly discovered it needed a locked mode...

Apple settles patent infringement suit with Intertrust Technologies

Cody Lee ∙ April 4, 2014

Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with Interest Technologies this week. The holding company, which is jointly owned by tech giants Sony and Philips, filed a lawsuit against the iPad-maker last year for allegedly infringing on more than two dozen of its patents on distributed computing.

The original suit didn't layout specifically which patents Intertrust was accusing Apple of infringing, but the company counts digital rights management (or DRM) tech among its inventions. So it's not too surprising that the two sides notified the court on Tuesday that a settlement had been reached...

Apple seeking $2 billion in damages in new Samsung trial

Cody Lee ∙ April 1, 2014

As most of you know probably know by now, round 2 of Apple's US patent battle with Samsung kicked off this week in a San Jose, California court room. The last time these 2 companies met on American soil, in the fall of 2012, Apple was awarded $1 billion in damages.

This time around, the iPad-maker is asking for twice that much. And although it's using different patents, and going after different Samsung devices, it's ultimately trying to prove the same thing as it did before: that Samsung intentionally copied its patented inventions...

Judge grants class action status to e-book suit against Apple

Cody Lee ∙ March 29, 2014

Reuters is reporting that a federal judge has granted 'class action' status to plaintiffs suing Apple over its collusion with book publishers to increase the price of e-books. The ruling allows the involved individuals to sue the company and collect damages as a group.

The decision came from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who also presided over the antitrust case against Apple by the DOJ last summer. Cote says the plaintiffs had "more than met their burden" to file as a group, and has green-lighted their $800 million lawsuit...

BlackBerry wins injunction against Typo keyboard case

Cody Lee ∙ March 29, 2014

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...

BlackBerry sues SVP of software to stay after being hired away by Apple

Cody Lee ∙ March 26, 2014

You don't hear this everyday: BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit against its own SVP of software following his letter of resignation in December of last year. The company claims that Sebastien Marineau-Mes's attempt to leave for a new 'VP of Core OS' position at Apple was a violation of his employment contract.

According to a ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Marineau-Mes is being sued over the breach of contract terms that stipulated he must provide at least six months notice before leaving BlackBerry. So since he submitted his resignation in December, the court says he must stay through June...

Apple engineer offers detailed look at development of original iPhone software

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

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...

Apple now refunding unwanted in-app purchases

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Following numerous probes by government agencies and looming class action lawsuits the company is now facing around the world, Apple is finally reaching out to customers to inform them they may be entitled to refunds concerning unwanted in-app purchases made by minors due to weak iOS Restrictions at the time.

Last year, the iPhone maker reluctantly settled with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding in-app purchases, agreeing to compensate consumers and modify its in-app billing system by March 31 to make things a little clearer for its customers...