Now we know why Apple has made the controversial decision to dual-source baseband modem chips for iPhone 7 from both Intel and Qualcomm. Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Qualcomm with monopolizing baseband modems used in smartphones, saying the firm's leveraged its position to force Apple to use its baseband chips in exchange for lower patent royalties.
Believe it or not, the longstanding Apple vs. Samsung patent spat over iPhone's iconic design is now in its sixth year. During that time, Samsung was found guilty of infringing upon Apple's patented smartphone design, including iPhone's rectangular front face with rounded metal edges and a grid of colorful icons on a black screen.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reopened that lawsuit yesterday after a recommendation from the U.S. Supreme Court to determine how much Samsung should pay the Cupertino firm over copying iPhone's look and feel, according to court documents uncovered by Law360.com.
A new patent application for “Wireless audio output devices,” published Thursday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), describes exactly how Apple's new W1 chip inside AirPods enables zero-configuration Bluetooth pairing. In a nutshell, the charging case that comes with AirPods doubles as a physical pairing interface.
Aside from a built-in battery, the case features its own microprocessor and communications stack, a motion-detecting lid for starting the seamless pairing process with an Apple device and a physical button for manual Bluetooth pairing with non-Apple hardware, like Android handsets.
It seems that Apple may be reviving its old AirTunes trademark for purposes unknown, Patently Apple reported Monday. AirTunes became AirPlay in 2010 so it's a mystery as to why precisely Apple has now decided to file for the figurative trademark “AirTunes” with the European Union's Trademark Office.
According to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) document, the U.S. trademark for “AirTunes” expired on November 11, 2016. The AirTunes feature originally worked with the original AirPort router.
iOS-compatible smart bathroom scales, thermometers, fitness watches and other HomeKit-enabled smart accessories by French health tracking company Withings have been removed from both online and brick-and-mortar Apple Stores following the latest legal spat with Nokia.
Wait, what do Withings products have to do with the Nokia patent row, you ask. Well, Nokia bought Withings in April 2016 for a reported $192 million, integrating their products into its Digital Health unit led by former Withings CEO Cedric Hutchings. The removal was first reported by MacRumors.
Later this week, Apple and the government of Ireland will appeal against the European Union's $14.5 billion tax ruling targeting Apple's sweetheart tax deal with Dublin that the EU deemed “illegal state aid.” According to Reuters today, the Cupertino firm will object to the fact that EU regulators ignored established tax experts and common corporate law.
Apple's legal strategy involves painting itself as a victim of its own success. EU deliberately singled out Apple due to its success and picked a method to maximize the penalty, said Apple's top lawyer Bruce Sewell.
Following a five-year fight over marketing manager David Lysgaard's faulty iPhone 4 he bought in 2011 from Apple.com, the Glostrup District Court has ruled that Apple did violate the Danish Sale of Goods Act by giving the man a “remanufactured” device instead of the brand new phone he was entitled to in accordance with local law, Domstol.dk reported Friday. Apple's warranty terms state that refurbs use either brand new parts or those that are equivalent to new in performance and reliability.
We know from Tim Cook's remarks that Apple dabbled in virtual reality systems before deciding that augmented reality is the way to go. As opposed to virtual reality which completely immersed you in computer-generated environments, augmented reality overlays computer imagery on live video feed of the real world, enhancing or augmenting the images of your real-life surroundings.
Apple's latest patent award for augmented reality maps that surfaced today in the database of the United States Patent & Trademark Office underscores the company's commitment to augmented reality technologies.
California's top cops seem to have obtained a questionable warrant request to enter a residence and force anyone inside to use biometric information to open their fingerprint-locked iPhones purely on the assumption they'll learn more after they access the phones, Forbes reported this morning.
Deemed as “an unprecedented attempt to bypass the security of Apple's iPhones,” Forbes found a court filing in which the Department of Justice sought to search a Lancaster, California, property.
There have been at least 343 instances in which Apple took advantage of section 44(d) of the US Trademark Act to keep its trademark filings confidential for a period of six months, Quartz reported Monday in an interesting write-up titled “Why Jamaica knows about Apple’s new products before the rest of the world”.
The article explains that Apple files trademark applications in places where these databases are not searchable online, via shell companies to conceal its identity and six months before applying for the same trademark in the U.S.
Class action lawsuit pertaining to an iPhone 6 Plus hardware flaw, referred to as “Touch Disease,” has gained support from three additional law firms.
Motherboard reports that lawyers who filed the original class action complaint have now signed on three additional law firms to support their case.
An additional “Touch Disease” class action suit has been filed against Apple in Utah and there is also a similar class action suit in Canada.
Samsung is on the hook for $399 million in damages owed to Apple for stealing its patented iPhone designs in what's become the first legal battle over design patents in nearly 120 years.
A typical design patent covers the ornamental look of an object rather than any functional aspect.
According to Bloomberg this morning, the United States Supreme Court will determine the outcome of the monster Apple v. Samsung lawsuit on Tuesday, October 11.