In the ongoing "war of the worlds" patent litigation between Apple and Samsung/Google, the Cupertino company has said it will amend its patent infringement claims to include the Galaxy S4. That's according to Foss Patents, which also reports that Apple asserts Google Now infringes two patents associated with Siri. Overall, there are five patents being asserted in the amended Apple pleadings (below). The Siri-related patents are U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 and U.S. Patent No. 6,847,959, which pertain to a "universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system." Apple is [...]

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The European Commission has made a preliminary determination that Google's Motorola Mobility unit "abused its dominant position" under EU antitrust rules in seeking to obtain and enforce an injunction against Apple in Germany. At the center of the dispute is Motorola's claimed misuse of  "standards essential patents" in mobile patent litigation against Apple. Google's antitrust settlement with the FTC in the US requires the company not to use standards-essential patents to block rival mobile products. The European Commission says that's what Motorola was trying to do in this case. Howe [...]

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In the original Star Trek series episode called "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," two nearly identical aliens, inflamed by mutual hatred, beam down to their decimated planet to continue their fight, seemingly for eternity. That might also be a way to describe the Apple-Android global litigation: it goes on and on, seemingly forever. A frustrated federal judge in Florida has publicly attacked both Apple and, in this case, Motorola (Google) for being unwilling to voluntarily streamline and simplify their case or engage in sincere settlement talks. According to Bloomberg, exasperated US  [...]

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Google (and Motorola Mobility) have counter-sued the UK's BT Group (British Telecom) for patent infringement in the US and UK. This follows a 2011 patent lawsuit filing by BT against Google. Google has probably asserted its patents in an effort to provide some negotiating leverage against BT in any future settlement discussions. The patents at issue concern IP telephony, data management, networking and mobile technology. BT claims that several of Google's services infringe its patents, including aspects of Android. By contrast Google says that BT has infringed its patents with the latter's [...]

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Oracle has filed an appeal in its unsuccessful copyright and patent case against Google involving the Java programming language (specifically Java APIs). Oracle acquired Java when it bought Sun Microsystems several years ago. At trial, Oracle was basically shut out on all its claims. It appears that Oracle is only appealing the copyright portion of the case. The jury originally did find copyright infringement by Google, but also found that Google's selective use of Java in the Android OS constituted "fair use." Fair use is a defense against infringement. The judge in the case, William Al [...]

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Facebook and AddThis, the social sharing platform company, are named as defendants in a lawsuit that claims two violations of patent infringement law. Rembrandt Social Media, a patent-holding company, filed the suit last week in Virginia, saying that Facebook infringed on two of its patents and AddThis on one. As Ars Technica reported, Rembrandt is working with the family of Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer, a Dutch programmer described in the lawsuit as "a pioneer in the development of user-friendly Web-based technologies," who died in 2004. Van Der Meer, who once owned the surfb [...]

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For a time, it looked like Apple's $1 billion patent infringement verdict against Samsung would would rock the smartphone world. However, in the months since the landmark decision was handed down, it has proven to be little more than a symbolic victory. Courts and the US International Trade Commission have been loath to ban the import of Android devices regardless of infringement findings. Apple is thus left with its damages and the dubious, symbolic argument that its claims were vindicated by the courts. None of that means anything to the smartphone buying public. By duplicating the "tr [...]

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According to Reuters yesterday Apple has agreed to drop patent infringement claims against the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Despite its availability online in several places, including Amazon, Samsung represented to the court that it's not "making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States." On that basis Apple has withdrawn its complaint. Indeed, a search on the Samsung US website doesn't shows only the Galaxy S3 in response to a search for "Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini." However the phone can be purchased on the US version of Amazon's website as [...]

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Earlier this year Apple won a billion-dollar US patent infringement case against Samsung. On almost every single claim Apple succeeded, including claims of willful infringement by Samsung. Samsung lost on all its counterclaims. It was a staggering victory for Apple and apparent vindication of its contention that Samsung had "slavishly copied" the iPhone for its various Android handset designs. Yet even this massive win with its $1 billion verdict may turn out to be largely symbolic. Yesterday Judge Lucy Koh denied both Samsung and Apple what they wanted in a post-trial hearing. Samsung h [...]

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According to Bloomberg Apple has won another legal victory against rival Samsung, this time in front of the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Samsung had gone to the ITC to block the importing of iPhones and iPads (from China) into the US on patent-infringement grounds. Samsung claimed four patent violations by Apple. Administrative law judge James Gildea found that Apple didn't violate any of the Samsung patents in question. The decision is still preliminary; however it's likely to stand. And it comes on the heels of Apple's recent federal court trial victory against Samsung la [...]

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Recently Apple won a major victory "at home" and lost (partly) "on the road" in South Korea, where a court last Friday issued a split decision in its IP litigation with Samsung. Earlier today Samsung won a round: a court in Japan found that the Korean company did not infringe Apple patents that involve "synchronizing music and video data with servers." From the published reports it appears the court was skeptical of Apple's claim to such basic functionality. Following the decision, Samsung shares gained back some of the losses they suffered in the wake of the major defeat the company suffer [...]

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Reuters is reporting that Google's CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been involved in "behind-the-scenes conversations about a range of intellectual property matters." Like Russia and the US during the cold war, Reuters says the "two companies are keeping the lines of communication open at a high level." The article suggests the discussions started before the recent Apple victory over Samsung in the much-watched US patent trial. That litigation was widely thought to be a proxy fight against Google-Android. And many assumed that direct Apple-Google litigation was likely in its wake [...]

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Will Apple's sweeping, yet still preliminary, patent victory over Samsung have a positive or negative impact on Android? Will it have any impact at all? Will it be the death of competition or a boon for competition? Opinions are all over the place. Over the weekend Google issued a statement (via TheVerge) that the decision will have no impact on "core Android" features or capabilities: The court of appeals will review both infringement and the validity of the patent claims. Most of these don’t relate to the core Android operating system, and several are being re-examined by the US Pate [...]

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As you may recall the judge in the Oracle v. Google patent and copyright trial (William Alsup) asked both sides to reveal authors, bloggers, journalists and others with whom they had financial relationships. Oracle disclosed that it had retained Florian Mueller, who writes the widely read patent blog FOSS Patents. Google said that it had no such relationships. The judge wasn't satisfied with that response and ordered Google to try again and produce a list of paid commentators by August 24. At the end of last week, Google complied by filing a supplemental disclosure listing several nam [...]

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This is the question on many minds following the dramatic Apple victory over Samsung in its patent case in US federal court on Friday. Many bloggers, pundits and tech journalists are now mulling over the implications and considering "What comes next?" Decrying the $1 billion-plus verdict Samsung immediately predicted the sky will fall on consumers: "It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation and potentially higher prices," the company statement claimed. Mostly hyperbole, that's unlikely to happen. Indeed the verdict is unlikely to impact Samsung in a big way either. Samsung Unlikel [...]

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Apple has won most of its case against Samsung. The jury found in Apple's favor on an overwhelming majority of claims. Samsung was found to have infringed six of seven Apple patents. Conversely, the jury found against Samsung on almost all claims, including arguments that Apple's patents were invalid. The jury also found that Samsung's infringement was "willful" in several cases and awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages. By the same token Samsung mostly drew a blank on its claims and was awarded $0 damages. The Korean handset maker will certainly appeal. But the outlook for succ [...]

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The tech world is breathlessly waiting for the jury in the US federal district court trial (San Jose, CA) in Apple v. Samsung to deliver its verdict. My prediction: expect some sort of "split decision," in which the jury finds Samsung liable on some but not all of Apple's claims and awards some but not all the damages that Apple is asking for. (Update: see our post-verdict story: Apple Wins: Proves Samsung Infringed Patents As Jury Awards $1B+ In Damages.) Apple might similarly be held liable on a couple of Samsung's counter-claims but those are unlikely to be "material." In such an [...]

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In the Oracle vs. Google litigation, which is winding down, Judge William Alsup ordered the companies to disclose authors, bloggers and journalists with whom they had financial relationships. Oracle previously disclosed that it had retained Florian Mueller, who writes the blog FOSS Patents. Google disclosed that it had paid no one. On August 17, 2012 Google filed a statement that read in part: Neither Google nor its counsel has paid an author, journalist, commentator or blogger to report or comment on any issues in this case. And neither Google nor its counsel has been involved in any [...]

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Apple has been waging a proxy war with Google and Android through its global litigation with Samsung. Now the companies will be directly battling it out in a new action filed by Google subsidiary Motorola before the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Motorola filed and partly won a patent case before the ITC, prior to the Google acquisition. But this is the first case filed under Google ownership. The earlier Motorola ITC patent victory was based on a single claim related to wireless 3G standards. Motorola seeks an import ban on iPhones in that case. A final decision from the administ [...]

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AllThingsD is reporting Yahoo has reached a deal with Facebook to drop the patent infringement lawsuit in exchange for expanding their ad and content deal. Kara Swisher, who typically has the inside word on these topics, said the deal was approved this morning by Yahoo’s directors on a telephone meeting. Kara said Yahoo and Facebook will formally announce it "sometime later today." There wil be no cash payments involved in this deal. The specifics of the deal are not clear right now but the main point is Yahoo will drop their patent suit and they will expand their ongoing partnersh [...]

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