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News tagged ‘patent’
Apple And Samsung CEOs To Meet In Court For Patent Dispute Settlement Talks
According to FOSS Patents’ , Samsung CEO Gee-Sung Choi and Apple CEO Tim Cook and their general counsels will meet at a San Francisco courthouse within the next 90 days for a discussion aimed at resolving long-standing patent dispute. Lucy Koh, the judge presiding over two Apple vs. Samsung cases in California, ordered the companies to comment on their participation in Alternative Dispute Resolution. As noted in a joint statement of the companies before the court:
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Apple Offers Royalty-Free Patent Licenses to Push Proposed Nano-SIM Standard
FOSS Patents reports that it has seen a letter sent by Apple to the European Telecommunications Standards Institutes (ETSI) committing to offer royalty-free license to its nano-SIM design patents. Apple pushes “nano-SIM” design as the official next-generation standard to further reduce the size of the removable cards.
A perfectly reliable source that I can't disclose has shown me a letter dated March 19, 2012 that a senior Apple lawyer sent to ETSI. The letter addresses the primary concern of critics of the proposal. The FT said that "the Apple-led proposal has caused some concern among its rivals that the US group might eventually own the patents". But Apple's letter has removed this roadblock, if it ever was any, through an unequivocal commitment to grant royalty-free licenses to any Apple patents essential to nano-SIM, provided that Apple's proposal is adopted as a standard and that all other patent holders accept the same terms in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.
Such “nano-SIM” standard would enable Apple to design smaller and thinner devices or to utilize some of the space within existing device volumes for other components.
Apple adds army of Korean-speakers to legal team in Samsung patent war
Apple has reportedly hired 73 contract attorneys and 20 reviewers of Korean-American descent to study the growing mountain of Korean-language documents provided by the Galaxy Tab maker.
WilmerHale, the firm tasked with defending Apple against Samsung patent attacks, filed the declarations of 72 Korean-American contract lawyers and 20 document reviewers that will allow them to take part in the litigation. In addition to cross-contracting six of the lawyers and two reviewers, Morrison & Forrester, which deals with Apple's patent assertions against the South Korean company, hired a separate Korean-American attorney.
iTV Entertainment Warns Apple Of Legal Actions If It Uses iTV Name
While rumors have been widely circulating that Apple is working on a TV set, no direct evidence of this product has emerged. As for the possible name for the product, some have believed that Apple will name the new TV set "Apple TV", while other suggested the company will prefer the "iTV" name despite it raises branding and trademark issues with other companies such as UK-based .
Apple Wins Long-Term Protection from Ban on Sales of 3G-Enabled Devices in Germany
As far as you remember, in December Motorola win a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany which has resulted in banning on sales of Apple’s 3G-enabled products such as the iPhone and cellular-capable iPad models in the country. But a few hours later after the ban granted on such products, the court temporarily suspended enforcement of the injunction.
And now FOSS Patents reports that the court has ruled that Motorola can not enforce the injunction for the duration of Apple's appeal in the case that could take as long as a year or more, therethrough Apple is no longer at risk of having its products removed from sale.
Apple wins German injunction against Motorola over 'slide-to-unlock'
Judge Dr. Peter Guntz of the Munich Regional Court on Thursday found that a number of Motorola products had infringed on Apple's slide-to-unlock patent that gives the iPhone maker the option to enforce a German injunction against any offending devices. Apple's first win against Motorola could result in a complete reworking of how Motorola devices handle screen unlocking.
The German court looked at three different Motorola implementations of gesture-based device unlocking and found that two infringed on Apple's patent, namely those used by the RAZR maker's Android smartphones.
Apple Sues Motorola Over Breach Of Licensing Agrement With Qualcomm
According to Reuters' , Apple has filed a suit against Motorola alleging that the company has breached terms of the licensing contract with Qualcomm in its efforts to block sales of several Apple’s iOS devices in Germany. Following Motorola's vicrory in a German court in December, Apple last week removed all 3G-enabled devices except for the iPhone 4S from its online store in Germany. However, these devices were restored within several hours after the court suspended the injunction.
Apple Asked ETSI To Set Basic FRAND Licensing Rules
After being defeated by Motorola in a patent dispute over FRAND licensing this month, Apple proposed the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set consistent royalties for patents that are essential to wireless communication standards, the Wall Street Journal. The body participates in setting the standards relating to 4G LTE, 3G UMTS and GSM technologies.
Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab 10.1N escape German injunctions
Samsung's modified Galaxy Tab 10.1N seen on the left compared to the original model
A German Munich Regional Court judge has recently made a decision against granting Apple injunctions on two Samsung products. The judge also noted that at least one of the patent mentioned in the action was likely to be revoked at trial.
The two products, Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone and its revised "10.1N" version of the Galaxy Tab (redesigned by Samsung to escape the original injunction on sales Apple won last September) will be available for sale in Germany while the case against them continues.
As for the Galaxy Nexus, Apple argued for an injunction on sales based on a "patent granted last year protecting some technology related to touch screens."
New Photos of Camera-Equipped iPod Nano Casing Surface
Last April, Apple.pro posted a photo of what appeared to be an iPod nano with a hole in the rear casing that was said to be for a camera. A second photo showing a clipless design casing for the device and claiming that it would carry a 1.3-megapixel camera.
Apple ultimately made no changes to the design of the iPod nano in September of last year, instead opting to update the software and lower pricing on the 8 GB and 16 GB models. But the idea of a camera-equipped iPod nano was revived in November with the publication of a May 2010 patent application on speaker design that appeared to show a hole in the iPod nano's clip in the same location as the rumored camera hole seen in the leaked photos.
European Commision Launches Investigation Into Samsung Over Essential 3G Patents
Today European Commission the launch of an investigation to determine whether Samsung has violated EU antitrust laws in its legal agreements with competing companies. The European Commission will focus on patents that must be licensed on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms.
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Tim Cook Responds to Report on Working Conditions at Suppliers' Factories
Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent an email to company employees where he gave his explanation of treatment of workers at the facilities of Apple's suppliers. The email highlights Apple's efforts to oversee compliance with company standards for workers' rights and the transparency. From Cook's opening statement:
As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.
German court tosses Samsung's 3G-related lawsuit against Apple
On Friday German Judge Andreas Voss rejected Samsung's numerous lawsuits against Apple in Germany, accusing the iPhone maker of violating a patent related to 3G/UMTS wireless communications. The lawsuit included 7 different patents; six of these patents are tied up in four other lawsuits. Though Voss did not provide a reasoning for his pronouncement, if he had determined that Samsung's 3G patent was invalid, the outcome of the lawsuit would have been a stay rather than a rejection.
"There are two reasonably likely possibilities: either Apple's products weren't deemed to infringe on the patent in a technical sense or the court believes Samsung's rights are exhausted and Apple has, by extension, a technical license," Mueller wrote.
New Apple suit claims Galaxy Nexus infringes on 'slide-to-unlock' feature
Mere hours after serving up a ruling on Friday for a failed Samsung lawsuit against Apple, the Mannheim Regional Court held a hearing about Apple’s complaint against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. It is the first time when Apple has named the South Korean electronics manufacturer's flagship Android handset in a lawsuit, claiming the device infringes the iPhone maker's "slide-to-unlock" utility model that was first introduced with the original iPhone in 2007 and subsequently patented with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October 2011
Examinations of utility model registrations are not as stringent as patent filings and don't carry a presumption of validity which is necessary for a court ruling. Thus the Mannheim court does not foresee an immediate decision in the "slide-to-unlock" suit as it believes the validity or invalidity of the invention is too close to call.
Apple working on version of Siri to help you purchase products online
This week AppleInsider discovered a new patent application from Apple that demonstrates company's interest in expanding its Siri voice-assistant to help with online shopping. The current version of the service available exclusively on the iPhone 4S does not allow users to make online purchases. The voice-driven personal assistant software responds with "Sorry, I can't purchase that," when a user tries to complete transactions with online stores.
The patent application, entitled "Intelligent Automated Assistant," is a detailed look not only at what Siri can already do, but what it might be able to do in the future. And it specifically highlights e-commerce as a key function of its "Intelligent Automated Assistant." The application notes that Siri could be used for "online purchases of items such as books, DVDs, music and the like."