Free Republic

Nearly six years after a federal jury awarded Apple over $1 billion for Samsung infringements of iPhone intellectual properties, a jury retrying the damages portion of the case has reached a unanimous verdict, modifying the figure to $538,641,656 across five design and utility patents. The verdict comes after years of damages-only retrials and appeals, including a visit to the United States Supreme Court.Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. began in April 2011 with Apple’s allegation that certain Samsung smartphones infringed on iPhone inventions including patents and trademarks. Apple won the trial in August 2012, receiving an initial award of...

U.S. Supreme Court limits where patent-infringement cases can be filed; decision could limit venue-shopping “The Supreme Court on Monday limited the ability of patent holders to bring infringement lawsuits in courts that have plaintiff friendly reputations, a notable decision that could provide a boost to companies that defend against patent claims,” Brent Kendall reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The high court, in an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, ruled unanimously that a lower court has been following an incorrect legal standard for almost 30 years that made it possible for patent holders to sue companies in almost any U.S....

A federal appeals court has thrown out a jury verdict that had originally required Apple Inc to pay $533 million to Smartflash LLC, a technology developer and licenser that claimed Apple's iTunes software infringed its data storage patents. The trial judge vacated the large damages award a few months after a Texas federal jury imposed it in February 2015, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said on Wednesday the judge should have ruled Smartflash's patents invalid and set aside the verdict entirely. A unanimous three-judge appeals panel said Smartflash's patents were too "abstract" and did not...

The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Samsung's bid for a second re-hearing of the storied 2014 patent trial with apple, covering auto-correct, quick links, and slide-to-unlock, and is now on the hook for the $119.6 million ruling. The Court of Appeals made no comment on the refusal of the appeal effort by Samsung. Samsung's only venue for relief on the matter is the Supreme Court, should it decide to pursue that avenue. Samsung had little support in this matter, standing in contrast to wide industry support for its Supreme Court bid over the first Apple versus Samsung trial. Only...

Case addresses design patent damage awards Samsung and Apple argued in America’s highest court today, capping off years of patent lawsuits with a debate over a tiny piece of the overall case. The arguments the Supreme Court heard today address how much of the profits from a product — in this case, a smartphone — should be awarded to the holder of a design patent when their patent is infringed. (A quick refresher: design patents protect the "ornamental design" of an invention, while the more familiar utility patents protect functional elements.)Samsung argued that the damages awarded in the case (some...

3D-printed Samsung and Apple logos are seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated a $120 million jury award for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) against Samsung (005930.KS), marking the latest twist in the fierce patent war between the world's top smartphone manufacturers. The court said that there was substantial evidence for the jury verdict related to Samsung's infringement of Apple patents on its slide-to-unlock and autocorrect features, as well as quick links, which automatically turn information like addresses and phone numbers into links. Friday's decision...

Apple loses patent infringement case against VirnetX on second retrial. . . link only due copyright issues: VirnetX Wins $302.4 Million Trial Against Apple in Texas

Samsung Gear came to market in 2013 and it offered a camera and speaker built right into its one and only band and clasp design. After Apple introduced the Apple Watch with multiple band options and its quick and easy install mechanism for changing the bands, Samsung set out to copy that idea as quickly as they possibly could. In a patent application that surfaced today at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office titled "Wearable Device," they discuss their new "exchangeable" strap mechanisms. What struck me was that a great number of their form factor patent figures were actually Apple...

dozens of the world's top design professionals — providing services to the likes of Coca-Cola, Google, Louis Vuitton, NASA, Porsche and Starbucks — filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on Thursday, pledging their support for Apple in its ongoing patent infringement lawsuit against rival Samsung. In all, more than 100 designers signed on to the 63-page filing, which begins by asserting to the court that visual design frequently becomes the product itself, in the minds of consumers. Noteworthy names on the list include Dieter Rams, Calvin Klein, and Norman Foster. As a chief example, the designers cited Coca-Cola,...

REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY - A federal judge has thrown out a verdict requiring Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC.A) $625.6 million for infringing four patents relating to Internet security technology, causing VirnetX's share price to plunge. VirnetX shares were down $1.93, or 44.6 percent, at $2.40 in Monday morning trading, after earlier falling to $2.14. In a decision late Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder in Tyler, Texas said it was unfair to Apple that two VirnetX lawsuits had been combined into a single trial. He said jurors may have been confused by more than 50 references to...

Apple Inc on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd over whether Apple should receive damages in a case about smartphone design patents. In its legal brief, Apple said Samsung has introduced "no evidence" that design patent damages should be decided on anything less than the value of an entire smartphone. Apple said there was no need for the Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court for further proceedings. The world's top smartphone rivals have been feuding over patents since 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in a northern California court,...

Apple is in a court battle in China that isn’t going so well. Baili, a Chinese device maker, has sued Apple for allegedly copying its smartphone design in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. A Chinese court recently granted Baili an injunction that would have forced Apple to remove the iPhone 6 line from store shelves. However, Apple quickly appealed the ruling to a higher court, which will allow it to continue selling the iPhone 6 line until that court makes its own ruling on the case.Gadget site Engadget previously reported on the lawsuit.The smartphone in question is Baili’s...

Apple has been hit by one of the more shocking patent lawsuits in recent memory.A company that seemingly does nothing but license patents or, if necessary, sue other companies to get royalties, has taken aim at Apple But here’s the kicker: the lawsuit alleges that Apple’s last several iPhones and iPads violate a slew of patents related to seemingly standard features, including the ability to place calls as well as sending and receiving emails. A total of six patent infringement claims were brought against Apple by Corydoras Technologies on May 20, according to Apple-tracking site Patently Apple, which obtained...

A Nevada based company is suing Apple for patent infringement. The company alleges that Apple's 2-step Apple ID verification system/process violates their patent. Verify Smart Corp. alleges that Apple makes, uses, tests, markets and sells or otherwise provides a system and method for enabling a user to authenticate their identity when initiating an electronic transaction, using a one-time pass-code sent to the user's mobile phone (hereinafter "Apple two-step verification"). They further claim that Apple's two-step verification system is designed to enable secure transactions for their customers. Verify alleges, that Apple's two-step verification infringes claims 2 and 5 of their...

... Burst, a two-person dot-com survivor from Santa Rosa, Calif., where I used to live, has been suing Microsoft for two years for anti-trust, breach of contract, restraint of trade, and patent infringement. In the great panoply of Microsoft civil anti-trust lawsuits, Burst's might be the last, and for Microsoft, it has to be the worst because Redmond looks so bad. This week, the news from recently unsealed court documents is that Microsoft may have deliberately lied not only to Burst, but also to the other anti-trust litigants right up to and including the U.S. Department of Justice. You will...

A US COURT JUDGE has ruled that Microsoft must stand trial (again), accused of patent infringements in its implementation of Internet Explorer. The University of California and Eolas Technologies Inc launched a suit against the monopolist back in 1999, claiming the company had infringed a patented method to allow a browser to access an interactive application. Microsoft wanted the case dismissed, claiming Explorer didn’t in fact work in manner described in the patent, but now, finally, a US District Judge, James Zagel, has decided the issue should be decided in court. In a statement, the judge said that parties had...