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Tag: patent wars

  • U.S. Closes Samsung Patent Abuse Investigation

    U.S. Closes Samsung Patent Abuse Investigation

    The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today officially closed its investigation into Samsung’s possible abuse of patents. The decision was made following the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) decision to overturn previously awarded bans on Apple products in the U.S.

    As part of the ongoing and years-long patent war between Samsung and Apple, Samsung was awarded sale bans on certain iPhone and iPad models in the U.S. The USTR reversed this ban today, citing the fact that the ban was not in the public’s interest.

    The patents that Samsung had used to obtain the ban were so-called standards-essential patents (SEPs). Such patents are deemed essential to certain markets and must be licensed non-discriminatorily at fair market prices. The Department of Justice was investigating whether Samsung’s ban on Apple products may have violated antitrust laws. According to the DOJ, using SEPs to obtain product bans could represent an abuse of market power.

    “While there are certain circumstances where an exclusion order as a remedy for infringement of such patents could be appropriate, in many cases there is a risk that the patent holder could use the threat of an exclusion order to obtain licensing terms that are more onerous than would be justified by the value of the technology itself, effectively exploiting the market power obtained through the standards-setting process,” said the DOJ in an official statement.

    “The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) reviewed the exclusion order issued by the ITC against Apple at Samsung’s request and overturned it, determining that it was not consistent with the public interest. As a result of the USTR’s action, the Antitrust Division has determined that no further action is required at this time. The Antitrust Division is therefore closing its investigation into Samsung’s conduct, but will continue to monitor further developments in this area.”

    Image via Samsung

  • Google and Samsung to Share Patents

    Google and Samsung to Share Patents

    The years-long legal fight between Apple and Samsung is continuing to rage in courts around the world. Other high-profile patent lawsuits have come and gone in recent years, creating an uneasy climate in which tech companies are now engaging in an expensive patent-gathering cold war.

    This situation has led to surprising developments in recent years, including massive patent cross-licensing agreements between industry competitors. Now, two of the biggest tech companies in the world have combined forces to establish a solid position in the patent wars.

    Today Samsung and Google announced that they have entered into a patent agreement. The arrangement is being described as a “long-term cooperative partnership” in which the two companies will share their patent portfolios. According to Google and Samsung, the deal will allow both companies to collaborate more closely in the future.

    “This agreement with Google is highly significant for the technology industry,” said Seungho Ahn, head of the Intellectual Property Center at Samsung. “Samsung and Google are showing the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperating than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes.”

    Under the terms of the agreement, Google and Samsung will cross-license each company’s patents for both technology and business applications. In addition to the cross-licensing of existing patents, the new deal also covers patents that Google and Samsung will file over the next 10 years.

    “We’re pleased to enter into a cross-license with our partner Samsung,” said Allen Lo, deputy general counsel for patents at Google. “By working together on agreements like this, companies can reduce the potential for litigation and focus instead on innovation.”

    Image via Samsung

  • Mark Cuban, Notch Donate 500K For Patent Reform

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit organization that champions the public intrest in digital rights battles, today announced that it has received two huge donations from very different entrepreneurs.

    Mark Cuban and Markus “Notch” Persson have each donated $250,000 dollars toward the EFF’s goal of reforming software patent laws. Cuban is the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Notch is the outspoken creator of the popular video game Minecraft.

    “The current state of patents and patent litigation in this country is shameful,” said Cuban. “Silly patent lawsuits force prices to go up while competition and innovation suffer. That’s bad for consumers and bad for business. It’s time to fix our broken system, and EFF can help. So that’s why part of my donation funds a new title for EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels: ‘The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents’.”

    Cuban has been outspoken in the past about his hatred of patent trolls and poor patent laws. Back in April 2012, Cuban ranted about the current state of technology patents while discussing a lawsuit between Facebook and Yahoo.

    Notch pioneered a pricing model for Minecraft based on how finished the game was at the time of purchase. He also founded Mojang, a new Swedish indie-game developer that has taken in over $80 million since the release of Minecraft.

    “Temporary fixes aren’t good enough – we need deep and meaningful reform to protect software development and keep it as free and democratic as possible,” said Notch. “New games and other technological tools come from improving on old things and making them better – an iterative process that the current patent environment could shut down entirely. This is a dangerous path we’re on, and I’m glad to help EFF move us in the right direction.”

    The EFF’s Defend Innovation project proposes seven ways in which the U.S. patent system could be reformed for the better, including shorter terms for software patents; allowing winning parties in patent litigation to recover fees and costs; and protecting inventors who independently invent an already patented idea. The organization stated that the Cuban/Notch donations will go to the hiring of a new attorney experienced in patent reform and to the organization’s continuing efforts to push for patent reform through the courts, activism campaigns, and public education.

  • Apple, HTC Settle All Their Patent Lawsuits

    Apple and HTC announced this weekend that they have reached a global settlement that dismisses all current patent lawsuits between the companies. In addition, the companies have signed a ten-year license agreement that extends to current and future patents held by both Apple and HTC. The “terms” of the settlement are confidential, so it is unknown how much money has changed hands.

    “HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

    “We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

    Though the terms of the settlement haven’t been released, I think it’s safe to say that HTC will be paying plenty of money to Apple. Apple is the company who began these lawsuits, and the company does not have a history of backing down from patent trials.

    Back in August, the judge in the U.S. trial between Apple and Samsung urged the companies to resolve their dispute before the verdict could bring possible disaster to both parties. No settlement was reached, and the move paid off for Apple, which was rewarded just over $1billion.

    Unfortunately for Apple, it has not been as successful with patent litigation outside the U.S. In the U.K., Apple was ordered to publish an embarrassing apology to Samsung. Samsung and Motorola won a lawsuit against Apple in Germany back in September, and last month a court in the Netherlands ruled that Samsung did not infringe Apple’s multi-touch patents. Last week, a patent troll was able to win a verdict against Apple, nabbing $396 million.

  • FTC Staff Recommending Google Lawsuit [RUMOR]

    According to a Bloomberg report, staff members of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are formally recommending to commissioners that Google be sued for violations of antitrust law. The report cites four unnamed people “familiar with the matter,” and states that the final decision on the case will come sometime after election day on November 6.

    The FTC investigation stems from Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, in which it also inherited a civil investigative demand from the FTC. It all stems from complaints by companies, including Microsoft and Apple, that Motorola was not offering essential patent licensing at reasonable prices. At the time, Google claimed it would honor fair licensing practices, but continued Motorola Mobility’s lawsuit against the companies.

    The Motorola Mobility lawsuit could prevent consumer electronics products from companies such as Apple and Google from being imported in the U.S. According to Bloomberg, Motorola originally had asked for 2.25% of the price of each product for the use of its standard essential patents. The suing companies rejected the offer, with Apple reportedly stating that the technology is only worth $1 per unit.

    Last month, it was reported that four of five FTC commissioners support antitrust action against Google, and that the FTC’s decision could come sometime in late November or early December. Soon after, Colorado Congressman Jared Polis sent a letter to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz warning the commission against suing Google.

  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus Injunction Lifted by Court

    Samsung Galaxy Nexus Injunction Lifted by Court

    A federal U.S. Appeals Court this week threw out a lower court’s preliminary injunction that Apple won against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Samsung had requested the injunction be lifted, though sales of the Galaxy Nexus were disrupted for only a week or so back in July of this year. Google was able to quickly modify the software on the phones to get around Apple’s patent claims.

    The injunction is part of a U.S. patent trial in which Apple and Samsung accuse each other of patent violations. Apple recently won a huge victory in a different U.S. patent trial, with Samsung ordered to hand over $1billion to Apple.

    The two continue to battle over patents in U.S. courts, though. Samsung recently added Apple’s new iPhone 5 to the list of Apple devices it says infringe on its wireless technology patents in a trial scheduled to take place in 2014.

    While these lawsuits would seem to be a hinderance to Samsung, the Korean company has actually been steadily capturing more of the smartphone market. Estimates now show that 25% of all smartphones in the U.S. are Samsungs, and the company has been consolidating its dominance of the Android handset market throughout 2012.

    Just this week, Samsung announced a mini version of its flagship Android device, the Galaxy S III. Combine this with rumors of a coming 10-inch Nexus tablet, and Samsung is on the road to becoming Apple’s main competitor in both the 10-inch tablet and smartphone markets.

  • iPhone 5 Added to Samsung Patent Lawsuit

    iPhone 5 Added to Samsung Patent Lawsuit

    Samsung had already announced in a court filing that it was going to take on the iPhone 5 for suspected violations of patents it holds, and the company has stayed true to its word.

    Apple Insider is reporting that this week Samsung officially added Apple’s latest smartphone to a different lawsuit than the one Samsung lost last month. This lawsuit is the same one in which Apple was granted an abbreviated preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus being sold in the U.S. Samsung is alledging that Apple’s iPhone products violate two UMTS standards patents and six other feature patents Samsung holds.

    The report states that Samsung obtained an iPhone 5 as soon as the smartphone was available, then determined that it has “the same accused functionality as the previously accused versions of the iPhone.”

    This trial is currently very young, and is still deep in the discovery phase. It’s likely that Samsung may even get the chance to add the next version of the iPhone to the lawsuit, as the trial isn’t scheduled to begin until 2014

    Samsung recently lost a different patent dispute to Apple. In that lawsuit, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1 billion in damages, though the judge in that case did lift the U.S. sales ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that had been in place since June.

  • iPhone 5 Added to Samsung vs. Apple Lawsuit

    iPhone 5 Added to Samsung vs. Apple Lawsuit

    According to Foss Patents, Samsung this week filed a case management statement with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California stating that it believes the iPhone 5 will infringe on 8 of its patents “in the same way as other accused iPhone models.” It also states that it plans to add the iPhone 5 to the list of Apple products it claims infringe on its patents as soon as it can get its hands on the smartphone and examine it.

    The document is actually a joint case management conference statement, showing the results of a pre-trial meeting between the judge in the case, Apple lawyers, and Samsung lawyers. Foss provided a screenshot of the portion of the statement in which Samsung announces its intentions to add the iPhone 5 to its claims. The statement reads:

    “Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product. On September 12, 2012, Apple announced that it will release the iPhone 5 on September 21, 2012. Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models. Samsung plans to file a motion to amend its infringement contentions to address the iPhone 5 as soon as it has had a reasonable opportunity to analyze the device.”

    This all pertains to a different lawsuit than the one that Apple won last month. According to Foss, the trial the statement is a part of is currently scheduled to begin in 2014.

    (via BGR)

  • Samsung Waiting to Sue Apple Over iPhone 5’s LTE

    Though Apple managed total victory in its U.S. patent lawsuit against Samsung, the most valuable company in history hasn’t fared quite so well in places such as Korea and Japan. Still, Apple is taking its win and running with it, requesting that many Samsung smartphones, including varieties of the Galaxy S II, be banned from sale in the U.S. A hearing is scheduled for December to determine if Apple will get its wish.

    It turns out Samsung may have a counterattack planned, though. An article in the Korea Times states that Samsung has confirmed its intention to “immediately sue Apple” if it decides to release an LTE device, which the upcoming iPhone 5 is expected to be. The Times points to Thomson-Reuters data that states Samsung owns around 12.2% of LTE patents. If Samsung can manage to find one of their LTE patents that the iPhone 5 infringes upon, it’s a near-certainty the company will ask for an injunction against Apple selling the smartphone in the U.S.

    If Samsung could actually convince a judge to issue a well-timed injunction, it would be quite a reposte. With a manufacturing delay for the smartphone’s LCD panels already guaranteeing a supply crunch on the iPhone 5’s launch day, an injunction would drop a bomb on the tech world’s biggest product launch of the year. It might also, however, turn out to be a good thing, as the attention and outrage such an event would cause could be enough to finally get some movement toward U.S. patent system reform.

    (via BGR)

  • Apple, Google Are Talking Out Their Patent Dispute

    Apple, Google Are Talking Out Their Patent Dispute

    Reuters is reporting that Apple and Google are having serious conversations aimed at coming to an agreement on “a range of intellectual property matters,” including, of course, their patent disputes. Evidently, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Larry Page had a phone conversation regarding their companies last week, and other executives at the companies are conversing as well. Reuters’ unnamed sources say the CEOs will be speaking again “in the coming weeks.”

    Though Google didn’t have much to say about Apple’s utter defeat of Samsung, it did quietly file a lawsuit against Apple for patent infringement just before the Samsung verdict came in. Just wanted to test out its shiny new Motorola Mobility patents that it purchased this year, I suppose.

    So that’s it, right? The two largest heavyweights of tech have finally met for a patent fight to the death. No, not really. Both companies have too much to lose. Apple is now the most valuable company in history and Google is banking on the mobile web as its next big advertising platform.

    Larry Page, CEO of GoogleGoogle’s lawsuit, the company told Bloomberg, was an attention-getting move to force Apple into talks. So, while Apple didn’t care to settle with Samsung, it really does have to talk things out with Google.

    So, it seems a deal compromising on the basic aspects of the Android and iOS operating systems will, most likely, be forthcoming in the future. It’s a situation that would probably not be taking place if Steve Jobs were still CEO of Apple, as the man hated Google for creating Android.

  • Guild Wars 2 Launches This Weekend

    Guild Wars 2 Launches This Weekend

    Guild Wars 2, the next highly-anticipated MMO is set to launch next Tuesday, but players who pre-purchased the game will get access starting Saturday, August 25. Since nearly everyone who is looking forward to Guild Wars 2 has pre-purchased a copy, that means the action really begins tomorrow.

    “Five years ago we set out to develop a game that finally fulfilled the promise of online worlds,” said Mike O’Brien, president and co-founder of ArenaNet. “We questioned everything that had previously been taken for granted and we never settled for ‘good enough.’ Now, we’re finally ready to introduce Guild Wars 2 to gamers who are looking for the next evolution in online gaming.”

    ArenaNet is highlighting several features that it hopes will set Guild Wars 2 apart from other MMOs. It states that dynamic world events and personal stories will customize a play experience for each character created. The “action-oriented combat” of Guild Wars 2 is promoted as an enhancement to normal MMO player-versus-player (PVP) interactions. In addition to normal PVP, the game will feature a world-versus-world experience that pits entire servers against each other in two-week-long wars.

    “Guild Wars 2 is launching at a time when players are looking for something different in an MMO: a game that offers them an innovative and unique experience without a monthly subscription,” said O’Brien. “Guild Wars 2 is that game, and we believe it will fundamentally change the way people think about online RPGs.”

    O’Brien is confident that Guild Wars 2 will be a success, and that confidence might be justified. Launching as a free-to-play MMO means Guild Wars 2 was designed with that business plan in mind. Where other recent MMOs have had to adapt to the changing MMO market and experiment with half-breed subscription/free-to-play plans, the clear free-to-play vision of Guild Wars 2 should make it a strong contender in what is becoming a highly competitive MMO gaming market.

  • Apple vs. Samsung Jury Decision Coming Soon

    The Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit has been long, frustrating, and bizarre. When Apple first sued Samsung over one year ago, it appeared as if Apple was simply protecting its iPhone and iPad designs from companies who were beginning to mimic those devices. Samsung promptly countersued Apple, claiming it violated wireless technologies patents it holds.

    Why exactly Apple decided to break the smartphone-market detente when it did is unknown. Apple, as a company, has never been doing better. Just this week, iPhone 5 rumors pushed Apple stock through the roof, making Apple the most valuable company in history. Throughout the past year and a half, however, it has become clear that Apple considers Samsung a serious threat to its position in the smartphone market.

    Apple has sued Samsung (and other smartphone and tablet manufacturers) in countries throughout the world. During the trial in the U.S., Apple successfully blocked the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 throughout the country. In the U.K. Apple was ordered to place ads stating that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not an iPad rip-off. These types of absurdities have become the norm for patent trials.

    Judge Lucy Koh, who has presided over the U.S. trial, knows that U.S. patent law is complicated and confusing at best. Last week she told the companies that they should give a settlement one more go before allowing a jury of people who aren’t patent lawyers to make billion-dollar decisions for them. The disagreements between Apple and Samsung apparently run too deep, or each is confident enough that it will come out on top, though, because the companies seem perfectly willing to drag each other down and possibly have their own patents invalidated.

    Ultimately, the losers in the lawsuit are customers, who would benefit more from competition outside the courtroom than in it. No matter what the jury decides this week, it will have repercussions for the entire smartphone and tablet industry. With current U.S. patent laws, however, this will be just one of many huge patent trials in the coming years.

  • Apple vs. Samsung Judge Urges Settlement

    Apple vs. Samsung Judge Urges Settlement

    The judge presiding over the Apple vs. Samsung patent war trial today urged both companies to make one last effort to settle the matter before a verdict is handed down in the case.

    According to an All Things D report, Judge Lucy Koh stated that she sees risk for both Apple and Samsung if the jury reaches a verdict. She cheekily commented that if the companies were simply showing off their tablet and smartphone patents, then the message had been delivered. All Things D quotes Koh as saying, “It’s time for peace.”

    The two companies have agreed to a telephone meeting, but nothing more. Samsung and Apple already met once this year to try and settle the matter out-of-court, but were unable to come to an agreement.

    The Apple vs. Samsung legal battle began over one year ago, when Apple sued Samsung for violating its patents. Apple claims Samsung’s Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet violate Apple design patents for the iPhone and iPad. Samsung promptly countersued, claiming Apple violates its patents on some wireless technologies.

    The lawsuits have created some truly bizarre moments, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 being banned from sale in the U.S. and Apple being ordered to place ads stating that the Galaxy Tab isn’t a direct rip-off of the iPad. Meanwhile, both companies have been rapidly consolidating the smartphone market.

    During the trial this week, Samsung argued that the patents Apple is claiming it violated are invalid, due to tablet designs that existed before Apple applied for its patents. All Things D reports that closing arguments for the trial are scheduled for next Tuesday. The trial could lead to large fines for both companies or could lead to a number of each company’s patents being declared invalid.

  • RIM Escapes $150 Million Patent Penalty

    RIM Escapes $150 Million Patent Penalty

    The judge presiding over a patent lawsuit involving RIM has saved the company from having to pay the nearly $150 million verdict handed down by a jury last month. That verdict was the result of a lawsuit filed against RIM in 2008 by a mobile device management software company called Mformation Technologies. This July, a jury awarded Mformation Technologies $147.2 million, finding that RIM software enabling remote management of its BlackBerry devices infringed on Mformation patents.

    After the jury’s verdict, RIM had filed a motion with the judge for a judgment as a matter of law. The judge has now granted RIM’s motion and found that Mformation does not have enough evidence to prove that RIM infringed on its patents. The $147.2 million award was vacated, meaning RIM pays nothing. RIM pointed out in a statement that although Mformation can and may appeal this decision, the jury decision is now moot. If Mformation were to win on appeal an entirely new trial would occur.

    “We appreciate the Judge’s careful consideration of this case. RIM did not infringe on Mformation’s patent and we are pleased with this victory,” said Steve Zipperstein, chief legal officer at RIM. “The purpose of the patent system is to encourage innovation, but the system is still too often exploited in pursuit of other goals. Many policy makers have already recognized the need to address this problem and we call on others to join them as this case clearly highlights the significant need for continuing policy reform to help reduce the amount of resources wasted on unwarranted patent litigation.”

    This is incredibly good news for a company that is desperately trying to make huge cuts to its expenses. Despite the death watch the media has put on RIM, the company continues to project confidence in its BlackBerry brand, and has an ambitious BlackBerry 10 launch schedule laid out for 2013.

  • Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Hulu Case

    The Supreme Court this week sent a case involving broad patents back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for reconsideration. The case surround a patent that was granted to the company Ultramercial. The patent is for the concept – not the technology, mind you – of ads supporting online videos. Just the idea that an ad could be played and content could be payed for by an advertiser, all online. That is what the U.S. Patent Office granted to Ultramercial.

    Ultramercial has been using its patent to troll companies such as YouTube and Hulu (the defendant in the lawsuit) by demanding payments. Most patent trolls get away with using overly-broad patents to extort money from legitimate businesses, but some companies and individuals are beginning to fight back. A Supreme Court ruling that Ultramercial’s patent is too broad would be a huge relief to the tech industry, which is currently in a patent arms war.

    The Supreme Court made no definite decision on the case, instead passing it back to the lower court in light of a recent decision the Supreme Court did hand down involving the patenting of a diagnostic procedure. Again, not the technology to diagnose patients, but simply the method of diagnosis – a list, basically, of the steps a doctor would take. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the patent was too broad. It’s that decision that the justices have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to remember when reconsidering the case.

    The issue of patent trolling, which has grown into a leech-like multi-million dollar business over the past decade, is finally getting the attention it deserves. Both courts and individual businesses are beginning to stand up to companies that have no business operations other than offensive patent lawsuits. Here’s hoping the right decisions are made to free-up innovation, so society can use the technological bridges being built and improved every year, without having to pay the trolls.

    (via Ars Technica)

  • Microsoft and Facebook Get Cozy With a New Patent Agreement

    Microsoft and Facebook have announced a deal in which Facebook will purchase a portion of the patent portfolio that Microsoft bought from AOL earlier this month. Facebook will pay Microsoft $550 million in cash for ownership of approximately 650 AOL patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft is keeping. That’s about half the $1.1 billion Microsoft paid for the patents, and Microsoft will, of course, also maintain license for the patents it is selling to Facebook.

    “Today’s agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction,” said Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel for Microsoft. “As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.”

    The deal is just as good for Facebook, which will end up owning a majority of the 952 patents Microsoft bought from AOL. The two companies already have a very close relationship, with Microsoft owning a portion of Facebook, so it makes sense for Microsoft to share its newly acquired patents and their cost.

    “Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” said Ted Ullyot, general counsel for Facebook. “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.”

    There has been some speculation already about what Microsoft wanted from the AOL patent portfolio, but this new twist makes things very interesting. Facebook and Microsoft have essentially split the cost of the patents, which could be worrying for companies such as Google and Apple.

    What do you think? Will Facebook and Microsoft use these patents to defend their interests or is this just another step toward a an all-out patent war? Let me know in the comment section below.

  • Google, Oracle Ordered To Discuss Patent Settlements Before Trial

    Ahead of a Java’s patent lawsuit against Google scheduled for April 16, a judge ordered on Friday that executives from both companies convene in order to discuss a potential settlement. Despite previous failed attempts to arrive at a settlement, Judge Paul Grewal of U.S. District Court in Northern California has ordered that the settlement conference take place “no later than April 9, 2012” and must at least include the presence of Oracle President Safra Catz and Google Senior Vice President (and former Android CEO) Andy Rubin.

    The lawsuit stems from Oracle’s accusation that Google’s Android platform uses Oracle’s Java technology in such a way that violates Oracle’s patents. Google has denied any patent or copyright violation. The two companies have met before to attempt to agree on a settlement. Many of those meetings included Google CEO Larry Page and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, but the companies couldn’t arrive on any kind of agreement. It would appear that the judge believes that a meeting of two different executives from the respective companies might yield fresh results since previous meetings between Ellison and Page didn’t lead to any settlements.

    According to Ars Technica, Oracle claims that Google has violated two patents it owns – a claim that has been scaled down from an original claim of seven. One patent is for a system that improves on “conventional systems for initializing static arrays by reducing the amount of code executed by the virtual machine to statically initialize an array” whereas the second one is “a hybrid compiler-interpreter comprising a compiler for ‘compiling’ source program code.” At the essence of the patent lawsuit, Oracle claims its copyright on APIs have been violated by Google; alternately, Google is sticking to the argument that APIs aren’t copyrightable.

    Google’s been defending itself in the realm of patents for some time now, most notably against accusations from Apple that the Android platform violates several of Apple’s copyrights. Apple offered to settle with two companies that make Android-supported devices, Motorola Mobility (owned by Google) and Samsung. And, to make sure no tech company is left out of the patent wars, Microsoft filed formal complaints to the European Union in February over the licensing fee Motorola Mobility charges for use of its technology.

  • iPads Should Be Pulled From Shops, Lower Chinese Court Says

    Apple’s legal battle with Proview over the iPad patent got a little more troubling for the company today as a lower Chinese court ruled that stores in China should stop selling iPads. While this ruling may only affect the Guangdong province, which is close to the southern coast of the country near Hong Kong, Proview, which is based in China, has 40 other lawsuits going on in other cities throughout China to halt the sales of iPads.

    Apple argues that it purchased the worldwide rights to the iPad trademark from Proview but that Proview is now refusing to honor the agreement in China. Proview, alternately, still claims ownership to the trademark and, in addition to trying to halt the sales of the iPad in China, are seeking $2 billion from Apple in the U.S. courts as a means of compensation for Apple’s alleged trademark infringement.

    In a statement released on Monday, Apple maintained that its case is ongoing in mainland China and it has submitted an appeal to Guandgong’s High Court against an earlier decision in favor of Proview. In the statement, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu reiterated Apple’s claim that it purchased the trademark for ten countries several years ago from Proview and a court in nearby Hong Kong has previously sided with Apple.

    Thus far, iPads have only been pulled from stores on a city-by-city basis as there has been no national action on the trademark dispute. Given that the iPad 3 will be landing as soon as next month, Apple will undoubtedly be looking to hasten the legal process toward a resolution as quickly as possible. However, given the process of rulings-and-appeals-and-more-rulings, don’t be surprised if this continues to drag on for the foreseeable future.

    Previous woes resulting from the dispute with Proview have sent Apple’s shares stumbling a bit, but no significant losses appear to be happening today – yet. Last week, Apple’s shares took a small tumble after news of a ruling in favor of Proview in Shenzhen hit the wires, but Apple shares seem to have slightly recovered and leveled off as of writing this. Then again, all Apple needs to do is shake down another tidbit of iPad 3 info from the rumor tree and their stocks will likely boom again.

    Also, if there’s one thing Apple knows, it’s that you don’t put anything between Apple products and Chinese consumers and they’ve got the resources to continue this fight as long as needed.

  • Samsung Rips iPhone Screenshot For Galaxy Player Promo

    Did Samsung just use a 3-year-old screenshot from Google maps on iOS on a promotional page for its new Galaxy Player Android-powered media device?

    Daring Fireball got a tip from a reader last night that the official page for the Galaxy Player 5.0 contained a screenshot from iOS, only slightly modified in order to appear to be running on the Samsung device. “Modified” means that it looks like they simply replaced the distinctive Apple status bar with their own status bar (as you can see in the comparison above).

    It turns out, the image that used to appear on the Samsung site is the exact same image from a user named Laura Scott’s Flickr account. The photo in question was taken on December 14th, 2008.

    Here’s a screenshot of how the promo page appeared. This display is no longer there – if you go to the Galaxy Player 5.0 page you are redirected to a page where you can choose your home country.

    Of course, this is all especially funny because of the lengthy battle that Samsung and Apple still find themselves tangled in. The two have hit out at each other, claiming that the other stole their designs and infringed upon their patents.

    Samsung is in the process of seeking injunctions to stop the sale of iPhones and iPads in almost a dozen different countries. Apple successful stopped the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet in Australia last week.

    Just yesterday, industry rumors said that despite these legal battles, Apple would still use Samsung to make their processors for their devices – most notably the A6 processor that might come inside the next iPhone.

    When everyone is talking about who stole what from whom, it’s amazing to see a possible theft at a level like this.