HTC and Apple sign 10-year licensing deal to end patent disputes

by Jared Peters on
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I think we can all agree the endless patent lawsuits aren’t good for consumers. Well, hopefully Apple and HTC have seen this light, as they confirmed they’ve settled their patent disputes and have entered a 10-year licensing deal to avoid more lawsuits. The CEOs of both companies made statements that they are pleased to have reached an agreement and are ready to continue innovation, not litigation.

Apple has certainly abused the patent system lately, but this is a step in the right direction. No amount of patents and lawsuits are going to force consumers to buy your products, and I’m sure Apple knows that. Now we should all just hope for this kind of agreement to happen with some other Android OEMs as well. Hit the press release after the break for more about the licensing deal. » Read the rest

Judge Lucy Koh agrees to hear Samsung’s accusations of juror misconduct in patent trial

by Jared Peters on
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After the recent ruling in Apple’s favor on that infamous patent case, Samsung asked the court to investigate whether jury foreman Velvin Hogan had concealed information about previous legal situations that would provide basis for an anti-Samsung bias. Naturally, a bias like that could have had a significant impact on the jury’s ruling. Judge Lucy Koh issued a statement that she would be willing to to hear out Samsung’s claims on December 6th. In that statement, she said  ”the Court will consider the questions of whether the jury foreperson concealed information during voir dire [jury selection], whether any concealed information was material, and whether any concealment constituted misconduct. An assessment of such issues is intertwined with the question of whether and when Apple had a duty to disclose the circumstances and timing of its discovery of information about the foreperson.”

That’s important for several reasons. If Apple had learned that Hogan had concealed information, that would be a pretty serious hurdle to jump to uphold that ruling in Apple’s favor. If Samsung succeeds in putting casting enough doubt onto the jury, and can prove that it would’ve changed the outcome of the case, the entire lawsuit will get a retrial, which could possibly swing in Samsung’s favor. After being ordered to pay out over a billion dollars, I can imagine Samsung is really hoping this pans out.

source: The Verge

Samsung Galaxy S III Becomes Top-Selling Phone Of Q3 2012

by Roy Alugbue on
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This year has been very good for Samsung, but Q3 has been a very good period of time especially as Samsung as it can proudly proclaim it offered the top smartphone of Q3 2012. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung sold 18 million units of its Galaxy S III, while Apple sold 16.2 million units of its iPhone 4S. One thing to note is that the iPhone 5 was released during the quarter as well and accounted for 6 million sales— a number that should increase exponentially when we see the Q4 results. Still, it is mighty nice to see Samsung hold a big-time trump card across all its competitors… for now at least.

 
More details of the news can be found once you hit the break.

 

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Apple lands a patent for a rectangle with rounded corners

by Robert Nazarian on
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Oh my, our broken patent system is at it again. Yesterday Apple was awarded patent D670,286, which is a design patent pertaining to the iPad’s “ornamental” design. In a sense it’s a patent for a rectangle with rounded edges covering a “portable display device.” Before everyone screams foul, it remains to be seen if it will be worth anything to Apple.

Apple already has a design patent D504,889, and they successfully convinced Judge Lucy Koh that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 should be banned based on it. Of course, in August, a jury didn’t find the Tab 10.1 infringed on that patent. Back then Samsung was quoted as saying it was “unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners.” Interestingly enough Apple now has the patent with this new ’286.

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Apple claims patent infringement on Samsung’s Note 10 and Jelly Bean software

by Jared Peters on
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Would you be surprised if I said Apple is trying to sue Samsung over their Galaxy Note 10.1? No? Didn’t think so. Apple told a judge in California that Samsung infringes patents on the Samsung Note 10.1, and even wanted to add Android 4.1 into that lawsuit. Now, to be fair, this is in reaction to Samsung suing Apple over LTE patents in the iPhone 5, but even after Samsung is making clear strides to differentiate their phones and tablets from Apple’s products, Apple still continues to litigate. » Read the rest

US judge dismisses Apple vs. Motorola patent lawsuit

by Jared Peters on
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Apple likes lawsuits. Anyone who keeps keeps up with the mobile tech industry will tell you the same thing. More than a few Android OEMs have faced lawsuits from the Cupertino legal team, and unfortunately, sometimes those lawsuits have some pretty serious consequences. Not all of the lawsuits end in Apple’s favor, though, and in this case of Apple against Motorola, the legal train stopped before it ever really got started. » Read the rest

Impressive growth for Android tablet sales as Apple falters according to latest IDC report

by Jeff Causey on
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Do you remember back in September when IDC predicted Android tablets would not see any significant growth in the share of the market that they command? IDC probably hopes you have forgotten that in light of their report today showing some significant changes in the tablet market during the third quarter of 2012. Perhaps the most stunning change was the worldwide market share for Apple devices, which slipped from a commanding 65.5% of the market in the second quarter to 50.4% in the third quarter. IDC attributes some of this to consumers holding off on purchases amidst rumors of the iPad mini. A bounce back is expected during the fourth quarter, but may be hampered by the iPad mini’s relatively high purchase price. » Read the rest

Apple posts new statement about Samsung case after court rebuke

by Jeff Causey on
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After a rather stinging development this week when the UK court of appeals chastised Apple for their recent attempt to post a court-ordered statement on their web site concerning one of their many lawsuits with Samsung, Apple has posted a new statement on their UK web site. Apple was required to post a statement indicating Samsung did not copy the iPad when producing the Galaxy line of tablet devices. Apple does not exactly say that, but they do state that Samsung does not infringe on a specific Apple registered design. The new statement probably meets the legal requirements of the UK court. » Read the rest

It’s time for another Drop and Dunk test: Nexus 7 vs iPad Mini vs iPad 3

by Robert Nazarian on
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Now that the iPad Mini has been announced, it’s time to pit it against the Nexus 7 in a drop and dunk test. The folks at SquareTrade always do a great job with these and this one is no exception. For this test, they created a dropbot to make sure everything is fair and even. They conducted 3 tests. The first is a drop from 4 feet where the tablets land on their corners, the second is face down from 4 feet, and the third is a dunk in a bath of water for 10 seconds. They even threw in an iPad 3 for the ride. So how will the Nexus 7 fare? Hit the break for the complete video to find out.

» Read the rest

Apple Offers Another Apology… Well Statement Highlighting Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Did Not Infringe On The iPad

by Roy Alugbue on
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Apple got away with giving a half-assed apology before online and it has done the same in print publications. After the courts telling it to give its attempt at an apology another try online, Apple went ahead and created another version of its apology in the famed UK print publication The Guardian. As you can see above, Apple clearly outlines the facts that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab did not infringe on the iPad— though Apple doesn’t say sorry anywhere in its statement. Naturally we’re all expecting to see a real apology—- you know the one where you actually say sorry— to appear soon, very soon on Apple’s website, so the courts and/or Sammy shouldn’t be too disgruntled we suppose.

source: Gizmodo UK