infringement

Apple says Samsung violated court order in patent case

Apple appears to be stirring up more legal headches for Samsung.

In a court document filed yesterday, Apple reportedly accused Samsung of only partially complying with a court order requiring the Korean handset maker to provide source code for the products involved in a patent suit, according to Bloomberg.

Samsung allegedly produced code for just one version of its 4G smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets accused of patent infringement, Apple claimed in its filing. But the iPhone maker has contended that it needs to examine the source code for all versions of the products in question in order to prepare … Read more

Google, Apple sued over Street View technology

A new lawsuit claims Google and Apple have infringed a patent by using the Street View feature in Google Maps.

In a lawsuit filed last week in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Florida-based PanoMap Technologies accuses Google and Apple for infringing on its patent covering the the 3D panorama mode found in the Google Maps app on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The lawsuit (pdf), picked up by PaidContent, says both companies knowingly infringed on U.S. Patent No. 6,563,529, issued to developer Jerry Jongerius in mid-2003. That patent covers an &… Read more

Apple's iPhone voice mail the target of another patent suit

The voice mail system on Apple's iPhone has once again become the target of a lawsuit from a company claiming infringement on one or more software patents.

A new lawsuit filed yesterday against Apple by Pennsylvania-based Brandywine Communications Technologies in a U.S. District Court in Florida accuses Apple of infringing on two of its patents covering voice technologies.

The filing, picked up by GigaOm today, says Apple's infringing on U.S. Patent No. 5,719,992 as well as U.S. Patent No. 6,236,717, both of which cover a "simultaneous voice/data answering machine.&… Read more

The 404 994: Where we need to talk (podcast)

Leaked from 404 Podcast 994:

Apple asks bankruptcy court for OK to sue Kodak for infringement. Leaning back from your PC screen can help you decide when shopping online. Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat might actually happen. Call of Duty: Black Ops has the best game ending of all time, Guinness World Records says. Bathroom break video 1: I'll call you right back. Bathroom break video 1: Even dogs cry to Adele.

… Read more

Chinese authorities seize iPads from reseller's shelves

Chinese authorities have seized iPads from a third-party retailer, according to several sources in China, a move apparently brought on by Apple's continued refusal to honor a trademark owned by a Chinese manufacturer for the name iPad.

The seizure by government officials netted 45 iPad 2 units under the auspices of an official investigation over a trademark lawsuit that claims Apple has no right to sell a device named "iPad" in China. That right allegedly belongs to Proview, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer that is fighting hard to claim a $1.6 billion payout from Apple.

Some retailers, after … Read more

Apple snatches a victory in Motorola patent wars

Apple has finally scored a win in its never-ending patent battles with Motorola Mobility.

A German judge today found that the iPhone maker did not infringe on a Motorola patent related to wireless technology, according to Florian Mueller's Foss Patents legal blog.

The patent in question covers 3G/UMTS wireless communications and in tech jargon refers to a "method and system for generating a complex pseudonoise sequence for processing a code division multiple access [CDMA] signal."

Motorola had argued that any use of 3G/UMTS by Apple would violate the patent. But Judge Andreas Voss was unconvinced, … Read more

Kodak sues Samsung over patents

In the midst of filing for bankruptcy, Kodak is keeping the patent courts busy with yet another lawsuit.

The company yesterday launched a suit against Samsung, alleging violations of five patents related to digital imaging.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, the suit (PDF) claims that Samsung infringed on patents connected to such technologies as the ability to send an image from a digital camera, the ability to e-mail images, and the ability to send images over a cellular or Wi-Fi network.

The five specific patents in question are:

U.S. Patent No. … Read more

Apple coughing up $5 million to settle patent infringement suit

Apple will spend $5 million to settle a suit filed by Elan Microelectronics over the alleged violation of a patent for multitouch technology, Elan said today.

As part of the settlement, the two companies have also received authorization to use each other's patents, according to Reuters.

In April 2009, Taiwan-based Elan filed its suit against Apple in U.S. District Court, accusing the iPhone maker of violating a 1998 Elan patent covering a method to detect the use of one or more fingers on a touchpad. Apple then countersued Elan for alleging infringing on two Apple touchpad-related patents.

Elan … Read more

Apple loses bid to seal already public OS information

A federal judge has denied Apple's effort to seal information related to its copyright infringement case against Psystar, ruling that information already publicly available on the Internet and in print is no longer protectable.

Apple had attempted to seal documents containing information about its Mac OS X operating system and computer products as a trade secret, presumably to keep others from modifying Apple's OS to run on unauthorized hardware. Apple argued that because it was not the source of the information that the trade secret protection still existed.

However, U.S. Federal District Judge William Alsup disagreed in … Read more