Samsung adds iPhone 5 to its patent battle with Apple
By the time Samsung's lawsuit is heard in court the iPhone 5 will have likely been superseded
Samsung has added Apple's latest handset to a US patent lawsuit claiming the iPhone 5 infringes eight of its technologies.
The disputed innovations include a way tosynchronise photos, music and video files across several devices, and a method tocapture and send video over the internet.
Samsung had already filed claims against earlier iPhones and iPads.
It coincides with calls from a judge for "major reforms" to US patent law.
Judge Richard Posner, who previously oversaw a legal dispute involving Apple and Google's Motorola unit, said that protection available to software patents was "excessive".
Patent wars
Samsung's legal move is the latest in a long running battle with Apple.
The US firm has claimed that the Galaxy device maker copied the look and iOS system software found on its tablets and handsets.
Although several of Apple's claims have been rejected, it recently scored a major victory when a California-based jury ruled Samsung should pay it over $1bn (£620m) in damages.
Samsung has had its own courtroom successes, including a ruling in August that Apple had infringed two of its wireless communication patents in South Korea. It resulted in an order for the iPhone maker to pay 40m won ($35,000; £22,000) in damages.
The US lawsuit involving the iPhone 5 dates back to April when a complaint about other devices was filed in the Northern District of California. The case is due to go to trial in March 2014.
It involves two so-called Frand patents - technologies Samsung has an obligation to licence on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms because they are recognised as being essential to data transmission standards. In other words, if Apple agrees to pay what is deemed to be a fair rate then Samsung will be obliged to let it use the technologies.
Apple is trying to ban several Samsung handsets from sale in the US
The other six disputed innovations are feature patents, and in theory Samsung could force Apple's products off the shelves if it does not remove the functions from the devices.
Patent consultant Florian Mueller listed details of the disputed patents on his blog earlier this year, noting that Samsung owned about 30,000 US patents in total. Several of these include 4G LTE technologies which the Seoul-based company has hinted could be the basis of further lawsuits.
'Excessive protection'
HTC, Motorola, Microsoft, RIM and other tech firms are also involved in ongoing US lawsuits.
Legal experts have expressed concern at some of the tactics being used, including Judge Richard Posner who threw out a case involving Motorola and Apple in June, rebuking both firms.
He has now followed this up with a blog post in which he calls for anoverhaul of the law regarding software patents.
"Nowadays most software innovation is incremental, created by teams of software engineers at modest cost, and also ephemeral - most software innovations are quickly superseded," he wrote.
"Software innovation tends to be piecemeal - not entire devices, but components, so that a software device (a cellphone, a tablet, a laptop, etc) may have tens of thousands of separate components (bits of software code or bits of hardware), each one arguably patentable.
Unlike most US judges, Richard Posner maintains a blog where he discusses the law
"The result is huge patent thickets, creating rich opportunities for trying to hamstring competitors by suing for infringement - and also for infringing, and then challenging the validity of the patent when the patentee sues you."
The judge said that 20-year-long patent protection made sense for pharmaceutical drugs which require development costs running to hundreds of millions of dollars, need extensive testing and subsequently remain on the market for decades.
He said such factors did not apply to software, adding that a firm that invented a new technology would benefit from being the first to use it and would also gain a reputation for innovation.
"My general sense... bolstered by an extensive academic literature, is that patent protection is on the whole excessive and that major reforms are necessary," he wrote.
The tech news site Ars Technica, which was first to report the blog, noted that Judge Posner did not have the power to shape US patent policy, but added that his views were likely to be discussed by
====================
earlier this year ...
Apple seeks to ban sale of eight Samsung phones in US
Continue reading the main story
Apple has asked a court to ban eight Samsung mobile phones in the US.
The phones include the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T model, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile model, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail.
It comes in the wake of Apple's US court victory over its rival, which saw the South Korean company ordered to pay $1.05bn (£655m) for copying patents.
Apple shares rose 1.88% to $675.68 in Monday trading on Wall Street.
The company has asked the US District Court in San Jose, California, for a preliminary injunction on the Samsung products, while a permanent injunction is sought.
At the same time, Samsung has also asked the court to delete an injunction on its Galaxy Tab 10.1, after the jury in the recent court case found it did not infringe Apple's design patent for the iPad tablet.
Judge Lucy Koh had issued an injunction on the tablet on 26 June.
Earlier on Monday, Samsung sent a memo to staff hitting out at what it called the "abuse of patent law".
Shares in Samsung fell 7% in Seoul trading, their biggest one-day fall in almost four years.
On 24 August, a US court ruled that Samsung had infringed Apple patents for mobile devices in one of the most significant rulings in a global intellectual property battle.
Samsung said it would be appealing against the verdict.
"We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers," the company saidits memo to staff.
"However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter sue, so that we can protect our company."
It said that the US court's verdict contrasted "starkly" with decisions made in other countries, including the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
"History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation," the memo said.
"We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritise innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt."
Sales worries
Analysts said investors were worried that the ruling could see certain products taken off the market.
"An adjustment in the next few days is unavoidable as the damage amount was much bigger than market expectations, and there are further uncertainties, such as the possibility of a sales ban," said John Park, from Daishin Securities.
In a separate move, the giant chipmaker ASML said Samsung would be investing $975m in its research programme into next-generation chipmaking technology and in buying a 3% share in the company.
Intel Corp and TSMC have both recently signed similar investment deals into the co-investment programme, whose aim is to tie in ASML's customers and develop new technology designed to lead to cheaper products.
Jury ruling
A nine-member jury in San Jose, California ruled on 24 August that Samsung had infringed Apple patents for mobile devices.
It was the the most closely-watched of many similar patent disputes being contested in courts around the world between electronics manufacturers.
In recent weeks, a court in South Korea ruled that both Apple and Samsung had copied each other, while a British court dismissed claims by the American company that Samsung had infringed its copyrights.
No comments:
Post a Comment