Kodak claims Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and iPods, and some of HTC’s smartphones and tablets use Kodak patents for transmitting images. Kodak is seeking to prevent further patent infringement from Apple and HTC as well as compensation.
Kodak is on its last leg.
Italy’s anti-trust body has fined units of U.S. technology group Apple Inc a total of 900,000 euros for failing to adequately inform customers about their rights to product guarantees and assistance.
The US International Trade Commission has dismissed a complaint against Apple filed by S3 Graphics, putting HTC’s complaint into jeopardy as well.
Josh Ong for AppleInsider:
A British Employment Tribunal has upheld Apple’s decision to dismiss a retail store employee who violated company policy by posting derogatory comments about his employer on the Facebook social networking site.
You can’t break the rules and then complain the rules are unfair. Well, you can, but…
Reuters: Taiwan’s HTC Corp lost a patent infringement complaint filed against Apple Inc in a preliminary decision at the U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday. An ITC administrative law judge found “no violation” by Apple of four HTC patents that … Continued
Apple to Samsung during negotiations.
Reuters: A Dutch court on Friday turned down Samsung Electronics’ request for an injunction against all of Apple’s mobile products that use 3G telecommunications technology, including iPhones and iPads. Hopefully Samsung will realize it’s barking up the wrong tree pretty … Continued
Florian Mueller: Damages can be substantial but they are not what Oracle is primarily trying to get out of this case. They are a potentially substantial consolation prize. The grand prize, however, is an injunction, and Oracle’s filing makes this … Continued
CNN: Last week Sony changed the terms-of-service document for its PlayStation Network, asking U.S. customers to forfeit their rights to file class-action lawsuits against the company and its partners. Customers can opt out by sending the company a letter in … Continued
Ars Technica: …Three Boston University researchers have produced a rigorous empirical estimate of the cost of patent trolling. And the number is breath-taking: patent trolls (“non-practicing entity” is the clinical term) have cost publicly traded defendants $500 billion since 1990. … Continued
Nate Anderson for Ars Technica: Wayne Hoehn beat Righthaven so badly that the Las Vegas-based copyright troll lost its copyright infringement case on fair use grounds—and had to pay Hoehn’s lawyers at the Randazza Legal Group $34,045.50 in attorney’s fees. … Continued
Examiner.com: Sony is updating the user agreement for the Playstation Network starting on September 15 and one of the changes included in the update seeks to stop class action lawsuits against the company. Sony was the target of a hacker … Continued
Reuters: Two stores in Queens, New York, accused of peddling unauthorized Apple Inc accessories have agreed to hand over all products in their inventories bearing the word “Apple” or any of the company’s ubiquitous trademarks.
New York-based photographer Taea Thale is suing Apple for using one of her copyrighted photos in an iPhone television ad.
Ben Bajarin: That being said what I feel the real issue behind the lawsuits is that Android is free. It’s obviously one thing to infringe on a companies inventions or innovations and then sell them but its another entirely to … Continued
Mobile handset-maker HTC on Tuesday responded to Apple’s new patent complaint, saying it should compete in the market instead of suing rivals.
I take it that Apple is skeptical of the outcome of that ongoing ITC investigation and, therefore, wants a second try with potentially stronger patents. In April, the ITC staff (the Office of Unfair Import Investigations, which participates in most … Continued
Apple, which was Samsung’s second-biggest client after Japan’s Sony Corp last year, became the South Korean firm’s biggest customer in the first quarter, mainly by purchasing semiconductors, according to Samsung’s quarterly report. Earlier this week Apple’s lawyers said executives from … Continued
Earlier today I published and blogged about Lodsys’s motion for an extension of time to answer Apple’s motion to intervene. Lodsys’s motion, as entered yesterday, requested time until including August 27, 2011 — two more months. But Lodsys has now … Continued
The week before last, Apple filed a motion to intervene in Lodsys’s lawsuit against seven app developers. I was hoping for Apple’s intervention to be allowed very soon, but we may all have to wait. Lodsys would have had to … Continued
The issues are manyfold: Firstly, customers can only buy iPhones from its authorized resellers and from carriers Aircel and Bharti airtel. Relating to this, while customer can buy unlocked iPhones from these same outlets, the price of a locked phone … Continued
Lawyers for Apple and Samsung are in talks to end lawsuits from both companies claiming patent infringement by the other.
Nobody really knew the scale of Oracle’s patent lawsuit against Google, but this week the numbers came out, and they are huge. According to Oracle, damages it suffered due to the patent infringement by Google range between $1.4 billion to … Continued
After announcing its iCloud service last week at WWDC, Apple was slapped with a lawsuit from Arizona-based iCloud Communications. Apple bought iCloud.com from Xcerion and has 11 applications registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple also owns the … Continued
Apple and Nokia ended their back and forth patent lawsuits on Tuesday with Nokia coming out the victor.
In a press release issued by Nokia, the company said Apple would make a one time payment, presumably for the time Apple has been infringing on the patents, as well as ongoing royalties. Specific terms were not released.
Yesterday morning, Google announced Google Wallet. By the afternoon, PayPal launched a lawsuit against the company, claiming it stole the technology.
I’ve seen very few lawsuits with the twists and turns that this one has and I’m sure it will only get better. It not only involves stealing technology, but trade secrets and even employees.
Apple on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against a company that makes iPhone version kits.
The kits basically turn your black iPhone into a white iPhone.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the lawsuit claims that Fei Lik Lam a/k/a Phillip Lam and whiteiphone4now.com, are “infringing and diluting Apple’s famous trademarks, in willful violation ofthe Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.) and for engaging in deceptive practices and unfair competition in willful violation ofNew York state Jaw.”
In a letter sent to Lodsys on Monday, Apple asked that the company withdraw letters sent to app developers demanding they license the technology.
A new lawsuit alleges AT&T is regularly overcharging iPhone and iPad customers for data usage, in some cases up to 300% more.
Lawyers for the lawsuit said they spent $80,000 testing devices in preparation for their day in court. In one instance, lawyers purchased a brand new iPhone and turned off everything that could affect data usage. When the bill came in from AT&T, there were 35 transactions for data usage, according to MSNBC.
James Thomson, the owner of TLA Systems, makers of DragThing and PCalc for Mac, and PCalc for iOS, was served with a letter this morning threatening to sue for his use of Apple’s in-app purchasing system.
Thomson didn’t say who the company was that sent the letter, but on Twitter this morning he said, “They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple.”