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Nokia has filed more claims of patent infringement against HTC with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), yesterday. The new suit, the second ITC complaint from Nokia against HTC, appears to be targeting the HTC One, along with a number of other devices in the HTC catalog, with another six patents being used for the legal attack.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has completed its patent infringement investigation against Microsoft. The ITC has declined to review a final initial remand determination issued by the presiding judge, ending the case in Microsoft's favor. Today's move was primarily administrative, with the actual ruling having happened earlier this year.
An an unusual show of solidarity, leaders of the US Congress intellectual property and antitrust subcommittees submitted a letter to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) reiterating the prior request that "the Commission carefully assess the substantial public interest considerations that exist with regards to this and other cases at the ITC in which SEPs are at issue."
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has tossed Motorola Mobile's final patent claim against Apple from its 2010 complaint. Google and Motorola Mobile were attempting to obtain a sales embargo on any iPhones using the technology. The patent asserted was a "sensor-controlled user interface for portable communication device" which gives mobile devices the ability to "lock out" screen touches when the phone is up to a user's ear while taking a phone call.
Samsung infringed on an Apple patent via a text-selection feature on some of its devices, the US International Trade Commission has ruled. Reuters reports that the decision was actually made on March 26th, but kept confidential until yesterday, so that Apple and Samsung could redact any sensitive business content. The patent specifically describes a "method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display," and is related not only to the text selection in Android's web browser but translucent buttons in the OS' Photo Gallery app.
Controversy has emerged over a new expert on an Ericsson v. Samsung case at the US International Trade Commission, according to reports. Complaints began when FOSS Patents discovered that the Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob has been brought onto Samsung's side in the ITC dispute. Jacob, significantly, was one of the UK judges who ruled that Apple was non-compliant in publishing a required admission that Samsung hadn't violated Apple's iPad patents.
Though it is difficult to keep track at times, the latest update in the ongoing various and sundry legal battles between Apple and Samsung comes from the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which has been examining a complaint made by Samsung accusing Apple of infringing on four of Samsung's patents. The resolution of the complaint has been delayed again, for at least the second time, and is now scheduled for March 7. An ITC ruling on a Apple complaint against Samsung was pushed back last week to March 27.
In a joint statement issued Tuesday, both the US Department of Justice and the US Patent and Trademark Office have issued a new policy that argues that sales bans on products that may or may not infringe on "standards-essential" patents (SEPs) should not be allowed except in very rare and specific circumstances. The ruling joins with a previous statement from the Federal Trade Commission, and is intended to influence both the ITC and specific abusing companies, such as Google.
Late on Monday, Motorola Mobility filed a petition hoping to keep a complaint against Apple with the US International Trade Commission alive, says FOSS Patents. Earlier, an administrative law judge had ruled that a patent covering the deactivation of a touchscreen when lifting a phone to the ear was invalid, due to an existing Motorola patent making it non-novel. On remand, though, Judge Thomas Pender said there was indeed an infringement by Apple, and ruled that the ITC's domestic industry requirement had been met. If Motorola can convince the ITC to reject the earlier invalidation, it may leave the door open for a future import ban against some Apple devices.
A US International Trade Commission final ruling on Samsung's complaint against Apple will be delayed two and half weeks until February 6, rather than the original January 14 date, according to a scheduling notice from the trade organization. The move does not necessarily signal anything, but is seen as unusual were the full commission planning on simply approving Judge James Gildea's preliminary ruling, which rebuked Samsung harshly for patent abuse.
Documents filed in relation to the October ITC ruling that Samsung had stolen four of Apple's design patents for use in its own products show that the penalty Samsung will reap for its actions is likely to be severe but mostly short-term. Judge Thomas Pender is recommending a complete sales ban on infringing products, and ordering Samsung to post a bond for 88 percent of the value of the products that might be sold during the 60-day presidential review.
In a preliminary ruling, the US International Trade Commission has again found that Apple's iPhone did not infringe on a Motorola patent regarding proximity sensors, another win for the Cupertino company in a string of almost-exclusively favorable ITC rulings. Judge Thomas Pender ruled again that the Motorola patent, now owned by Google, is invalid. The ruling came as a part of an appeal against his earlier August decision, which covered both the sensor patent and several 3G-related ones. The ruling is preliminary, and will be reviewed by a full panel.
A recently-made-public document from the US International Trade Commission shows that Motorola Mobility filed a notice of appeal with the Federal Circuit on September 19. Motorola is appealing the ITC opinion from August 24 in which the trade standards body found that Apple did not violate three of Motorola's asserted patents, with one remaining patent of the original four being sent to a judge for a ruling.
According to court filings made public today, International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge Thomas B. Pender has moved the investigation of Apple's complaint against Samsung. October 25 is the new date of the investigation, with a final ruling target date four months later, on February 25, 2013. The ITC investigation involves the same list of products as the recent jury trial ruling that awarded Apple $1.05 billion dollars.
Apple has emerged the victor in a case of claimed patent infringement brought by Samsung to the US branch of the International Trade Commission (ITC), where a judge has ruled [PDF] that Apple was not infringing on any of four patents brought by Samsung. The Korean smartphone rival has tried repeatedly to prove that Apple is itself infringing on Samsung patents, but apart from a partial victory in its home country, has thus far been unable to persuade any courts of this notion. Apple had no comment on the victory.
On Monday, HTC filed a motion to withdraw its last "home grown" patent from its contentious US International Trade Commission (ITC) complaint against Apple. HTC is only left with two Apple-claimed standards-essential patents to attempt to assert against Apple, rather than the original claimed eight. The remaining HTC patents and Apple counter-claims are expected to go to trial in about a month at the ITC.
HTC's last-ditch effort to apply borrowed patents from from Google to help fight against Apple's infringement battle was shot down by the US International Trade Commission today. The appeal was made after Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender concluded that HTC failed to acquire all the rights in the relevant patents in mid-June. The six-member review commission agreed, and strongly suggested the addition of more co-complainants to fix the deficiency wouldn't fix the problem.
In part influenced by the opinion published by US District Court judge Richard A. Posner in a separate case Apple-Motorola action, the International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to review its previous preliminary ruling that found some Apple products to be infringing on a Motorola Wi-Fi patent. If the patent is now found to be a standards-essential patent, Motorola's primary win against Apple thus far could be up-ended.
An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has granted Apple's motion to have five of the patents asserted against it by HTC thrown out of an ongoing legal dispute. The five patents were assigned to HTC by Google less than a week before HTC filed the complaint in September 2011. Three of eight patents remain in HTC's second ITC complaint against Apple.
Motorolais seeking US import bans against the iPhone, iPad, and Xbox 360 based on H.264 playbackand wireless implementation patents. A large quantity of letters supporting Microsoft and Apple have rained down upon the International Trade Commission, asking that they refrain from exclusion orders based on standards-essential patents. Companies and agencies requesting the ITC not ban the products include HP, Nokia, Verizon, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Retail Industry Leaders Association, Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), and Cisco. No third-party public interest statements have been filed in support of Motorola's possible injunction.
The ITC judge overseeing Apple's ongoing patent infringement case against Samsung's Galaxy Tab and smartphone lines referred to a famous comedy routine by the comic duo Cheech and Chong as a test for infringement, a possible hint that the judge is favoring Apple's claims. The test refers to a straightforward way to identify a copy: "Does it look like it, feel like it, smell like it?" Apple has asserted that Samsung "slavishly copied" the look and feel of various Apple products.
The US Customs and Border Protection department has released the month-long hold on HTC's One X and the Evo 4G LTE. The customs review went into effect on April 19, preventing the Evo 4G LTE from a full retail release through Sprint as expected on May 18. Limited One X phones reached AT&T during the same period. Last week, Customs released a portion of the embargoed phones to the carriers for sale in anticipation of the release.
Some HTC handsets, potentially including the One X and Evo 4G LTE, are slowly making their way through US Customs, the company reports. A recent update on the HTC corporate website notes that some handsets are passing Customs inspections, despite an International Trade Commission (ITC) ban on the devices entering the US.
HTC has confirmed that US Customs is holding shipments of the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones. An International Trade Commission (ITC) ban is in place, preventing the customs release while a review of the shipments for non-infringement of Apple patents is underway. HTC has protested the hold, saying it believes the phones are no longer in violation of the sales injunction applied by the ITC.
A US-based International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has accused Apple of trying to get around a page-count limit in court filings in its dispute with Samsung and has struck some 3,000 pages of patent analysis the company produced. Instead, according to Administrative Law Judge E. James Gildea, Apple must submit a one-page table of its invalidity contentions as contained in the ITC rules by the end of business today (Tuesday).
Motorola won an at least temporary victory from the International Trade Commission on Tuesday. The agency found (PDF) that Apple had infringed on one of four patents Motorola had leveled, covering a Wi-Fi implementation. As with other ITC disputes, the determination still faces a review that could reverse the decision.
Motorola landed a major early victory in its dueling lawsuits with Microsoft on Monday after the International Trade Commission ruled (PDF) that Microsoft had violated four of its patents. The initial findings would effectively ban the Xbox 360 for its use of the H.264 video format, a claim it has leveled against other Microsoft products as well. As a first ruling, it's not automatically in effect and faces a review by a panel, due in August, before it's enforced.
Apple has largely been unsuccessful in attempting to appeal its denied early ban on Samsung devices in the US. Judges in an appeals court hearing on Friday was told that, while the main case's Judge Lucy Koh thought it probable Samsung had copied Apple technology, there wasn't a strong enough sign that any imitation was doing damage to Apple's health. Apple had tried to argue that it didn't need to show a direct loss.
The International Trade Commission issued a final ruling (PDF) later on Friday upholding its view that Motorola didn't violate Apple patents in one dispute. It reviewed one concern each for the three patents under dispute but maintained the verdict it had delivered in January. The verdict was coming two months ahead of an original May 14 target.
Apple is now known to have whittled back its ITC dispute with Samsung to speed up the case. It dropped an entire patent claim on a cantilivered push buttonm where Samsung had a definition ruled in its favor. A further 15 claims were cut across two other patents, for detecting touchscreen gestures and plug detection.
Microsoft faced a major setback in attempts to pressure Android supporters after the International Trade Commission agreed to review a decision that Motorola violated a Microsoft patent. The choice will see the ITC question some of Microsoft's claims and possibly reverse them. Its challenge won't necessarily reverse the ultimate verdict, but could significantly soften the impact.
The International Trade Commission finished the week by denying Barnes & Noble its attempt to renew antitrust claims against Microsoft. A judge had taken belated evidence from the Nook designer into account but still decided that the original decision, that there wasn't enough evidence to suggest Microsoft was abusing patents, would stand. The verdict didn't necessarily side with Microsoft, but left Barnes & Noble withe option only of challenging Microsoft's claims that it violates patents.
The ITC in a new ruling (PDF) upheld its decision that Apple wasn't violating patents in HTC's original trade complaint. The conclusion followed a minor review and determined that Apple wasn't copying HTC's energy management and phone dialer technology. HTC can appeal the verdict, but may have trouble persuading the court.
Late last month, an International Trade Commission (ITC) Administrative Law Judge threw out Barnes & Noble's key claims in its patent dispute with Microsoft that the software company was abusing patents it held on elements of the Android OS in order to push the operating system out of the market. Earlier this week, an edited copy of the judge's ruling was made available to the public (PDF). The judge was now known to have been of the opinion that, while Microsoft's actions were "hard bargaining," they didn't represent misuse of the patents.
Apple filed with the New York state court handling Kodak's bankruptcy to ask for permission to sue the camera maker over patents. It wanted both a civil lawsuit and an ITC trade dispute over patents relating to digital cameras, photo frames, and printers. The iPhone designer didn't believe it necessarily needed to ask before suing, but was practicing an "abundance of caution" before it went ahead.
An expansion upon what few details have been available from Apple's new Samsung lawsuit has suggested that it reaches more at the core of Android and less at Samsung's specific actions. Along with accusing Samsung of violating a newer unlock gesture patent than what was covered in Germany, a second patent for a "universal interface" for retrieving data appeared to Florian Mueller to accuse Samsung of violating Siri-style searches, where stitching together keywords presents just the immediately needed results. While Android on a base level doesn't do this, it would prevent Google from providing a narrower search method in Android.
ITC staff lawyer Jeff Hsu in a discussion Monday said he would recommend to Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex that Barnes & Noble hadn't violated the three patents at the heart of a Microsoft lawsuit. The recommendation isn't binding, but could be a strong clue as to the ruling Judge Essex may make on April 27.
The International Trade Commission gave an initial ruling Tuesday that Barnes & Noble couldn't bring its antitrust claims against Microsoft. An Administrative Law Judge granted Microsoft's motion to dismiss the claims that it was abusing patents to try and squeeze Android out of the market. Details of the full ruling were still unpublished, but the Office of Unfair Import Investigations had already hinted that Barnes & Noble wasn't passing legal muster on issues such as licensing, which isn't compulsory for Microsoft.
An examination of a decision in a Chicago court in Apple's lawsuit versus Motorola could see most any Android device face inherent patent violations. Florian Mueller has noticed that Judge Richard Posner interpreted a realtime API (app programming interface) in such a way that Motorola and other Android supporters not only would be infringing on the technology, but wouldn't have an easy way around it. HTC had already been found violating the patent and could now see that definition enshrined in the courts.
The International Trade Commission in a ruling (PDF) on Friday denied Apple's complaint against Motorola. Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex didn't explain what the reason for the rejection had been in the case, which had accused Motorola of violating three patents mostly relating to touchscreens. The ruling is an initial one and will require final approval.
Microsoft has scaled back the reach of its dispute with Barnes & Noble has made a deal to streamline some of the case. A filing this week dropped one patent, for a browser loading status feature, from an International Trade Commission complaint against the Nook maker. Four other patents had some of their individual claims dropped.
Apple on Thursday opted to settle to end Elan's lawsuit over two multi-touch patents. Elan said Apple had paid a relatively small $5 million to avoid a final trial and a possible ban on iOS devices and Macs. The two would cross-license patents as part of the exchange, although it's not clear what Apple would give up in return.
Kodak saw its hopes of bouncing back fade on Friday after it filed twice with the SEC to say three board members had resigned. Adam Clammer and Herald Chen were reported as having left on Tuesday, while Laura Tyson was now known to have left as of the Friday release. Neither release gave an indication as to the reasons for leaving.
Rambus on Thursday said it had signed a patent license deal with Broadcom. In conjunction with the five-year agreement, the two companies have settled a legal battle that began last year when Rambus sued Broadcom and five other semiconductor makers of copying its memory technology as well peripheral connectivity technology. No other details of the agreement or settlement have been released.
Microsoft achieved a key win as the ITC ruled in its favor in a complaint against Motorola. An early ruling from the trade agency found that some Motorola devices allegedly violate one of seven Microsoft patents. The Windows maker's deputy general counsel David Howard took the company's typical approach in a response, saying Microsoft was "pleased" and arguing that every Android device maker must pay royalties.
(Update: HTC statement) Apple scored a major coup Monday after the International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Apple in a repeatedly delayed decision as to whether HTC was violating Apple patents. An administrative law judge upheld the view that HTC was violating two claims. Some unnamed devices would be banned starting from April 19 to give times for carriers to switch to other hardware.
An administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission said on Friday that it would review one of the patent findings in its determination that Apple didn't violate HTC patents. The examination leaves the possibility that the agency could find Apple violating one of four patents HTC leveled in its countering dispute. It's not clear when the verdict will arrive.
A final ruling from the International Trade Commission was dealt a second, last-minute delay on Tuesday. HTC said that the final decision, already moved back to December 14, would now be held on December 19. No explanation was given for the setback.
Apple may have been pressed into an unusual deal with a company to avoid a legal dispute. An ITC complaint (PDF) from Digitude Innovations, a company commonly seen as a patent troll through its lack of real products, is using two patents formerly owned by Apple as well as two more to push for royalties or a ban on Amazon, HTC, LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, and Sony. Although routed through Cliff Island, a shell company for Digitude's funding firm Altitude Capital Partners, a "Digitude-Apple" license document at the ITC confirms that Digitude had made the deal with Apple directly.
Barnes & Noble got an important win late this week after the ITC agreed (PDF) to make requests to Canada and Finland for evidence from patent holder Mosaid as well as Nokia. The calls would have Mosaid supply documents for its deal with Nokia through a letter rogatory, or a non-binding request to a foreign court. Nokia, meanwhile, would be asked for testimony from CEO Stephen Elop and other executives under the Hague Convention's Article 3, in which case the court wouldn't have much choice but to comply.
