Apple drops a patent and some claims against Samsung in ITC suit
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The claim construction rulings determine if the judge agrees with either side about certain terms used in each parties claims and can often decide who will win a patent infringement case. The patent involved in the claim construction that Samsung won, U.S. Patent No. 7,863,533, is for a "cantilevered push button having multiple contacts and fulcrums," and is being dropped from the case by Apple. Also being dropped by Apple are claims 1-3, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 21-27 of U.S. Patent No. 7,789,697 on "plug detection mechanisms ", and claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949. The latter patent is known as the "touchscreen heuristics patent" which was co-invented by the late Steve Jobs. This claim deals with which object on the UI is selected when two objects on the have overlapping "hit regions".
Most courts smile on the act of simplification, especially when it involves a number of technological issues like we have here. Next on the agenda is the actual trial, set to start May 31st and end on June 6th. And from there, we expect to get the ruling. Apple will now have 4 patents at issue in this particular case against Samsung.
source: FOSSPatents
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13 Comments
2. InspectorGadget80 posted on 12 Mar 2012, 19:31 7
CAN WE PLEASE STOP TALKING BOUT APPLE VS. SAMSUNG FOR ONCE AND GET BACK TO PHONE NEWS. THIS IS GETTING NONSENSE. AND I BLAME Apple that started this law suit in the first place
3. kjefksef posted on 12 Mar 2012, 19:36 4
i blame Samsung for copying apple in the first place
4. frydaexiii posted on 12 Mar 2012, 20:00 11
and I blame Apple for not being competitive enough to take it like a man and beat Samsung with good products instead of lawsuits. Look at Pepsi, it was pretty much a Coca-cola copy, yet Coca-cola is still more famous.
5. Lucas777 posted on 12 Mar 2012, 20:09 4
apple already beats samsung in profits i believe… i mean they are the second most valuable company…
6. frydaexiii posted on 12 Mar 2012, 20:38 4
Yeah, but I don't really care if Apple is around, as long as Samsung doesn't stop making smartphones & tablets because of them...
7. remixfa posted on 12 Mar 2012, 21:25 4
having some asthetic similarities are not grounds to sue your competition out of existence. If it were, Nike would have sued Reebok, Addidas, and all the others for making shoes that resembled their basic shape. That is basically what Apple tried to do. Did Zenith sue everyone that made a 4:3 TV in a box shape?? Did Sony sue everyone that made a 16:9 flatscreen?
At least now they are using actual patents which is much more legit since its a patent, but as we know the patent process in america is beyond broken anyways.
This was nothing more than Jobs obsession which was only brought to fruit because of their seemingly unlimited supply of cash to constantly sue everyone. You are not guilty just because you get sued, and your not innocent just because your doing the suing.
HOPEFULLY this means that Cook is starting to lighten the lawyer load of frivolous bully lawsuits.
11. biophone posted on 12 Mar 2012, 22:57 1
You can sue for asthetics in my opinion if someone is stealing brand identity but not for stupid things like the act of sliding to unlock or having a phone with a black bezel that is touchscreen. Its up to the judge to decide if brand identity is stolen.
8. Lousclues posted on 12 Mar 2012, 21:26 9
This Alan F. dude purposely writes stuff to get people to argue lol. Just relax people, and go play with your smart phones. you will feel better afterwards :-)
12. networkdood posted on 13 Mar 2012, 02:32 1
Whatever company had the first actual screen on a phone should sue APPLE as they copied that idea and put a screen on their phone....shame on APPLE....and that keyboard with the letter Q - APPLE should be sued for placing that on the keyboard....
