Tag Archives: 1n

Aug 12

Apple granted EU injunction against ...

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We thought patent cases couldn’t get any worse after Apple was granted an injunction to block the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Obviously we were wrong. the courts in Dusseldorf have sided with Apple, posting an injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, banning the sale of the tablet from all European countries. as with the sales ban on the larger Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the 7.7 was found to infringe on an Apple design patent which can be traced back to internal company sketches from 2004. On a positive note, Apple was denied its appeal to force an injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N, which was redesigned to not infringe on Apple’s patent.

While the injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 could easily be circumvented with a new exterior design, Apple is hoping to have a more substantial impact on Samsung’s pocketbook in its upcoming court battle in California. Apple has never been shy about defending its patents in court, but this is the first time (to our knowledge) that the company has put a price tag on the alleged damages.

To make things easy for Samsung and the courts, Apple has divided up the claims into four different categories on a per-unit basis:

  • $2.02 for devices using “overscroll bounce” ’318 patent
  • $2.02 for devices using ”tap to zoom and navigate” ’915 patent
  • $3.10 for devices using ”scrolling API” ’163 patent
  • $24 for devices infringing an Apple design patent or trade dress right

Apple may have some luck with their technical patents, but we doubt the California court will be as eager to grant Apple a victory for any of its design or trade dress claims against Samsung.

I’m honestly bored out of my mind with all the patent cases these days and I’m sure the general public could care less about Apple’s ”overscroll bounce” or ”scrolling API” patent. will this madness ever stop?

Apple granted EU injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7, demands $2.5 billion in separate US patent case

Jun 06

Apple Returns to German Courts Over Samsung Tablet ...

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The highest court in the German city of Duesseldorf heard Tuesday cases brought by Apple Inc. (AAPL) against two Samsung Electronics (005930.SE) models as iPad maker Apple reignited its tablet computer dispute with Samsung.

Apple is trying to get two Samsung models taken off the market, alleging they infringe its copyright. the Cupertino, Calif., company succeeded in getting two Samsung tablet models, the 10.1 and the 8.9, barred from sale in Germany, but a lower court in February ruled sales of the amended 10.1N version could continue.

Samsung’s lawyers told the court Tuesday the new version has significant changes to its overall appearance, like a broader frame and more recognizable Samsung lettering. Apple said that making small changes isn’t enough, Samsung is exploiting Apple’s reputation and the overall impression is still too close to the iPad.

Apple also wants the Galaxy 7.7 tablet banned across Europe. Currently, Samsung’s German unit can’t sell the 7.7 in Europe, although the lower Duesseldorf regional court in October said it couldn’t stop the South Korean parent from selling across the continent, saying such a move is out of its jurisdiction.

Now the higher court is considering both Apple’s design patent infringement claim and the relationship of the parent and subsidiary. Regarding the design patent claim, presiding judge Wilhelm Berneke said Samsung’s 7.7 is “considerably closer to the industrial design” [of the iPad] than the model on trial in December.

Neither Apple nor Samsung immediately responded to requests for comment on the hearings.

Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in lawsuits over patent and copyright infringement involving mobile devices around the world, with a number of cases playing out in German courts.

In a separate trial over alleged iPad imitation in a regional Duesseldorf court Tuesday, the presiding judge set a ruling in Apple’s case against Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.’s (MMI) Xoom tablet for July 17.

In an earlier hearing, the judge said the court is leaning toward Motorola in the case, and she Tuesday reiterated that provisional view.

Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@dowjones.com

Copyright © 2012 Dow Jones Newswires

Apple Returns to German Courts Over Samsung Tablet Disputes

Feb 02

Apple Loses Bid to Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N, ...

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February 02, 2012, 6:59 AM EST

(Updates with hearing details from eighth paragraph.)

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Apple inc. failed to get a preliminary ban on sales of Samsung Electronics co.’s Galaxy 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus mobile phone from a German court.

The Munich Regional Court rejected the motion today, in a case where Apple invoked a patent granted last year protecting technology related to touch screens for tablets and smartphones.

“Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection,” Presiding Judge Andreas Mueller said when delivering the ruling.

The decision comes a day after a Dusseldorf appeals court upheld Apple’s request to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the predecessor model. Samsung began selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a revised version, in Germany to get around the ban. A lower Dusseldorf court is scheduled to rule next week on a separate case Apple filed over the Galaxy 10.1N. Samsung lost two patent rulings against its rival in a Mannheim court last month.

The European Commission announced yesterday it will investigate whether Samsung broke a 1998 commitment to license any standard essential patents for phones on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.” The action followed litigation filed by Samsung last year in European courts over the patents, the EU said.

Tablets, Smartphones

The legal battle between Cupertino, California-based Apple and its closest competitor in tablet computers is intensifying as an increasing number of consumers use tablets and smartphones to visit websites, play games and download music.

neither Samsung nor Apple immediately replied to e-mails seeking comment on today’s case.

The patent at issue today protects technology that shows users when they reach the scrolling limit of a page. The decision relied on the likelihood that Samsung could get the patent revoked at the European patent Office, which had granted the intellectual-property protection.

Peter Chrocziel, an Apple lawyer, argued at the hearing that the technology Samsung claimed was known before the iPad maker’s patent was filed didn’t contain the same solution because it didn’t provide the same experience for the user.

Samsung lawyer Henrik Timmann argued the court shouldn’t be allowed to issue a preliminary ban as long as a nine month deadline for contestation for the patent hasn’t been elapsed.

Judge Mueller said he and his two colleagues on the bench don’t follow the jurisprudence of the courts in Dusseldorf and Mannheim, which don’t typically grant emergency requests over recent patents.

“we don’t share the idea that young patents are less valuable than those who have survived for a longer period of time,” said Mueller. “we don’t think that would be in line with European rules of enforcing IP rights.”

Today’s case is LG Muenchen 21 O 26022/11.

–Editors: Anthony Aarons, Christopher Scinta

To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Munich via kmatussek@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

Apple Loses Bid to Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N, Nexus Phone

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Jan 01

German Court Unlikely to Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab ...

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A German judge said today that Apple is unlikely to win a ban on the modified Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet.

According to Bloomberg, Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann with the Dusseldorf court said Samsung has probably altered the Galaxy Tab 10.1 enough with its new “N” version to avoid infringing upon Apple design patents.

“Consumers are well aware that there is an original and that competitors try to use similar designs, so buyers are vigilant when looking at products,” Brueckner-Hofmann said. “We don’t think that someone buys a Samsung to make his table neighbor at the coffee house believe he owns an iPad.”

In a statement, a Samsung spokesman said “Samsung remains confident that we can demonstrate that the design of the Galaxy Tab range is distinctive, and does not infringe any of Apple’s intellectual property rights.”

“We will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple’s claims to ensure our products remain available to consumers in Germany,” he continued.

Apple and Samsung have been waging a patent war against each other all over the globe since April, when Apple fired the first shot.

In August, the Dusseldorf court blocked the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe, with the exception of the Netherlands. Amidst questions over whether a German court had the right to ban a Korean company from selling its wares outside Germany, the court later tightened its ruling and only applied the ban to sales within Germany.

To get around that, Samsung introduced a modified tablet, dubbed the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. it apparently sports a metal frame or bezel that wraps all the way around the edge of the tablet. it hit the German market the week of Nov. 21, and not surprisingly, Apple also sought to have the 10.1N included in its lawsuit.

A final ruling is expected on Feb. 9.

Apple was successful in delaying the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia as well, but a court recently allowed the device to be sold in the country.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

German Court Unlikely to Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N

Dec 24

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N passes German legal ...

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After an injunction in Germany that banned Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, the South Korean Android device maker has reworked the tablet’s design to meet a Dusseldorf court’s standards to avoid infringing on patents held by Apple for its iPad.

The new Galaxy Tab 10.1N, as the device is called, is different enough from the iPad that it’ll likely pass legal muster and won’t infringe, a German judge said today, according to a story from Ars Technica. The case isn’t quite shut yet, however – the judge still has to rule on the device and Apple is working to get this new Galaxy Tab banned in Germany, as well.

Apple won an injunction in the country against Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab 10.1 by claiming Samsung had “slavishly copied” Apple’s design for the iPad. The German court agreed, banning the sale of the device in the country because it ruled the look and feel of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 came too close to Apple’s patented designs. The answer to that injunction, the 10.1N, reworks that design slightly in order to make Samsung’s tablet more distinct. The device has been designed only for the German market; its most distinct new feature is the tablet’s metal rim, which wraps toward the front of the device in the 10.1N rather than lying flat behind the black bezel on the 10.1.

Apple still isn’t satisfied that Samsung’s tablet is significantly different enough from its iPad, however, and is working for another injunction against the device. As GigaOM points out, however, it’s probably unlikely that Apple will win a second injunction, given that the Dusseldorf judge said in a preliminary statement that Samsung has sufficiently moved the design of the 10.1N away from the iPad. That’s not the official ruling just yet, since there will be another hearing on the injunction, but Apple would probably have to come up with some compelling new arguments about how the device infringes on its iPad patents.

There’s no timeframe for the final ruling in Germany, but if the ruling goes down as expected, it could hurt Apple’s attempts to get similar bans against Samsung in other countries, like Australia. but for the time being, it seems as though Samsung has been successful in getting its Galaxy Tab 10.1 back to Germany, in some form. Now it’s just a matter of when the device might be able to go back on sale.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N passes German legal muster despite Apple’s objections – Android app article – Phil Hornshaw

Nov 22

Samsung Releases Redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1N in ...

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Samsung has modified its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany in an attempt to avoid potential issues with design rights infringement, reports Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. The new version, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, has a new bezel design that wraps around to the front of the device more aggressively.

Mueller says that it is likely that this design change was brought about by a collaboration between Samsung’s engineers and its legal team in an effort to avoid additional design rights trouble from Apple, although there is no guarantee that this change will fix matters completely or prevent issues in the future.

This redesign puts Samsung in the unenviable position of having to strike a balance between ‘what a tablet must be’ and ‘too close to Apple’s design’. The tweaking of the bezel seems like a fiddly way to get around Apple’s design rights litigation in Germany, but if it works, it works.

German tech site Mobiflip.de has a side-by-side comparison of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1N (top) and the older Galaxy Tab 10.1 (bottom).

A critical person might wonder if it the design shouldn’t just be altered significantly enough to be completely clear of trouble. But Samsung has been arguing all along that this is pretty much exactly what a tablet should look like and that the design was inevitable and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to be exclusive to Apple.

Samsung’s Galaxy tablets have also come under fire in the U.S., with District Judge Lucy Koh stating last month that the products do infringe on Apple patents. At one point, Koh held both tablets over her head and asked the lawyers from Samsung and Apple to tell her which one was which and it “took them a while to do so.”

In the end though, a lot of things seem inevitable once they’ve been seen for the first time. what do you think, is the design of the iPad a universal constant, the only way that a tablet can be, or is Samsung simply copying Apple’s design?

Samsung Releases Redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany to Avoid Apple Infringement

Nov 20

Report: Samsung Skirting German Ban Via Galaxy Tab ...

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You have to give Samsung credit for trying. in the wake of having its Galaxy Tab 10.1 temporarily banned in Germany, Samsung has apparently modified the tablet in order to get it on store shelves in the country.

According to MobiFlip.de, Samsung is now selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. It’s not drastically different; patent blogger Florian Mueller pointed to German-language blog allaboutsamsung.de, which said the metal frame or bezel “now wraps all around the edge to the extent that a part of it covers the margins of the front side.”

“That is a characteristic of at least one of the devices rejected by the court as prior art,” Mueller wrote in a blog post. “It seems to me that this design resulted from teamwork between Samsung’s German lawyers and its product design group.”

Mueller couldn’t say whether this will help Samsung defeat Apple’s various patent lawsuits. “But without a doubt, Samsung has upped the ante for Apple and its lawyers in case they wish to request a new injunction or allege that this constitutes an infringement of the existing one,” he wrote.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but CyberPort.de is listing a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N for €549.

Mueller recommended that Samsung “carefully test the waters and try to find out exactly where the courts draw the line and find an infringement.”

In September, the Düsseldorf Regional Court upheld its preliminary injunction against Samsung. The German Galaxy Tab drama started in August when the Dusseldorf court blocked the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe, with the exception of the Netherlands. Amidst questions over whether a German court had the right to ban a Korean company from selling its wares outside Germany, the court later tightened its ruling and only applied the ban to sales within Germany.

The patent dispute between Apple and Samsung began in April, when Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad in its flagship Galaxy S line of smartphones and tablets, among other devices. Samsung responded with a countersuit that targeted Apple for infringing on five patents relating to wireless networking technology.

The fight has since expanded to more than two dozen cases worldwide, and Samsung is trying to get the iPhone 4S banned in some countries.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Report: Samsung Skirting German Ban Via Galaxy Tab 10.1N

Nov 18

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Release Date: Retooled ...

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  • (Image: Samsung)The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

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No official launch date was announced for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but next week seems definite. Samsung spokesperson Jose Suh released details earlier today.

Currently, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N appears to be available on a number of German retailer websites. Webs-shop is selling the white 16 GB model; EP MediaStore has the black 32 GB Wi-Fi model; and, IM Superstore has the 64 GB Wi-Fi model in stock.

Previously, the company was banned from selling the device in Germany. A German court decided that the tablet was too similar in appearance to Apple’s iPad 2 and banned the original product.

This past September, Samsung appealed the decision of the district court in Düsseldorf. The court ruled that Samsung could not sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, due to its similar appearance to Apple’s iPad 2. The iPad 2′s design is registered with the European Union’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market.

The European Commission said it was currently looking into the antitrust matters related to Samsung. The emphasis of these investigations focused on how the company conducts itself in regard to filing alleged patent infringement claims.

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The new design of the tablet attempts to differentiate itself from the look of the iPad 2. It now includes a different frame that removes the iPad-like back plate from the tablet. The bezel’s silver lining will now be visible. The location of the speakers was also moved from the sides to the front.

Samsung spokesperson Nam Ki Yung said the new design was done in response to the requests of German authorities.

Samsung is still embroiled in a number of legal battles with Apple in Europe, Asia, and North America over patents related to their smartphones and tablets.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Release Date: Retooled Tablet Launching in Germany