Everything patent
Word has it that Samsung and Apple's mediated settlement talks were not fruitful, and that their patent dispute will be ongoing. This outcome probably seems a little obvious after Apple filed to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being imported to the U.S. the day the negotiations kicked off.
In its patent case against Apple, Samsung had recently asked that some of Apple's experts be dismissed from testifying, and now they're asking that one more be banned.
Late last week Apple filed a preliminary injunction against Samsung's flagship tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The move comes shortly after an appeal which partially confirmed that Apple's design patent infringement complaint was valid. This might put just a slight damper on the settlement talks Apple and Samsung had scheduled for today. Apple proposed to give Samsung until May 25 (this Friday) to respond.
Delaware courts have have called for delegates from HTC and Apple to meet on August 28 to talk about settling the patent dispute that has blocked the U.S. import of some HTC handsets.
Samsung and Apple have made some pretty interesting evidence requests in recent joint court filings. Apple is specifically asking that Walter Isaacson's official biography of Steve Jobs isn't admitted as any kind of evidence, likely considering it illustrates Jobs' unbridled ire for Android, and that it would color Apple's complaints as founded on emotion rather than technology
Apple has been granted permission to step in against Lodsys, a holding company which was intent on suing iOS developers for infringing on in-app purchasing patent .
As the patent battle between Samsung and Apple continues to drag on, Apple claims that they had tried to settle out of court between July and September 2010, before this whole hooplah started.
According to some EU court documents, Motorola and Apple had talked about hashing out a licensing deal in late 2011. Given their rough and ongoing patent battles, it's no surprise to hear Apple claim in the documents that their "refusal to accede to this demand led Motorola Mobility to sue Apple in an attempt to exclude Apple’s products from the market.”
Rumor has it that Apple had offered a settlement with an unnamed smartphone manufacturer to license patents for $5 - $15 per device (which worked out to 1% - 2.5% of the total device price). Apple is making ground in its ongoing patent battle with Motorola, but apparently head-to-head litigation isn't the only route they're willing to take.
Motorola and Apple are still duking it out in courts over a wide variety patents, but recently Apple made a significant step towards victory. A U.S. judge in Chicago ruled that information about Google's acquisition of Motorola is a key part of Apple's claims against Motorola. The ruling also means that Apple we get some key information about the development of Android, and potentially find other cases of infringement there.
