Apple Fails to Win U.S. Injunction Against Samsung, Previously Offered 'Scrollback' Patent License

Hopefully these guys will call a truce for xmas and have a football match instead

Well done Samsung keep on fighting the trolls.

What trolls?

Here is my first reading of the judge's decision (http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/5:2011cv01846/239768/452/)to not grant a preliminary injunction at Apple's request, which was based on two iPhone design patents, one iPad design patent, and one utility patent (the snapback one). Corrections welcomed.

---- PHONE DESIGN PATENTS

Apple's lawyers tried to claim that similar designs would have a product dilution affect, an idea which is ripped off from trademark law, and which Koh said is not normally applied to design patents.

Both design patents were limited because Apple had only patented the front, although of course now they were belatedly trying to claim side and back as well.

The first 2007 iPhone design patent ('087) was found to not count, because a 2005 Sharp Japanese design patent proved prior art:



The other one ('677) was challenged on account of functionality. The court noted that a minimalist design is that way specifically because it is all functional, not decorative. (Note: a design patent can ONLY patent decorative items.)

In addition, placement of speaker and screen is obvious. Still, the court felt that the Samsung design might infringe it due to the full sized black screen even though the details were different (home buttons, etc).

However, Apple did not prove that irreparable harm would occur for many reasons, including:

1) Apple's claim that Samsung had been copying them since 2007. Naturally, the fact that Apple waited until 2011 to sue Samsung over the design, didn't convince the court that such copying could cause irreparable harm... since Apple failed to complain during the first four years.

2) Another factor was that the court decided that if Samsung's devices were not sold, the real benefactor of an injunction would not be Apple, but the other manufacturers of smartphones (e.g HTC and LG).

---- TABLET DESIGN PATENT

Again, functionality was a major consideration, just as it was in the Netherlands judgement.

Moreover, the court saw too much prior art (e.g the 1994 Knight-Ridder concept and the TC1000 tablet).

Therefore the court found that Apple had failed to establish that it was likely to be able to prove the iPad's design patent validity in court.

As for irreparable harm, the court said that even if Samsung infringed (the possibly invalid patent), Apple had failed to prove that the iPad's physical design was the deciding factor for buyers... especially with prior art showing that the shape isn't what makes the iPad sell so well; it is the UI, apps and price.

---- SNAPBACK UI PATENT

Again, prior art was introduced, along with a Samsung intimation that perhaps Apple had deliberately withheld some of it from the USPTO. The judge disagreed.

The judge ruled that Apple could probably prove its validity and that Samsung likely infringed on this patent. However, it was not critical enough a smartphone patent to be grounds for an injunction.

It's the same thing they did with the photo gallery app and were found in infringement in the Netherlands for. They went back to the stock Android behavior to circumvent the ban in the end.

The fact that they're intentionally changing the way that the stock applications behave to act like iOS counterparts is very discouraging from my perspective.

Hopefully this will lead to Samsung leaving things alone or coming up with alternative methods rather than trying to emulate competitors.

Are we all supposed to be impressed by your amazing command of the English Language and hit the thumbs up button on your post to make you feel superior???

OK, congratulations, you've corrected a grammatical error on an Internet Blog.

All those readers who don't use English as their first language appreciate such corrections very much. It used to be that reading a lot would give you a good command of the English language eventually; on the internet that is unfortunately not so. So _I_ am not impressed, but I appreciate the effort. And every little bit helps.

Overscroll on a washer/dryer or microwave... Intriguing ! :p

The next time you eat tomato soup, try stirring it, then take the spoon out and watch carefully: Just before the soup comes to rest, it actually rotates back a bit. Nowadays this is called "overscroll" :-)

Good, let these things proceed to trial and the parties being found guilty of infringement before any punishements are dished out.

This goes for both sides. All this injunction non-sense only hurts the consumer in the end.

Also good to know Apple is opening up to the idea of licensing their patents instead of hoarding them all and using them as a competitive edge only. Other parties are open to these cross-license agreements and in the end, the consumer wins.