A few weeks back, I outlined some of the problems created when design patent law is interpreted in negative ways. One particular issue? The negative incentives created if the article of manufacture to which icon patents are applied is the entire device. When I wrote that post, these were still hypotheticals. A sole juror is…
Tag Archive for Apple
Jury Decides Icon Patents Should Award Profits On Entire Phone
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday, after almost four days of deliberation, the Apple v. Samsung jury decided Samsung owed Apple over $500 million of Samsung’s profits. Faced with an artificial and unsound test, the jurors struggled to understand just what they were supposed to do. Ultimately, the jurors awarded Apple profits on the entire Samsung device for Apple’s…
Icon Patents Shouldn’t Entitle The Patent Owner To Profits On The Whole Device
by Josh Landau •
An important part of the Apple v. Samsung trial is about the exterior casing design patents. But those aren’t the only design patents at issue—the other design patent in the case covers a colorful grid of icons with particular characteristics like rounded corners and variable icons: As a reminder, a design patent covers a “new,…
Did You Buy Your Car Just Because Of The Cup Holder?
by Josh Landau •
Opening arguments in Apple v. Samsung started this morning. While round six of the long-running case deals with smartphone patents, the potential impacts range much further. As I noted in my post yesterday, a rule of design patent damages that allows patentees to receive the total profits on the entire product even though the design…
Apple v. Samsung, Round Six
by Josh Landau •
A district court trial. A retrial, after part of the verdict was vacated. An appeal to the Federal Circuit. A Supreme Court opinion with a remand to the Federal Circuit. A remand from the Federal Circuit back to the district court. Seven years after Apple originally filed suit against Samsung, we’re right back in Judge…
New Trial On Design Patent Damages, But A Flawed Test
by Josh Landau •
In the long-running Apple v. Samsung dispute, which has now gone from the trial court to the Federal Circuit to an en banc opinion to the Supreme Court and then back to the Federal Circuit and finally back to the trial court, Judge Koh has granted a new trial on the issue of damages for…
CustomPlay, Annotated
by Josh Landau •
Near the end of July, CustomPlay sued Apple and Amazon. CustomPlay is owned by Max Abecassis, who also owns Nissim Corp. (Nissim has a long history of involvement with the DVD standard and nearly as long of a history of forcing companies to license its DVD patents; this is hardly Abecassis’ first go at patent…
Saying Doesn’t Make It So—Why You Still Shouldn’t Listen To Qualcomm
by Josh Landau •
Last week, CCIA filed a statement on the public interest in Qualcomm v. Apple at the International Trade Commission (ITC), Qualcomm’s newest attempt to use patent law to reinforce their monopoly power over the baseband processor market. In a response filed yesterday, Qualcomm accused CCIA of partaking in a “coordinated effort aimed at misdirecting the…
If Qualcomm Wins At The ITC, We All Lose
by Josh Landau •
This afternoon, CCIA filed comments on the public interest in the Qualcomm v. Apple case pending at the International Trade Commission (ITC). Qualcomm sued Apple in the ITC as part of the large dispute between the two companies. (The dispute continues to grow, having recently added a case in Germany and suits and counter-suits between…
Apple v. Qualcomm – Double Dipping and Breaking Promises
by Josh Landau •
Back in January, Patent Progress wrote about lawsuits filed against Qualcomm by the FTC and by Apple. Today, Apple filed an amended complaint against Qualcomm, based in part on new law resulting from the Supreme Court’s Lexmark decision on patent exhaustion. A High Water Lexmark In Patent Exhaustion The Lexmark case, while important, is actually…