Legal

In an interesting turn of events, Samsung's legal team has asked Apple to hand over next-generation versions of the iPhone and iPad to make sure its own future devices will not be subjected to the same infringement claims the company currently faces as part of Apple's lawsuit from last month.

The motion, filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., and discovered by This Is My Next, asks the court to make Apple provide samples of the "final, commercial version(s)" of the iPhone and iPad, along with whatever retail packaging … Read more

Apple's legal battle with Samsung has taken a new twist. The California outfit is suing the Korean corporation over alleged copying of Apple products in Samsung's Android range, and a federal court is forcing Samsung to hand over samples of new phones for Apple to pore over.

The phones and tablets in question are the Samsung Galaxy S 2, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G, and Droid Charge. Fortunately for Samsung, only Apple's legal team for this case will see the products, so no one from Apple or even Apple's in-house lawyers will see the rival devices.

While the Samsung Galaxy S 2 has just gone on sale in the UK and the Infuse 4G in the US, the other three devices aren't yet on the market.

Read more of "Apple forces Samsung to hand over Galaxy prototypes in legal spat" at Crave UK.… Read more

Apple has sent notice to Lodsys, as well as developers targeted by the patent holdings firm, saying it has licensed the rights to in-app purchase, and that that license extends to developers on the iOS platform.

Developers MobileAge, the makers of the game Shanghai lite, received a letter from Apple's senior vice president and general counsel, Bruce Sewell, this morning telling them that the company has already licensed the four patents in Lodsys' portfolio, and that said license allows Apple's customers and business partners similar coverage to use it.

"Apple is undisputedly licensed to these (patents) and … Read more

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called Apple out for not responding fast enough, or at all, to a developing legal situation that's got some iOS developers spooked.

In a post on the group's blog today, EFF staff attorney Julie Samuels said Apple has put developers in a difficult position by requiring them to use within their apps in-app purchase (IAP), a mechanism that's been targeted by a third-party group that says the technology infringes on its patents.

That group, Lodsys, triggered a controversy last week when it began going after developers--instead of Apple--in seeking a licensing … Read more

In an ongoing legal battle over its App Store trademark, Apple has hit back at Amazon.com, denying Amazon's claim that "App Store" is a generic term.

In papers filed in federal court yesterday, Apple said it "denies that the mark APP STORE is generic and, on that basis, denies that the Amazon Appstore for Android service is an 'app store.'"

Apple also told the court that it does not believe "the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps," or that "the words 'app store' are commonly used among many … Read more

Apple is said to be "actively investigating" the patent claims made by holdings firm Lodsys, which last week began sending a handful of developers notices that their apps were infringing on a patent the group held, The Guardian reports.

Just yesterday Lodsys posted a series of frequently asked questions, along with corresponding answers to its blog, wherein it detailed how its patent pertains to the in-app purchase feature of iOS, and the developers who use it. The group seeks an ongoing, revenue-based licensing fee, as well as back payment on apps that make use of the feature.

So … Read more

A patent filing shows Apple has come up with a solution for answering the iPhone in a crowded bar or in the middle of a meeting.

Patently Apple yesterday published Apple's multipart solution, which shows the iPhone using speech-to-text and text-to-speech technologies to help people who find themselves in these situations communicate more easily.

The patent calls for a microphone to monitor the ambient noise level in a room, while a noise meter would display it on the phone's screen. When the noise level hits a certain level, if the phone rings, the user can answer using several … Read more

Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson have filed formal applications for a declaration of invalidity against Apple's trademarks for "App Store" and "Appstore" with the Community Trade Mark office in Europe.

The four companies join Amazon, which filed a similar complaint in Europe against Apple in mid-April. All seek to get Apple's two European trademarks invalidated, saying the moniker is too generic.

"Today's filings by HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Microsoft, like Amazon's recent action, demonstrate the breadth of opposition to Apple's unsupportable claim of exclusivity," a Microsoft representative … Read more

Apple, along with Pandora Media and The Weather Channel, have been named in a lawsuit alleging that the companies did not disclose the fact that personal data--specifically location--was being shared with third-party advertising networks.

The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico by Lymaris Rivera Diaz and picked up by The Loop, closely resembles an existing suit from December. That one targeted the same companies as well as other app makers for being able to trace an iPhone or iPad using the unique device identifier, or UDID, which is akin to a serial number in … Read more