Apple: Samsung shirked FRAND obligations, filed suit before making a licensing offer
Samsung abused its rights as a standard-essential patent holder, Apple said Wednesday, by filing a complaint with the International Trade Commission before even trying to come to an agreement with the Cupertino company over licensing terms.
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Apple Details Five Patents Violated by Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now
Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As promised, Apple today filed a motion (via Foss Patents) that details five different patents that the S4 allegedly infringes on.
The filing includes two Siri-related patents violated by Google Now, Google’s robust voice activated search assistant. Patents ’604 and ’959 cover a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.”
The other three patents in the filing cover a “graphical user interface using historical lists with field classes (’502),” a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data (‘647).” and “asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices (‘414).” According to Apple, these are all claims that other Samsung devices already violate.
Apple determined that the Galaxy S4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices.
Samsung and Apple were ordered to narrow the scope of their ongoing legal battle earlier this year and as a result, Apple has stated that it will remove one of the other 22 infringing devices from the lawsuit if it is permitted to add the Galaxy S4.
There will be a hearing to discuss Apple’s newly filed motion on June 25 in San Jose and the lawsuit, which covers newly released devices that were not a part of the original dispute, is expected to go to trial in March of 2014.
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Apple Details Five Patents Violated by Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now
Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As promised, Apple today filed a motion (via Foss Patents) that details five different patents that the S4 allegedly infringes on.
The filing includes two Siri-related patents violated by Google Now, Google’s robust voice activated search assistant. Patents ’604 and ’959 cover a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.”
The other three patents in the filing cover a “graphical user interface using historical lists with field classes (’502),” a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data (‘647).” and “asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices (‘414).” According to Apple, these are all claims that other Samsung devices already violate.
Apple determined that the Galaxy S4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices.
Samsung and Apple were ordered to narrow the scope of their ongoing legal battle earlier this year and as a result, Apple has stated that it will remove one of the other 22 infringing devices from the lawsuit if it is permitted to add the Galaxy S4.
There will be a hearing to discuss Apple’s newly filed motion on June 25 in San Jose and the lawsuit, which covers newly released devices that were not a part of the original dispute, is expected to go to trial in March of 2014.
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Samsung Galaxy S4 & Google Now accused of violating Apple patents for Siri
In its ongoing litigation against Samsung, Apple has added five new patents to its claims, targeting both the company’s new flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone, as well as the Google Now service for Android.
AppleInsider – Frontpage News
Apple Still Tops in Cellphone Customer Satisfaction, but Losing Ground to Samsung and Others
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) has today released its annual rankings of customer satisfaction for mobile phones in the United States. While Apple had the highest customer satisfaction index score for the second year in a row, its score has fallen slightly while competitors like Motorola Mobility, Nokia, and Samsung have all gained in score.
Apple is still at the top of the list when it comes to smartphone satisfaction, but this year’s ranking of 81 (out of 100) is two percent below its 2012 ranking of 83. Motorola phones came in second after Apple, hitting a ranking of 77 after a 5% gain year over year.
Nokia remained high on the list with a 1% gain giving it a score of 76, and Samsung experienced the most growth at 7%, bringing it to a score of 76. HTC and LG both saw drops in satisfaction while BlackBerry remained on the bottom of the list with a score of 69.
The improvement [of Samsung] is the largest yet for any cell phone manufacturer, and earns Samsung a position even with the industry average and Nokia (+1%) and just behind second place Motorola, up 5% to 77. Nevertheless, Samsung remains well behind industry leader Apple.
Since the May 2012 customer satisfaction survey which was the first that ranked smartphones, Apple has introduced its newest phone, the iPhone 5, while Samsung has debuted several devices including its most recent Galaxy S 4.
The ACSI also ranked wireless telephone service, with Verizon and AT&T experiencing small gains in satisfaction. Verizon ranked first with a score of 73 outranking Sprint’s steady 71, which earned it the top spot last year. AT&T went from 69 to 70, and T-Mobile dropped to last place with a score of 68.
The ASCI bases its customer satisfaction index on a survey of 70,000 people in the United States that asks customers about the products and services they use the most. It measures satisfaction with more than 230 companies that span 43 industries and 10 economic sectors.
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Samsung to pay for Galaxy-specific apps
In its continuing quest for domination in the Android market place, Samsung has announced a global contest for developers to make Samsung-exclusive apps. In particular, they’re looking for apps that highlight the Group Play function showcased in the new Galaxy S 4. Group Play allows users to interact and share content like music, photos, and games with other users. In all, 10 winning developers will split $ 800,000 in prize money as the company looks for the killer app to help it stand out in the pack of Android handset providers.
The contest requires developers to use Samsung’s Chord SDK media-streaming service to be eligible for the prize money. $ 200,000 goes to the first prize winner, three second-place winners get $ 100,000 each, and the remaining six third-place winners pocketing $ 50,000 apiece.
Entries will be judged based on originality, design, functionality, and commercial appeal. Interestingly all entries must be submitted as free apps, though they are allowed to feature in-app purchases.
One of the disadvantages facing Android phone producers as they search for market dominance over other hardware companies is the lack of exclusive software. Due to the incredibly wide range of Android devices offering basically the same foundation, Samsung needs a way to narrow down consumer choices to their products. Galaxy-specific apps, or at least apps specific to Galaxy features that will soon be rolled out in other phone models, would provide leverage to help Samsung stand out in the crowded Android market place.
Samsung to pay for Galaxy-specific apps originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Samsung and Sharp Introduce New Ultra-High-Resolution Notebook Displays
While Apple’s 15″ MacBook Pro was the first consumer notebook to gain a Retina-level display nearly a year ago, it is no longer the only such offering, as Google’s Chromebook Pixel with its 12.85″ 2560×1700 display and Toshiba’s Kirabook with a 2560×1440 220 PPI display have joined the market in recent months.
Seeking to raise the ante on Retina displays, Samsung and Sharp have both introduced new high-resolution displays in the past week, targeting notebooks and ultrabooks with the latest technology. The new displays from both companies sport 16:9 ratios, making them unfit for Apple’s line of notebooks, which all use 16:10 ratio displays, but they should make Retina displays a mainstream feature in the relatively near future.
Sharp last week announced new 11.6″, 14″, and 15.6″ displays with pixel densities of 235-262 PPI, joining the company’s existing 13.3″ display at 221 PPI. Samsung’s announcement today included a new 13.3″ display with a 3200×1800 LCD panel at an even higher 276 PPI.
For comparison, Apple’s 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display has a 2560×1600 13.3″ display at 227 PPI.
While high resolution is the most obvious benefit of these new displays for consumers, some of the screens bring other benefits as well. Samsung says its new 13.3″ display offers 30% power savings over existing displays, something that would be important for a potential MacBook Air with Retina display. That machine is constrained by needs for a super-thin display and battery. And even for Apple’s existing Retina MacBook Pro, advances being brought about by Samsung and Sharp are likely to make their way into Apple’s notebook displays in the future.
Sharp advertises similar energy-saving benefits from its new IGZO displays:
IGZO technology enables smaller thin-film transistors and increased light transmittance. As a result, fine text can be rendered crisply and clearly, and images can be displayed with impressive realism. For example, the 14-inch panel boasts a pixel density of 262 ppi, which represents 1.67 times the number of pixels of full high definition. Increased light transmittance also means lower rates of energy consumption, with IGZO technology reducing the amount of power required to drive liquid crystals during the display of still images. These factors lead to greater energy efficiency and longer battery life on notebook PCs.
Apple has been rumored to be looking at Retina displays for desktop applications as well, but a future Retina iMac would face a different set of issues, including the cost of the panel itself at such large sizes, as well as the immense graphics and connectivity needs to drive such a display.
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10M Samsung flagship phones in 28 days a ‘record,’ 5M iPhone 5 in 3 days ‘disappointing’
Samsung earned industry praise for estimating that it expected to ship 10 million units of its flagship Galaxy S4 to carriers in its first month on the market, six months after the same journalists voiced disappointment that Apple had sold “only” 5 million iPhone 5′s in its first 3 days.
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Apple Seeks to Add Samsung Galaxy S4 to U.S. Patent Lawsuit
Just weeks after the launch of Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone, FOSS Patents reports that Apple is seeking to add the device to a patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung in the United States.
Judge Lucy Koh has already ordered Apple and Samsung to narrow their case, which is expected to go to trial in March 2014. Each side will ultimately be required to limit their cases to ten targeted devices, although the current stage is seeing the companies pare their lists to 22 devices each.
The filings reveal a major new disagreement: Apple has analyzed the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s new top-selling product, and “has concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product”. Apple’s current list of 22 accused products does not include the S4, but a footnote contains the statement from which I just quoted. Apple says it will drop another product from its list of 22 accused products once it has permission to add the S4 to this litigation.
The two sides are also continuing to disagree over what constitutes a single product, with Samsung arguing that each carrier version of its devices should count as a separate product, seeking to shift the balance by taking advantage of its significantly larger number of devices compared to Apple’s lineup.
Apple’s list of 22 products currently covers a number of Samsung’s smartphone and tablet devices, while Samsung’s own list includes virtually every device and service offered by Apple, including all iPad and Mac models, all iPhone models dating back to the iPhone 3G, the last three iPod touch generations, 1st and 3rd generation Apple TV models, and even iTunes and iCloud. While the battle between Apple and Samsung has focused mainly on mobile devices until now, Samsung’s counterclaims have sought to bring Apple’s Mac lineup and services into the dispute by asserting infringement of a patent related to multimedia synchronization across devices.
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Apple supplier Sharp strikes strategic deal with Samsung
Sharp, a key supplier of components that go into iPads and iPhones, lost $ 5.4 billion last year, prompting the Japanese display maker to increase its reliance on Apple’s top rival, Samsung, in order to survive.
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