Apple to drop patent claims against new Samsung phone

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:14pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to withdraw patent claims against a new Samsung phone with a high-end display after Samsung said it was not offering to sell the product in the crucial U.S. market.

Apple disclosed the agreement in a filing on Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California. Representatives for both Apple and Samsung declined to comment.

Last month Apple asked to add the Galaxy S III Mini and other Samsung products, including several tablet models, to its wide-ranging patent litigation against Samsung.

In response, Samsung said the Galaxy S III Mini was not available for sale in the United States and should not be included in the case.

Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung earlier this year but has failed to secure a permanent sales ban against several, mostly older Samsung models. The patents Apple is asserting against the Galaxy S III Mini are separate from those that went to trial.

Samsung started selling the Mini in Europe in October to compete with Apple's iPhone 5. In its filing on Friday in U.S. District Court, for the Northern District of California, Apple said its lawyers were able to purchase "multiple units" of the Mini from Amazon.com Inc's U.S. retail site and have them delivered in the United States.

But Samsung represented that it is not "making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States." Based on that, Apple said it agreed to withdraw its patent claims on the Mini, "so long as the current withdrawal will not prejudice Apple's ability later to accuse the Galaxy S III Mini if the factual circumstances change."

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc. vs. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al., 12-630.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Leslie Adler and Dan Grebler)

View the original article here

Nokia and RIM settle wi-fi patent dispute

1 of 2. A woman walks past a Nokia advertisement board at a home appliances store in Shenyang, Liaoning province December 6, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Stringer

View the original article here

U.S. agency makes initial ruling against Apple "pinch-to-zoom" patent

n">(Reuters) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected Apple Inc's 'pinch-to-zoom' patent in a preliminary ruling that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd argues supports its request for a new trial in the patent war against its rival.

Apple scored a sweeping legal victory over its South Korean competitor in August when a U.S. jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

The 'pinch-to-zoom' patent, U.S. patent no. 7,844,915, was one of the patents contested at that trial. The jury ruled that Samsung had infringed six of seven Apple patents.

When the U.S. patent office rules against a patent, the full process involves multiple steps and can take years. It can also often be appealed in court, further tying up the process.

The ruling by the U.S. patent office after Samsung requested an examination of the patent was included in documents filed by Samsung in a federal court in San Jose, California.

Apple's claims were rejected on the grounds that prior patents covered the inventions.

Representatives for Apple and Samsung were not immediately available for comment.

Samsung and Apple, the world's top two smartphone makers, are locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries as they vie to dominate the lucrative mobile market and win over customers with their latest gadgets.

In October, a Dutch court ruled that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's patent by using certain multi-touch techniques on some of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers.

(Reporting by Balaji Sridharan in Bangalore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

View the original article here