As a prerequisite to the upcoming patent trial 2, Judge Lucy Koh – who presided over the first trial and will conduct the second round – had instructed both Apple and Samsung to narrow down the list of infringements and the devices affected from 25 each to a more manageable number of five apiece. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller said the parties went through a few rounds of “case narrowing” and have finally decided on which five patents and which five devices each side would attack in the upcoming continuation of the trial, scheduled to start on March 31.
In a pre-trial summary judgment, Judge Koh invalidated one of Samsung’s entire patents, so they are actually declaring five claims based on four patents. With that extra spot opened, Samsung choose to assert a second claim based on one of the patents that was allowed – in other words, Apple infringed twice on one patent. All five of Apple’s claims based on five different patents were accepted, despite Samsung’s attempts to invalidate a “control signals property on the grounds of prior art” claim.
The patents that Apple claims Samsung infringed on – US Patent No. 5,946,647 for a “System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data” – Claim 9, US Patent No. 6,847,959 for a “Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system” – Claim 25, US Patent No. 7,761,414 for “Asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices” – Claim 20, US Patent No. 8,046,721 for “Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image” – Claim 8, and US Patent No. 8,074,172 for a “Method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendation” – Claim 18.
The Samsung products that Apple claims violates these patents are the – Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, and Stratosphere.
Now it is Samsung’s turn to list what they believe to be patents infringed on by Apple – US Patent No. 7,756,087 for A “Method and apparatus for performing non-scheduled transmission in a mobile communication system for supporting an enhanced uplink data channel” – Claim 10, US Patent No.7,551,596 for a “Method and apparatus for signaling control information of uplink packet data service in mobile communication system” – Claim 13, US Patent No. 6,226,449 for an “Apparatus for recording and reproducing digital image and speech” – Claim 27, and US Patent No. 5,579,239 for a “Remote video transmission system” – Claim 1 and 15.
The Apple devices that this infringement affects – iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Mini, iPod Touch (5th generation), iPod Touch (4th generation), and MacBook Pro.
Mueller does point out that none of the devices listed are current generation products, although the iPhone 4S and the Apple iPad 2 are still being sold. However, the basis for damages could relate to the number of past devices sold, so therefore it is necessary to list what older devices infringed on what patents.
Hopefully, Apple, Samsung, and the courts will settle this once and for all…I am tired of hearing about trials and patent infringements, when there are so many new devices on the horizon. Let us know on our Google+ Page what you think about these patent wars and if you are tired hearing about them.
Source: Apple Insider | Via: Phonearena