Samsung Calls on Judge to Halt Apple Retrial

The trial of the century has hit a new, fairly interesting snag. Samsung has called the whole thing into question based on the testimony from the Patent Office which suggests that the pinch-to-zoom feature Apple has been eager to defend may not even be legitimate. The Patent Office's statement regarding patent no. 7,844,915 doesn't invalidate Apple's claim; it is just that the company will need to provide more evidence to support their claims.

Samsung, in response said, "This PTO decision calls into question the entire jury verdict in this trial. During its presentation, Apple made a deliberate decision not to separate the damages between the different asserted patents. Therefore, it will be impossible to determine what allocation of damages belong to the invalid '915 patent versus the other patents. It would be unjust to have damages evaluated and awarded on a patent found to be invalid by the PTO."

The retrial picked up last Tuesday to decide specifically how much Samsung owed Apple, given that a previous jury had already declared that infringement had, in fact, taken place. Regardless of how the jury is swayed this time, next year a new patent trial between the electronics manufacturers will kick off – starting the slap fight all over again.

  • alz_solstice
    Again. Patent War. Nowadays just for money and fame. Lousy.
    Reply
  • ericburnby
    Little late. Judge Koh already denied the motion.
    Reply
  • gsxrme
    Death to patent trolls!
    Reply
  • Bloob
    It's been a good time to be a lawyer, too bad I'm not one.
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    Only two things have been settled by all these trials, retrials and appeals. That our patent system is broken and our civil court system. Though most realized that long ago.

    Only the lawyers are making any money now. There's no way either side will ever see more money than that expended by legal fees.
    Reply
  • pacomac
    Apple don't need the money, what's at stake is peanuts to them. This trial is more about Apple protecting their intellectual rights and setting an example. I've been writing mobile phone software for over 15 years. If Apple hadn't released the iPhone I have no doubt Smartphones wouldn't be anywhere near as advanced as they are today. Would we still be using a stylus, single point touch, resistive touch displays, WAP, manual Wi-Fi connections, slow glitchy none animated interfaces? Think about it, almost everyone used a pen for input, so had that continued we may never have bothered with multi-touch!
    Reply
  • f-14
    you cry about patent wars, wait until you get a divorce, things you were given by your parents as a child your ex has a right to because you didn't have a prenup.

    can't have it both ways people. other than the cost of litigation to enforce a patent i think the patent law works just fine considering all the corporate misdeeds being done on the people who actually invent this stuff.

    The law cannot save those who deny it but neither can the law serve any who do not use it. The history of injustice and inequality is a history of disuse of the law. Law has not failed--and is not failing. We as a nation have failed ourselves by not trusting the law and by not using the law to gain sooner the ends of justice which law alone serves.
    ~ Lyndon B. Johnson ~
    Reply
  • ikyung
    12011895 said:
    Apple don't need the money, what's at stake is peanuts to them. This trial is more about Apple protecting their intellectual rights and setting an example. I've been writing mobile phone software for over 15 years. If Apple hadn't released the iPhone I have no doubt Smartphones wouldn't be anywhere near as advanced as they are today. Would we still be using a stylus, single point touch, resistive touch displays, WAP, manual Wi-Fi connections, slow glitchy none animated interfaces? Think about it, almost everyone used a pen for input, so had that continued we may never have bothered with multi-touch!
    I agree with you that smartphones wouldn't be what they are today if it wasn't for Apple, but in terms of "advanced" is a whole different issue. Technology advancement isn't a single line, it's a multiple process. Also, Apple didn't invent multi touch so I have no idea why you would assume we wouldn't have multi touch today. They patented the pinch to zoom gesture.

    Nothing wrong with stylus technology. No it wouldn't be single touch because mutli touch existed decades before the iphone, If technology went into advancing resistive touch displays, we can have an entirely different game changing screen (capacitive touch screens aren't necessarily better then resistive in every aspect). Let's be honest here, WAP would have evolved into mobile even without Apple from WAP/OMA forums. Same with WiFi and animations.

    What I do agree on is that Apple made technology much more simpler to use and without them, the adoption of mobile computing would have taken another 5 years.
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    12011895 said:
    Apple don't need the money, what's at stake is peanuts to them. This trial is more about Apple protecting their intellectual rights and setting an example. I've been writing mobile phone software for over 15 years. If Apple hadn't released the iPhone I have no doubt Smartphones wouldn't be anywhere near as advanced as they are today. Would we still be using a stylus, single point touch, resistive touch displays, WAP, manual Wi-Fi connections, slow glitchy none animated interfaces? Think about it, almost everyone used a pen for input, so had that continued we may never have bothered with multi-touch!

    Troll but nonetheless, styluses are still used often for fine control, WiFi was automated before the iPhone, and interfaces were improving all the time. Nokia was already working on a device similar to the iPhone at the same time. To make it clear Apple was the first with widespread success of such a device, and was mostly on the Apple bling factor that they spread so much. And before you complain about Apple's intellectual property just remember that they stole the mouse, icons, and GUI from Xerox.

    Writing software for mobile phones for 15 years? I guess you either wrote the OS or snake.
    Reply
  • becherovka
    "I agree with you that smartphones wouldn't be what they are today if it wasn't for Apple, but in terms of "advanced" is a whole different issue. Technology advancement isn't a single line, it's a multiple process. Also, Apple didn't invent multi touch so I have no idea why you would assume we wouldn't have multi touch today. They patented the pinch to zoom gesture."

    I agree smartphone wouldnt be what they are today if it wasn't for LG Prada. Or was it just that technology had advanced enough to use this form factor
    Reply