Tag Archives: litigation

Apple loses bid for U.S. ban on Samsung smartphone sales

Posted on by

A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected Apple’s request for a permanent sales ban in the United States against some older Samsung smartphones, a key setback for the iPhone maker in its global patent battle.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled that Apple Inc had not presented enough evidence to show that its patented features were a significant enough driver of consumer demand to warrant an injunction

via Apple loses bid for U.S. ban on Samsung smartphone sales – chicagotribune.com.

Burden of proof of infringement on patent holder

Posted on by

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision of the district court, stating that it holds that “when a licensee seeks a declaratory judgment against a patentee to establish that there is no infringement, the burden of proving infringement remains with the patentee.”

via US Supreme Court: Burden of proof of infringement on patent holder | ITworld.

Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser

Posted on by

Nine-digit verdicts don’t happen every day. A $173 million windfall—especially when no other revenue sources seem forthcoming—would have most investors in a small company like ParkerVision jumping up and down. But that didn’t happen. “Were Investors Set Up To Fail?” asked one writer on investment site SeekingAlpha. He quotes a JP Morgan Chase analyst telling clients that just a week ago, ParkerVision was in a position to win up to $2 billion.

via Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser | Ars Technica.

After patent loss, Apple tweaks FaceTime—and logs 500,000 complaints

Posted on by

Before the VirnetX case, nearly all FaceTime calls were done through a system of direct communication. Essentially, Apple would verify that both parties had valid FaceTime accounts and then allow their two devices to speak directly to each other over the Internet, without any intermediary or “relay” servers. However, a small number of calls—5 to 10 percent, according to an Apple engineer who testified at trial—were routed through “relay servers.”

Both sides in the litigation admit that if Apple routes its FaceTime calls through relay servers, it will avoid infringing the VirnetX patents. Once Apple was found to be infringing—and realized it could end up paying an ongoing royalty for using FaceTime—the company redesigned the system so that all FaceTime calls would rely on relay servers. Lease believes the switch happened in April.

via Report: After patent loss, Apple tweaks FaceTime—and logs 500,000 complaints | Ars Technica.

2,919 Movie Pirates Walk Free as BitTorrent Trolling Scheme Falls Apart

Posted on by

“The agreements are noticeably devoid of any provision for the disposition of any revenues that could be obtained from verdicts or court orders of fees or costs upon success in court, suggesting a business model of using the information obtained from early discovery into the identities of individual defendants to negotiate quick settlements under the threat of embarrassing and expensive litigation without actually litigating claims on their merits,” the Judge explains.

via 2,919 Movie Pirates Walk Free as BitTorrent Trolling Scheme Falls Apart | TorrentFreak.

Eolas patents are dead on appeal

Posted on by

Berners-Lee was one of several web pioneers who came through the court during the course of a four-day trial, which ultimately convinced a jury to invalidate two patents owned by Eolas, the tiny patent-holding company that Doyle and his lawyers transformed into one of the most fearsome “patent trolls” of all time.

Now Eolas appears to be gone for good. The company mounted a lengthy appeal, but it was all for naught; this morning, a three-judge appeals panel affirmed the jury’s verdict without comment.

via The Web’s longest nightmare ends: Eolas patents are dead on appeal | Ars Technica.

MIT Moves to Intervene in Release of Aaron Swartz’s Secret Service File

Posted on by

MIT claims it’s afraid the release of Swartz’s file will identify the names of MIT people who helped the Secret Service and federal prosecutors pursue felony charges against Swartz for his bulk downloading of academic articles from MIT’s network in 2011.

MIT argues that those people might face threats and harassment if their names become public. But it’s worth noting that names of third parties are already redacted from documents produced under FOIA.

via MIT Moves to Intervene in Release of Aaron Swartz’s Secret Service File | Threat Level | Wired.com.

Why weren’t the Prenda porn trolls stopped years ago?

Posted on by

Of course, lawyers and litigants use the court system every day as a way to make money; entire business models like patent trolling remain legal, and the lawyers involved aren’t so much as sanctioned. But with Prenda, the difference in Wright’s mind was apparently the target—not companies but individuals, many without much money or court experience. Prenda’s plan, Wright said, was nothing less than a scheme “to plunder the citizenry.”

via Why weren’t the Prenda porn trolls stopped years ago? | Ars Technica.

As for the porn trolling business model, well, it’s not dead yet. But at least it can’t be done this way.

This case has been terribly confusing for me to follow.  The following comment from the comment section sums up the issue with Prenda nicely.

One issue is that lawyers aren’t supposed to misrepresent who their clients are. In this case the lawyers *are* the clients, via numerous shell corporations and offshore trusts designed to obscure that fact. The Prenda attorneys allegedly bought the IP of little-known porn movies for very little money and then set up various bogus organizations to obscure the fact that the attorneys were also the plaintiffs who would benefit from favorable judgments. IANAL but apparently that behavior is frowned upon by law-talking guys.

Last mention of it here was last March.  A lot of work from sites like DieTrollDie and FightCopyrightTrolls went into helping the victims of this extortion.  Here’s a snippet from the latter:

We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Congratulations to everyone involved, especially Morgan and Nick.

Judge says Apple, Motorola pursuing business strategy in court

Posted on by

Referring to the “parties’ obstreperous and cantankerous conduct,” Judge Robert N. Scola of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, described it as not a proper use of the court.

via Judge says Apple, Motorola pursuing business strategy in court | ITworld.

Word of the day!

obstreperous – Meaning “clamorous, noisy” and “argumentative,” it is from Latin ob-, “against,” and strepere, “to make a noise.”