Apple’s suing Samsung: Yes, =again
WE’VE only just had the news that Apple has won big by suing Samsung over certain patents on mobile phones. What seems to have been missed is that there’s another case coming through the system. Yes, Apple v Samsung again. But over a different set of patents:
Last week’s resounding victory over Samsung in a patent trial in California mostly centered on hardware developed by the South Korean electronics maker, while including some features related to Google’s Android mobile software.
Another Apple suit, which the company filed in February, contends that all eight of the patents it is asserting are being infringed by features related to Android. They include features found in Android versions of popular Google apps like YouTube, Google Maps and Gmail as well as Google’s Quick Search Box that lets users search multiple types of data at the same time.
In the first trial some of the patents were hardware related (including, yes, a rectangular shape with rounded corners) and some software. But none of the software patents were directly to do with Android: they were more about how Samsung had put the look and feel on hte top of the operating system.
This new case is about Android, the way that Google has implemented it. But it’s still true that they are not vital to the way that the whole system operates. They might indeed be patents, might even be in breach of them, but it is possible to design workarounds for all of them.
Which Google is doing. So even a victory in court would be of little more than historical interest. Not going to stop Apple going for the money of course….
Posted: 31st, August 2012 | In: Money, Technology Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
