Samsung is banned from selling some of its older handsets. Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a never-ending legal battle seemingly forever, but yesterday a federal court in California agreed to finally ban the U.S. sale of several Samsung smartphones which infringe on patents owned by Apple.
The bad news? The phones are now so old that they’re not really sold any more. But there’s some good news, too.
Be careful how you unlock these Samsung devices; Apple might sue you.
Samsung might soon be legally forbidden from continuing to rip off Apple.
In a 2-1 decision today, a federal appeals court ruled that the monetary damages another court ordered the South Korean company to pay Apple last year wasn’t enough; it also had to stop using those design elements that infringe upon Cupertino’s patents.
Is Samsung still chasing BlackBerry? Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
BlackBerry may be on its last legs and struggling to attract new customers, but that won’t dissuade Samsung from spending big to buy the company. While both companies have dismissed takeover reports over the past week, a new report claims Samsung really is still interested in acquiring a significant stake in the Canadian smartphone maker.
One of Apple’s most famous patents is slide-to-unlock, a method of waking up a touchscreen smartphone that has proven to be one of the most valuable in Apple’s arsenal. Now, Apple is trying to patent a similar system that would use gestures to unlock an iPhone. And if that sounds familiar, it should, because Android already does it.
Apple and Samsung will return to federal court in Silicon Valley today for the next round of their seemingly never-ending patent war.
The two rivals will face off once again before District Court Judge Lucy Koh, presiding in the California city of San Jose.
Koh was the same judge who presided over the previous Apple vs. Samsung trial, which ended with a jury deciding that Samsung owed Apple more than $1 billion in damaging for infringing on patents — although this number was later trimmed to $929 million.
