“Apple is fighting a strategic battle at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It’s about nothing less than the question of whether Apple or other industry players will have a realistic chance to win U.S. utility patent injunctions (other than ITC import bans, which follow different rules) against multifunctional smartphones and tablet computers,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents.
“The stakes could hardly be higher,” Mueller writes. “A few days ago, Reuters‘ Dan Levine reported on this (the only general-interest media report on this topic that I’ve seen to date) and said that Apple faces ‘long odds’ in the eyes of certain experts. With the greatest respect for the people Reuters quoted and relied on, I disagree. It’s a significant challenge, but it’s not a long shot at this stage, considering that the Federal Circuit ordered Samsung to respond to Apple’s petition and that if the question raised here isn’t fundamental enough to warrant a rehearing, nothing else will.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
U. S. Patents — not worth the paper they are printed on. We seem determined to turn over our high tech industries to foreign competitors without firing a shot in defense. What an ignominious defeat!
The courts have shown a decided preference for promoting competition over enforcing patents. Perhaps they are responding to the Microsoft monopoly of the 90s. If so, Apple gets screwed both times.
I wonder if Steve had known that none of his ammunition would fire in the guns we call our court system, would he have started his war or would he have just developed better partnerships and bought his way into manufacturing.
“The future of TV is beautiful and Muddled; Waiting for Apple” was an article I just came across. Seems once Apple reveals their iTV competition will be reverse engineering and copying without hesitation due to Samsungs blatant thievery. Where’s the justice?
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Apple has to think about the weaknesses of patent law and the clever shrews like Samsung and Google before they release their newest creations.
Imagine how Porsche would suffer if everyone copied their cars.
Please, Please. The US patent system is broken. Nobody should have patents on rectangles with rounded corners. If that is fair, then APple should have been sued for copying Samsung with the larger screen they put in an iphone 5 and should be forbidden from creating any smartphone with screen greater than 3.5″. This is getting nuts.
Except that Apple doesn’t have a trademark on rounded rectangles.
I have to totally agree with you about the US patent system keembo. We’ve known it was a catastrophic mess for well over a decade. Money has been thrown at it but I haven’t heard of much improvement. Now we see the Patent Office involved in revoking their own awarded patents without any repercussions on themselves for having awarded the stupid patents in the first place. THAT’S brokenness defined! The term ‘idiocracy’ comes to mind.
Nonetheless, the blatant, red-handed ripoffs of Apple by Google, Samsung, HTC, Motorola (aka Google) and others deserve recompense. I look forward to all sides getting exactly what they deserve. I don’t look forward to all the bloated lawyer bills that the US Patent Office should be paying due to their own incompetence.
Time for my Valium. 😉
I love watching ShameScam SQUIRM. 😛
If Reuters has not already been bought out by Samsung, then they are doing an excellent impression of having done so. Who can forget ace Reuters reporter Miyong Kim’s immortal attempt at objective reporting last year?
“The South Korean firm [Samsung], which surged past Apple as the world’s top smartphone maker in the third quarter, is quickly building on its supremacy with sleek designs and a rich product line-up, while the latest models from the likes of HTC, Nokia and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion struggle to interest consumers”