“Nokia Oyj shouldn’t be found liable of infringing Apple Inc.’s patents, the staff of the U.S. International Trade Commission said as a trial started,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg.
“‘The evidence will not establish a violation’ of Apple patent rights, the staff, which acts on behalf of the public as a third party in the case, said in a pre-hearing memo released yesterday. Apple is asking the ITC to block imports of Nokia phones into the U.S., claiming they are infringing four patents,” Decker reports.
“The trial that began yesterday in Washington is among a group of disputes at the ITC over the technology behind the burgeoning market for smartphones, which can perform some of the same functions as computers,” Decker reports. “Nokia has its own case against Apple; Apple is dueling with HTC Corp. and Motorola Inc. over phones that run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system; and Microsoft Corp. has a case pending against Motorola.”
“The Nokia phones at issue include ones that run on its Symbian operating system. Nokia is challenging both infringement and validity of the Apple patents, which include one for a way the device boots up and another related to power management,” Decker reports. “The staff said that some aspects of the patents were invalid and others weren’t infringed.”
Decker reports, “The judge isn’t obligated to follow the staff’s position. His ruling is subject to review by the six-member commission, which is scheduled to complete the investigation by June.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some might say that the proof that Nokia did not infringe (or infringe enough) on Apple’s iPhone patents is evidenced by Nokia’s so-called “smartphone’ sales numbers.
All the bafoons tuning the company at the time of he lawsuit are ‘enjoying their families’. Gone baby. NOKIA disconnected them.
DARN! If only Nokia had ripped off MORE Apple patents, it might not be moribund today!
If patents are there to protect the inventor and the ITC Staff decides that it really does not matter- what is the purpose then?
is the ITC like the United Nations? Sounds as worthless!
I’m not overly impressed with the Apple legal team. They had hired some of the top firms, but I’m not sure of their record against big law suits in recent times.
Maybe SJ needs to reinvent law (starting with lawyers at the bottom of the sea?).
The Law is the rule here. Let the judge hear things out and next year we will know. Hopefully Apple wins this and more of the others. Who cares about that “staff”.
Patently patient for the out come as Record profits come in.
BUY AAPL stocks!!!!
@krquet
The ones at the bottom of the sea AREN’T the ones we need to worry about
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First, kill all the lawyers.
@ Shakespeare:
Yes, and then watch as your government strips away your freedoms (faster than it’s doing now).
Amazing that the staff opinion is claiming that parts of Apple’s patents are invalid, yet the patents were granted in the first place. So which is it? Valid or invalid patents, and if parts were invalid, why grant the patent in the first place?
It will be interesting to sort through all of the fallout from these various cases, and the others which are sure to be filed. In the end, we’ll probably wind up with all of these large tech companies simply licensing patents from each other anyway.
“Nokia is challenging both infringement and validity of the Apple patents”
Your honor, my dog could not have bitten the plaintiff, because my dog is always locked up, he has no teeth, and I don’t have a dog.
Should not the ITC be prevented from commenting on the case until it is resolved?
Sub judice, anyone?
=:~)
Patent law is not for the faint of heart. This area continues to get more and more messy. Perhaps an elected tea party rep will use their new found power and expertise to shut down the patent system by the end of January.
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Re the staff report: “the staff said that some aspects of the patents were invalid and others weren’t infringed.” Hence, it’s possible some patents “are valid” and “others were infringed”. Seems the Judge will be challenged sorting out the details.
And in the interim, Apple and Nokia may settle, which would be a benchmark for other similar suits working their way through the system.
Anyone remember when the ITC has ever ruled in any case and stopped any import? Not going to happen… facts do not matter, only money and who would lose it if imports stopped. They will settle, lawyers will get paid, nothing will change, lawyers will celebrate and laugh at the ease they leeched money for doing nothing.
@m159
lol