“Apple Inc. (AAPL) won sanctions against Samsung Electronics Co. for its failure to produce source code in a patent-infringement case in federal court in San Jose, California,” Joel Rosenblatt reports for Bloomberg.
“U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal wrote in his order that Samsung ‘plainly violated’ a court order requiring it to turn over code to Apple, and ruled that Samsung won’t be able to offer evidence in the case about its efforts to ‘design-around’ three patents at issue in the case,” Rosenblatt reports. “In its lawsuit, Apple claims that Samsung’s 4G smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer infringe its patents.”
Rosenblatt reports, “Grewal said he focused on Samsung’s so-called design-around source code developed for products with the “specific intent” of avoiding Apple’s patent claims. The ruling targets that code because “by their very nature design-arounds impact key questions of liability, damages, and injunctive relief,” Grewal wrote. ‘They are inevitably designed with substantial input from counsel for the specific purpose of distinguishing other products at issue,’ Grewal wrote. ‘In short, they matter. A lot.'”
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Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents, “The implications for Samsung go beyond the upcoming trial. It’s now been identified by the court as a recidivist violator of discovery orders. This will have implications on any decisions on sanctions Apple may have to request in the course of the second litigation between these parties before the same court.”
“Samsung’s actions against Apple appear increasingly desperate. Apple has not yet dealt Samsung a knock-out blow. The drop-out rate of Apple’s claims is very high, but Samsung’s drop-out rate, to date, is 100%, which means that Apple’s victory is only a matter of time. The only way Samsung thinks it can have leverage over Apple (in order to force Cupertino to tolerate Android’s infringement of Apple’s intellectual property) is the abuse of standard-essential patents,” Mueller writes. “The European Commission is formally investigating Samsung’s related conduct. The Commission is another institution that Samsung needs to deal with on more than this one issue. It should think really hard about the strategic implications for its credibility and reputation, looking far beyond the dispute with Apple. Samsung should withdraw all of its requests for injunctive relief based on standard-essential patents on a worldwide basis, and it should comply with the courts’ discovery orders.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Know what else is plain for all to see? Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
