German court rules Samsung, Motorola do not infringe on Apple 'touch event' patent
The Mannheim Regional Court on Thursday ruled against Apple's claim that Android devices infringe on the company's patent regarding how a multitouch device handles so-called "touch events."
According to FOSS Patent's Florian Mueller, the panel's ruling of non-infringement technically applies to two separate suits, one against Samsung and another against Motorola.
Apple asserted its European Patent EP2098948 for a "Touch event model" against both companies, with the property covering how a device's software recognizes or ignores touch events, a necessity in creating a usable multitouch system.
Judge Andreas Voss, who presided over the Mannheim Court panel, agreed with Samsung and Motorola's first non-infringement argument, which claims Android does not store a "multi-touch flag" with each UI window.
Mueller said the ruling comes as no surprise as the German court expressed skepticism to Apple's claims in related trials. He notes that Samsung successfully objected to the bond Apple posted to cover the Korean company's legal fees in a separate trial in April, forcing the Cupertino company to post a new bond to move forward with a second court proceeding.
Diagram of input/output processing stack in Apple's EP2098948 patent. | Source: Espacenet
In early April, the High Court of England and Wales cleared HTC of infringing Apple's paten, ultimately declaring the IP invalid due to the "statutory exclusion of patents on computer programs."
On Wednesday, the Munich I Regional Court held two trials and one hearing regarding Apple's assertion of slide-to-unlock, photo gallery page-flipping and "rubber-banding" patents against HTC. According to Mueller, "nothing spectacular" happened during those proceedings, and the first two cases are scheduled to be decided in January.
According to FOSS Patent's Florian Mueller, the panel's ruling of non-infringement technically applies to two separate suits, one against Samsung and another against Motorola.
Apple asserted its European Patent EP2098948 for a "Touch event model" against both companies, with the property covering how a device's software recognizes or ignores touch events, a necessity in creating a usable multitouch system.
Judge Andreas Voss, who presided over the Mannheim Court panel, agreed with Samsung and Motorola's first non-infringement argument, which claims Android does not store a "multi-touch flag" with each UI window.
Mueller said the ruling comes as no surprise as the German court expressed skepticism to Apple's claims in related trials. He notes that Samsung successfully objected to the bond Apple posted to cover the Korean company's legal fees in a separate trial in April, forcing the Cupertino company to post a new bond to move forward with a second court proceeding.
Diagram of input/output processing stack in Apple's EP2098948 patent. | Source: Espacenet
In early April, the High Court of England and Wales cleared HTC of infringing Apple's paten, ultimately declaring the IP invalid due to the "statutory exclusion of patents on computer programs."
On Wednesday, the Munich I Regional Court held two trials and one hearing regarding Apple's assertion of slide-to-unlock, photo gallery page-flipping and "rubber-banding" patents against HTC. According to Mueller, "nothing spectacular" happened during those proceedings, and the first two cases are scheduled to be decided in January.
Comments
What the heck does that have to do with anything?
From a quick reading, it sounds like the court used good logic in their decision. Essentially, patents are very specific. If a claim requires 7 elements to be present and only 6 of the elements are present, then it's not infringing. That looks like what happened here. Apple was unable to prove that every single part of their claim was infringed and therefore lost this particular case. No need for your histrionics.
And if there is a statutory exclusion of patents on computer software, then the England Court made the right decision in the HTC case, as well. Laws differ in different places.
You're right. Sorry... I have to live here and have got caught up in the news too much. Unnecessary color-commentary deleted above.
Although... histrionics "and fits of dumbfounded rage" would be experienced by many if they had to watch the news and the court decisions here of late! Just sayin'....
When common sense > fanboyism.