Apple, Samsung pare down patent claims ahead of trial
Apple and Samsung filed a joint statement late Tuesday intending to pare down claims in the two companies' California lawsuit in an effort to streamline the case to an acceptable size before it goes to trial on July 30.
The claim-narrowing declaration is the third attempt to winnow down the barrage of patents each company originally brought to the table and adds to other claims that were dropped through previous summary judgments.
According to a report from Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, Judge Lucy Koh felt that further narrowing was in order before the suit enters the trial phase and is looking to limit both parties' presentation times and exhibits. While the declaration drastically streamlines the case Judge Koh, who has final say on trial-readiness, may request additional cuts to expedite a ruling.
In Tuesday's statement Apple dropped the last remaining claim from the powerful U.S. Patent No. 7,663,607 for "multitouch touchscreen" technology without prejudice, meaning it can be reasserted at a later date. Mueller guesses that the move is in response to the cool reception courts have given the '607 patent, noting that even if it is accepted as valid in part the scope of the claim is usually narrowed.
Along with the multitouch claim, Apple dropped trade dress claims related to product packaging and proposed to dismiss dress claims against the 7-inch Galaxy Tab while clarifying that the company is not including Samsung's F700 handset in the allegations.
Samsung's consolations include a reduction of claims from the six patents-in-suit from 15 to 9 and comes on the heels of a summary judgment last week that cleared Apple of infringing on the Galaxy maker's U.S. Patent No. 7,362,867 for "Apparatus and method for generating scrambling code in UMTS mobile communication system."
Judge Koh ordered Apple and Samsung to pare down their respective suits in early May, calling the pile of claims "cruel and unusual punishment to a jury." The concessions from both parties were substantial and resulted in a near halving of asserted claims.
Both Apple and Samsung will file stipulations associated with Tuesday's dismissals on Thursday which is expected to be followed by a statement from Judge Koh regarding the acceptability of the winnowing process.
The claim-narrowing declaration is the third attempt to winnow down the barrage of patents each company originally brought to the table and adds to other claims that were dropped through previous summary judgments.
According to a report from Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, Judge Lucy Koh felt that further narrowing was in order before the suit enters the trial phase and is looking to limit both parties' presentation times and exhibits. While the declaration drastically streamlines the case Judge Koh, who has final say on trial-readiness, may request additional cuts to expedite a ruling.
In Tuesday's statement Apple dropped the last remaining claim from the powerful U.S. Patent No. 7,663,607 for "multitouch touchscreen" technology without prejudice, meaning it can be reasserted at a later date. Mueller guesses that the move is in response to the cool reception courts have given the '607 patent, noting that even if it is accepted as valid in part the scope of the claim is usually narrowed.
Along with the multitouch claim, Apple dropped trade dress claims related to product packaging and proposed to dismiss dress claims against the 7-inch Galaxy Tab while clarifying that the company is not including Samsung's F700 handset in the allegations.
Samsung's consolations include a reduction of claims from the six patents-in-suit from 15 to 9 and comes on the heels of a summary judgment last week that cleared Apple of infringing on the Galaxy maker's U.S. Patent No. 7,362,867 for "Apparatus and method for generating scrambling code in UMTS mobile communication system."
Judge Koh ordered Apple and Samsung to pare down their respective suits in early May, calling the pile of claims "cruel and unusual punishment to a jury." The concessions from both parties were substantial and resulted in a near halving of asserted claims.
Both Apple and Samsung will file stipulations associated with Tuesday's dismissals on Thursday which is expected to be followed by a statement from Judge Koh regarding the acceptability of the winnowing process.
Comments
Very good. I look forward to the results.
I love these patent cases. It really shows where everyone stands.
Nope. Try again.
Edit: I've also mixed feelings about how DaHarder doesn't post anymore; he just one-ups all the anti-Apple the comments he likes. It's an amusing abuse of the thumb system, to be sure, but it gives his opinion no weight when he refuses to voice it himself.
Because multi-touch, capacitance touchscreen phones and tablets were the norm long before Apple came on the scene. Smartphones and tablets with no physical keyboards, no removable batteries, and no Adobe Flash were commonplace. I'm just imagining that people saying the iPhone will fal because of the lack of a physical keyboard, the glass display, and all the other aspects that people now use. Silly me¡
Apple was wronged by Bill Gates when it changed the world with it's UI only to have it stolen.
They changed the world again and Samsung and Google are attempting to do what Bill got away with.
Look into at what EVERY OTHER cell phone looked like the day the iPhone was released.
Case closed. Power to Apple.
The problem is that people like andy818 and DaHarder who claimed that what Apple did with the iPhone and iPad (and likely other products) that were stupid, dumb, pointless and other disparaging terms now only see those concepts as being the only way to do things. They don't recall how they didn't understand how these products changed the world of tech so completely that it's the only to move forward. They aren't very tech literate or objective. I can't image a judge is very tech literate either so the longer this plays out the more likely one will think that a keyboard-less multi-touch, capacitance, touchscreen device is the only way this every could have gone.
You can use Google's Now as an example. It looks like a great service from the videos I've seen. It even bests Siri in some ways but how did Google create it in just under a year? The reason is they've had all the pieces for many, many years. This is Google's wheelhouse. The problem is Google (and Samsung) didn't understand how to put the pieces together in a way that would make a viable a product. It was Apple that showed them the way. Showed them how to do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
You can use Google's Now as an example. It looks like a great service from the videos I've seen. It even bests Siri in some ways but how did Google create it in just under a year? The reason is they've had all the pieces for many, many years. This is Google's wheelhouse. The problem is Google (and Samsung) didn't understand how to put the pieces together in a way that would make a viable a product. It was Apple that showed them the way. Showed them how to do it.
The counterpoint to that is that, if Google had all of the parts, does Apple deserve a monopoly just for putting them all together in the right fashion? Apple certainly showed them the way, but at the same time I think that Google showed them a lot of what was possible with voice recognition and search. In any case, what Apple does get out of this is the advantage of being the first to market. Ask someone what S Voice is, and they will tell you it's "Samsung's Siri Clone". Great. It doesn't even work that well from what I can tell. And even Google Now, which is very divergent from the Siri model, will have to live up to comparisons to Siri. I think that's enough - Apple is more than capable of dealing with that competition.
Also, Windows Mobile - as primitive as it may seem now - was definitely a big inspiration for the iPhone. Take a look at this, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIRrXzUFn1Y . Apple deserves a ton of credit for humanizing the modern smartphone, bu they certainly did not invent the iPhone in a vacuum. I mean, imagine if Microsoft had patented (and enforced) the pop up keyboard on a touchscreen. This is certainly less trivial than swipe to unlock, and yet it would have basically made the iPhone impossible. Software patents are dangerous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BiffSmith
Apple was wronged by Bill Gates when it changed the world with it's UI only to have it stolen.
They changed the world again and Samsung and Google are attempting to do what Bill got away with.
Look into at what EVERY OTHER cell phone looked like the day the iPhone was released.
Case closed. Power to Apple.
Nice spoofed account. It's interesting that the article mentioned the F700. One of the reasons they most likely did not attack it was because it was so concurrent with the original iphone. They were both shown around the same time. Anyway Apple got the idea from Xerox. MS got the idea from Apple. In the end MS could have probably stalled that lawsuit that kept Apple alive.
It's like the seagulls in Finding Nemo… "Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine mine mine!"
These companies should all be featured on "Hoarders."
Until then, I'm tweaking my filters to exclude anything containing "Apple" and "patent."