USPTO rejects claims of Apple patent asserted against Samsung in California trial
The USPTO on Tuesday rejected multiple claims of Apple's '172 patent for autocompletion of text input, which the company successfully asserted in its second California court action against Samsung.
Source: USPTO
In a court filing on Thursday, Samsung informed District Court Judge Lucy Koh of the recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to reject claims of Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172 for predictive text input, which was asserted against the Korean tech giant in the two companies' most recent California dispute.
Specifically, the USPTO Office Action, brought about by an ex parte reexamination request, concluded that two patents anticipated Claim 18 of Apple's '172 property, prompting the body to reject it citing prior art. The decision could deal a blow to Apple's $119.6 million win as Judge Koh found Samsung to have infringed on the autocomplete patent in a summary judgment handed down before the trial began.
As noted by FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, who spotted Samsung's filing earlier today, noted an infringement ruling on an invalid patent is meaningless and could decrease damages owed to Apple. In addition, Judge Koh may agree with an outstanding post-trial motion from Samsung that seeks to hold Claim 18 invalid.
The Office Action is not final and Apple still has a number of appeal routes to explore before the patent is officially deemed invalid. The USPTO previously invalidated Apple patents for iOS "pinch-to-zoom" and "rubber-banding" assets.
While Apple and Samsung continue to wage patent war in the U.S., both companies recently agreed to settle all international litigation.
Source: USPTO
In a court filing on Thursday, Samsung informed District Court Judge Lucy Koh of the recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to reject claims of Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172 for predictive text input, which was asserted against the Korean tech giant in the two companies' most recent California dispute.
Specifically, the USPTO Office Action, brought about by an ex parte reexamination request, concluded that two patents anticipated Claim 18 of Apple's '172 property, prompting the body to reject it citing prior art. The decision could deal a blow to Apple's $119.6 million win as Judge Koh found Samsung to have infringed on the autocomplete patent in a summary judgment handed down before the trial began.
As noted by FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, who spotted Samsung's filing earlier today, noted an infringement ruling on an invalid patent is meaningless and could decrease damages owed to Apple. In addition, Judge Koh may agree with an outstanding post-trial motion from Samsung that seeks to hold Claim 18 invalid.
The Office Action is not final and Apple still has a number of appeal routes to explore before the patent is officially deemed invalid. The USPTO previously invalidated Apple patents for iOS "pinch-to-zoom" and "rubber-banding" assets.
While Apple and Samsung continue to wage patent war in the U.S., both companies recently agreed to settle all international litigation.
Comments
So... successfully asserted already. Meaning they’re valid.
Apple will just appeal and have the decision reversed and the patent will stand, just watch.
The USPTO usually attempts to dismiss patents as soon as an anonymous claim is filed, forcing the patent holder to begin, in some cases multiple, appeals.
Just goes to show how broken the patent system is.
Best thing would probably be to do away with software patents all together.
Thanks for the pointless FOSS argument where corporations invest heavily and FOSS says, ``thanks for the freebies.''
Innovation is both a physical and abstract reality.
Best thing would probably be to do away with software patents all together.
No, that would not be the best thing.
So... successfully asserted already. Meaning they’re valid.
Apple successfully asserted that Samsung used predictive text.
If Apple held the patent on that, it would be worth money. Since it was thought at the time they did, it was calculated into the $119mil amount. Now that it turns out Apple doesn't hold a patent on that, the amount will be reduced.
Until Apple appeals and owns predictive text patent again.
Then they can go to court again to determine if the original amount was right. Until it turns out they don't own the patent after all....
Either way, it is asserted that Samsung used predictive text.
Still doesn't look good that these patents are being invalidated by the patent office.
They're not invalidated. The patents were granted and remain valid until all avenues of appeal have been exhausted. This could take years. Apple will now make a submission to the USPTO which they will review and this can go back and forth several times.
Best thing would probably be to do away with software patents all together.
I must say, Rogifan, it has been interesting over the past six or so months seeing your metamorphosis from Apple enthusiast to almost gloomy naysayer.
I must say that I am most curious as to what is responsible for creating such a change.
Not sure what Apple really won in the end. Sure we can say a jury charged Samsung with copying but so what? It wasn't about money. Google is as committed to Android as ever. And while Samsung might be struggling now it's not because of these lawsuits. So what was gained actually?
I can understand your lack of enthusiasm regarding any legal action that Apple has been forced to take.
However, advocating that companies or individuals, that have invested considerable time, money, and resources into creating products, ignore when those products are 'slavishly' imitated is just not acceptable.
I believe, in the long term, it has probably done very little damage.
Time will tell.
Unreal...... System designed to work for lawyers by lawyers.. Nothing more !
ARE YOU SERIOUS?
you're sounding like a fandroid.
oh yeah screw all software patents and watch scamsung introduce their new laptop with OS X Yosammity and iOS 8 for mobile devices.
While I'll be off developing Angry Birds Disneyland.