Apple v. Samsung: tech's most vicious patent war returns to court

Apple may have been awarded $119.6 million in damages from Samsung for the latest patent spat between the two tech giants, but the Cupertino-based company is looking to get that final number modified to a value closer to the $2.191 billion it originally requested. In a wholly expected move for a patent dispute such as this, Apple filed documents in court yesterday to seek a permanent injunction against a number of older Samsung phones that a jury last month determined to infringe a couple of Apple's software patents.

The devices include the Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S III, and Stratosphere, according to the court filing. Newer devices were not included in the latest lawsuit between the two companies, but Apple is also seeking to get a sales ban against "software or code capable of implementing any Infringing Feature, and/or any feature not more than colorably different therefrom." That could include newer phones and tablets.

Not even a day after a new report that Apple and Samsung had resumed settlement talks, lawyers from both sides have expressed difficulties with one another. As part of a court-mandated update from the pair, following the conclusion of their second major US trial earlier this month, lawyers from both companies said settlement talks had not only been a failure in the past, but were stymied by actions following the trial.

After additional deliberations, the jury who decided the second month-long trial between Apple and Samsung last week awarded Apple an additional $4.02 million for damages involving Samsung's Galaxy S2 smartphone and an Apple patent covering an autocorrect feature, reports Recode. However the group also readjusted damages figures from other parts of the form, resulting in a total amount that did not change.

In a decision, the jury said Samsung primarily infringed on two of Apple's five patents, the '647 and '721 patent covering features that turned addresses and phone numbers into links, and Apple's slide to unlock patent respectively. On the flip side, the jury said three models of the iPhone, and two models of the iPod touch infringed on a Samsung patent covering a photo and video gallery feature.

In a note today, the jurors deciding the case between Apple and Samsung said they wanted to know exactly what late Apple CEO Steve Jobs said when deciding to pursue the legal fight against the South Korean electronics giant. The group also said it wanted to know specifically if Google was mentioned as part of that discussion, a notable detail in a case where the Android-maker is not named but has brought its employees to testify on Samsung's behalf.

After being called a copycat and a coward by Apple earlier today, Samsung traded barbs of its own, saying flat out that it didn't copy, while once again arguing that the lawsuit between the two companies was really about Apple and Google.

Apple wrapped up its side of a wide-ranging case against Samsung in court today, accusing it one last time of copying five features that it says ended up in millions of phones sold to US consumers.

Apple and Samsung will get a little more time in court than originally planned, after a California judge said both sides should be able to present additional evidence clarifying the wording associated with one of Apple's patents.

Apple and Samsung got their last chance to get testimony in, just days before a jury will begin deciding a case where billions of dollars potentially hang in the balance. The evidence portion of the month-long trial between the two companies wrapped up today with just a single witness from each company. As soon as Monday next week, both sides then present their final arguments, which will be one last time to try and sway the jury. One wrinkle in that plan: a new decision from a Federal Appeals court in a related case between Apple and Motorola that could mean more testimony.

A legal agreement made between Samsung and Google means that the Android-maker is bound to lend a hand in the event that Samsung loses its current battle with Apple. In court today, Apple disclosed some terms of a Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) between Samsung and Google, including a clause that asks for Google to compensate Samsung.

After weeks of playing defense against five Apple patents, Samsung this week went after Apple with two of its own patents: one it says is infringed when people make FaceTime calls, and another that covers the photo gallery feature found on iPhones, iPads, and some iPods.

An Ivy League professor of economics and finance says Apple grossly miscalculated how much its patents are worth when compared with the billions it now wants from Samsung as part of the latest court battle between the two companies. She even used Apple's own accounting math for iOS releases to help drive home the idea that patents for particular features should cost just a few cents apiece.

With a little more than a week to go in the month-long patent trial between Apple and Samsung, time is running out quickly. Both sides get 25 hours each to call up, and cross-examine one another's witnesses — and Samsung's running low. By the end of the day the company had a little under four hours left, time it needs to convince a jury that Apple's infringing on two of its patents.

Apple's iPhone 5 was a "tsunami" that needed to be "neutralized," according to an internal email written by the former chief executive of Samsung's American phone company. In a correspondence from Dale Sohn, who was the president and CEO of Samsung Telecommunications America up until August 2013, he suggested the company set up a "counter-plan" to thwart the device, which would go on sale just three months later.

One of Samsung's top advisors, who is the highest-ranking official from the company to take the stand in the company's legal spat with Apple, says he doesn't know what many of the accused features are.

The lawsuit between Apple and Samsung does not have Google's name attached to it, but that hasn't kept the company from being involved. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the company's current VP of engineering for Android took to the stand today to aid in Samsung's legal counter-battle against Apple, an effort that focused on the very beginnings of the mobile operating system.

After nearly five full days of court, Apple has rested its case against Samsung, marking a turning point in a trial where billions of dollars hang in the balance. Now it's Samsung's turn to go on the offensive and undercut Apple's effort to paint it as a copycat once again.

"Greg has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years at Apple," the company said in a statement. "He has made vital contributions to Apple products across the board, and built a world-class Human Interface team which has worked closely with Jony for many years."

Apple's suing Samsung over five patents for $2.191 billion in damages, and proof that one of those was a wanted feature hinges on a 2012 blog post — but not necessarily the comments beneath it. Apple's using the post, from TmoNews, to show that Samsung got rid of and later re-added universal search in a software update for Galaxy S3 users. And in a filing earlier today, which includes the post, something is noticeably missing: Apple's lawyers have redacted 10 comments left by users, many of which are critical of Apple, or that happen to mention other lawsuits it's involved in.

To determine how much individual software features were worth as part of its multi-billion dollar lawsuit, an Apple-paid expert surveyed less than 1,000 consumers about imaginary smartphones and tablets, and included features that weren't even on trial. Another expert then estimated billions in fees for theoretical negotiations that might have occurred between the two companies, as well as how many smartphones and tablets Apple might have sold in their place.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had grand ambitions to change the way people use TVs, and a new email correspondence between him and top executives a year before his death shows just how far that vision might have gone. In a 2010 email that goes over the topics for the top 100 — a secret meeting Apple has each year with its top employees to discuss strategy for the coming year — there's mention of "Apple TV 2."

Internal Apple documents from last April shown in court today paint the picture that the company was scrambling to identify and determine ways to compete with devices running Android, as well as keep sales of the iPhone from petering out amid growing competition.

It's not Apple versus Google on the name of this lawsuit, but don't tell Samsung that. As Apple and Samsung duke it out in a California court yet again, Samsung opened up its case against the iPhone-maker by saying it was indirectly going after Google by targeting Samsung, all in search of profits. That's not a new idea in this fight, but it's a stark difference from how Samsung defended itself in the very same court two years ago.

Samsung's "Next Big Thing" advertising campaign, which frequently cracked fun at people standing in line outside of Apple stores for product launches, drove Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller crazy. That's according to Samsung, which is in the process of drawing out volumes of internal Apple documents as part of its lawsuit with the company that kicked off this week in a California court.