Apple, Samsung Allowed to Add Products to Patent Lawsuit
Samsung Electronics Co. can add the iPhone 5 to its patent-infringement claims against Apple Inc. (AAPL), and Apple can add infringement claims against the Samsung Galaxy Note, the U.S. version of the Galaxy S III and the Jelly Bean operating system, a federal judge ruled.
The addition of the Jelly Bean operating system is limited to the software for Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled yesterday.
The decision came in a second patent lawsuit between the two mobile device giants pending in San Jose, California. In an earlier lawsuit that went to trial in July, a jury found that Samsung infringed six of seven Apple patents at issue and awarded $1.05 billion in damages.
“Apple should think twice before opposing similar amendments reflecting other newly released products, e.g. the iPad 4 and the iPad mini, that Samsung may propose in the future,” Grewal said in the ruling.
The world’s two biggest makers of high-end phones have accused each other of copying designs and technology for mobile devices and are fighting patent battles on four continents to retain their dominance in the $219 billion global smartphone market.
The second U.S. lawsuit, scheduled for trial in 2014, targets iPhones, iPad and iPod Touch devices and 19 Samsung devices, according to court filings. Both companies sought to add additional devices that came to market after the lawsuit was initially filed.
Android System
Samsung in August began U.S. sales of the Galaxy Note 10.1, equipped with a stylus -- a feature Apple’s iPad doesn’t offer, and which builds on Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5.3, a similarly stylus-equipped smartphone that came out earlier this year. Jelly Bean is Google Inc.’s latest version of the Android operating system that runs on Samsung mobile devices as well as Google’s Nexus 7 handheld computer, which was released in June.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose on Oct. 1 rescinded a ban on U.S. sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 that she imposed in June, deciding there were no grounds for keeping the preliminary injunction in place after jurors concluded in their Aug. 24 verdict that Samsung didn’t infringe the Apple design patent that was the basis for the injunction.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, contended the ban should remain in place because the jury found the Galaxy Tab infringed other patents at issue in the case.
Koh has scheduled December hearings in that case to consider Apple’s request for a permanent U.S. sales ban on eight Samsung smartphone models and the Tab 10.1. She will also consider Samsung’s bid to get the August verdict thrown out based on claims of juror misconduct.
The newer case is Apple v. Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) Ltd., 12-cv-00630, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose). The previous case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., 11-cv-01846, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
Apple, Samsung Allowed to Add Products to Patent Lawsuit
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Apple Inc. iPhones, left, and Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy smartphones are displayed at an electronics store in Tokyo.
Apple Inc. iPhones, left, and Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy smartphones are displayed at an electronics store in Tokyo. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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