Update On The Smartphone Patent Wars: Litigation Between Apple And Manufacturers Of Android Devices

There have been recent and interesting developments in the smartphone patent wars (see an earlier mini-article “Smartphone Patent Wars” E-TIPS® June 13, 2012, Vol 10 No 24) between iPhone manufacturer Apple Inc and manufacturers of smartphones (Motorola and Samsung) that use Google’s Android operating system, with the release of two important US decisions in patent infringement actions by Apple. Apple Inc v Motorola Mobility Inc In a decision released April 25, 2014, 2012-1548, -1549, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (US Court of Appeals) revived a patent infringement action by Apple against Motorola Mobility, which had been dismissed before trial by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division). The case began as a patent infringement action by Apple alleging that Motorola’s smartphones infringed several of its software patents. Motorola countered that Apple had infringed a standards-based Motorola patent that was subject to FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms) licensing. Each company sought damages for infringement and an injunction banning the other from selling infringing products. The two cases were consolidated, and as E-TIPS previously reported (http://dww.local/?p=3905), in June 2012 Judge Richard Posner dismissed both parties’ claims before trial, with prejudice, holding that both litigants’ allegations of infringement were moot because neither had led adequate evidence of either damages or ongoing harm sufficient to justify injunctive relief. On appeal, the US Court of Appeals reinstated Apple’s patent infringement claims against Motorola, holding that Judge Posner had erred in finding that Apple had not led adequate proof of grounds for either damages or injunctive relief. The Court also reinstated the patent infringement claims that Motorola had made against Apple, holding that Judge Posner had erred in finding that Motorola had not led sufficient evidence of damages. However, it upheld Judge Posner’s finding that Motorola had not shown adequate grounds for injunctive relief, saying that since the patent in question was subject to FRAND licensing, and was therefore already being used by a large number of licensees, Apple’s use of that patent would not cause Motorola ongoing harm that could not be adequately remedied through monetary damages. Apple Inc v Samsung Electronics Co On May 2, 2014, a jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of California returned a verdict in Apple Inc v Samsung Electronics Co (005930), 12-cv-00630, a case in which Apple had alleged that certain models of Samsung’s Android Smartphones infringed five of its software patents. Samsung had brought a counterclaim in which it alleged that Apple had infringed two of its own software patents. (See the special webpage created by the Court here). The judge had determined before trial that Samsung had infringed one of Apple’s patents, and the jury found that it had infringed two others. However, the jury awarded Apple only $119.6 million in damages for infringement of all three patents, a far cry from the $2.2 billion the company had been seeking. The jury also found that Apple had infringed one of Samsung’s patents, and awarded Samsung $158,000 in damages. Many commentators view the outcome of this case as a symbolic victory for Samsung. In an interview, the jury foreman suggested that Apple might have greater success if it pursued patent infringement litigation against Google, the creator of the Android operating system. This observation echoed an argument that had been central to Samsung’s case at trial: that Apple’s real target was Google and its Android operating system, and that it was merely using Samsung as a proxy. To support this point, Samsung’s lawyers had entered into evidence an e-mail Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had sent to top Apple executives in 2010, in which he ordered them to wage a “holy war'' on Android in 2011. Summary by: Kathryn May