Federal court reinstates Apple’s $120 million patent win over Samsung

By Christian de Looper October 7, 2016

An image of a court gavel. — Paul Matthew Photography/Shutterstock

The patent wars between Samsung and Apple are far from over. A federal appeals court has reinstated a $120 million award to Apple in yet another twist in the years-long spat between the two companies.

The reinstatement of the case follows a previous ruling in the same court that basically overturned the case, which involves three iPhone-related patents including the ‘slide-to-unlock’ feature. Before the case was overturned, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $119.6 million for using Apple-owned patents without the company’s permission.

According to the court, the decision to overturn the case in February was the wrong decision, largely because it relied on points that were not raised on appeal and because it used information that was not in the trial record.

There is a small victory for Samsung — the court found Apple infringed on a patent that Samsung owned related to photo technology, awarding $158,400 in damages — far less than the amount being awarded to Apple. The recent ruling upholds that decision.

This case is not the only one involving Apple and Samsung — the decision comes just a week before the court considers another case between the two companies. That case focuses on the design of the smartphone and alleges Samsung copied patented designs. Previously in that case, Samsung was ordered to pay a hefty $548.2 million.

Of course, Samsung is also having a rough time in other areas of its business — the company was recently forced to recall its highly successful Galaxy Note 7 because a small percentage of units shipped were found to have battery issues that cause the phone to catch fire. Not only that, but after the company spent millions of dollars recalling the device and issuing new versions of the phone, a replacement phone was found to catch fire on a flight, forcing the flight to evacuate. The case is under investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Christian de Looper

Contributor

Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

Mobile

Google, Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus camera test exposes poor performers

The Pixel 6, iPhone SE, Galaxy A53, and Nord 2T camera modules.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G has five cameras on the back, the OnePlus Nord 2T has three, the Google Pixel 6 has two, and the Apple iPhone SE (2022) has just one camera. Surely, due to these differences, it would be a very unfair fight to compare them all?

That's precisely what we wanted to find out! Let's take a look and see if having multiple cameras on your phone really makes a difference to photo quality, or if those extra sensors are little more than fluff.
The phones and cameras
It may look like the phones in the test aren’t really competing with each other, but if you’ve got somewhere around $500 or 500 British pounds to spend, then these will likely all show up in your search. We’re not going to compare the hardware here, and are instead going to concentrate only on camera performance. To do that, we should first look at the camera specs on each phone before we get to the photos.

Mobile

Samsung Expert RAW vs. Apple ProRAW

Taking photos of false hellebore flowers using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Expert RAW app.

As a photographer who owns plenty of high-end camera gear, from pro-grade cameras to drones, a surprising number of my photos are captured using my phone. Most people these days snap pictures using the cameras integrated into their phones, and the quality of these cameras has increased by leaps and bounds. Now, the latest and greatest smartphones include the kind of features that not only appeal to amateur photographers, but to professionals as well.

Among these features are Apple ProRAW and Samsung's Expert RAW, which allow you to capture and edit photos with a significantly higher degree of control over the process. Unlike a DSLR or mirrorless camera, these camera apps shoot using multi-frame RAW, in which multiple images are captured and combined together to give you an image more akin to what you would capture in a single RAW photo with a dedicated camera.

Computing

Apple’s ceramic laptop patent is the closest we’ll get to a touchscreen MacBook

Items tagged with purple on a MacBook.

Mac fans who have been eagerly waiting for Apple to reverse course and release a pro-grade laptop with a touchscreen will have to keep on waiting. The computing giant is apparently working on bringing elements of the no- defunct Touch Bar up to the screen on its portable laptops, according to a recently uncovered patent filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

According to Apple's USPTO application describing a "concealable input region for an electronic device," the company is working on making an enclosure for the laptop -- likely a MacBook Pro of some kind -- out of premium materials, like ceramic, though glass and plastic can also be used. Though the use of ceramic would be new to the laptop category, Apple had previously experimented with this durable material on prior iterations of its Apple Watch wearable. Embedded within the casing, and in particular around the glass screen of the laptop, would be touch buttons that could dynamically change and light up depending on the application.