Forget about Apple’s November plea to the European Telecommunications Standard asking for regulations for “patent holders playing dirty.” Apple has turned face, and in its evident hypocrisy, returned fire on Samsung, using four newly acquired patents in its arsenal, and filed a patent suit to ban the sales of Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the U.S.
The preliminary injunction, filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, leverages the following four patents:
- U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: “System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data.” This patent was coined the “data tapping” patent by intellectual property analyst, Florian Mueller. At risk from this patent is any algorithm that scrapes unstructured data, including emails and calendars. This has once before been successful in convincing the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban the import of HTC Android phones starting April 19, 2012.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604: “Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” This newly minted patent is Apple’s response to protect its mobile search engine, Siri, and a threat to Google’s own mobile search engine.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721: “Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image.” The patent for the swiping motion to unlock a phone, once unique to Apple, was granted only recently to the Cupertino, California, company.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172: “Method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendations.” Some of you may recognize this as the infamous auto-correct that spawned entire blogs around the algorithm’s misappropriation of letters.
Instigated by Apple’s suit against Samsung for selling mimicry mobile products of the iPhone and iPad lines, the lawsuit is the latest development in the blow-by-blow exchanged in the patent war. Prior to Apple’s suit, Samsung had attempted to ban iPhone 4S sales in Japan, Italy, France and Australia, to name a few.
What doesn’t meet the eye in this commencing battle is Apple’s true target: Google’s latest Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich. With every new Android OS launch, Google has partnered with a vendor. With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich in 2011, Samsung was to be the, “official lead device that comes with a time-to-market advantage for the vendor in exchange of the device maker’s compliance with Google’s rules,” Mueller writes. Under Google’s terms, Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus (all lead devices are labeled with “Nexus”) was to come installed with only Android software, bare of the OEM bloatware that is often included by non-lead device manufacturers.
With this in mind, “Google has sometimes refrained from implementing certain features in ‘stock Android’ just to steer clear of infringement, knowing that some of those functionalities would be implemented by OEMs anyway,” Mueller reveals. But this time, Apple has walked into battle, armed with hard-hitting patents that would implicate the core functionalities of non-iOS operating systems that are found in all mobile devices today.
Boasting three new all-encompassing patents and one already effective patent in tote, Apple appears to be sitting pretty with the upper hand. It’s likely only a matter of months before the verdict is read. Until then, we should be in for quite the show.
If that’s the case, if all these patents were their idea, why didn’t they patent them out of the gate? I brand my images before I put them up in ppublic, Inventors patent their products, artists copyright, all before public intro, so why is Apple different? This doesn’t hurt only samsung, it hurts would be apple customers as well, FYI, In my world, I upgrade my products, So i would go from a crappy phone, to a mediocre phone to the ultimate goal of an Iphone, however, because of Apples paid customer service and now this, I’ve decided to not purchase their goods…Samsung and competitors isnt their problem, it’s themselves thats the issue.
@samvel , I completely agree! Whats stopping apple from just going out and buying patents and suing everyone…this whole thing is just silly.
Apple is like the new Nazi regime of the computer world, If they can’t run it or if someone becomes a “threat” Apple has an innate desire to destroy them. In my opinion it looks like the fat bully on the playground who doesn’t get his way throwing a temper tantrum..It’s sad and pathetic really, If apple only put so much focus on their customer service as they do their lawyers and minions, I would have upgraded my ipod to an ipad, however, After my experience with Apples paid customer service, I tossed my kid the ipod and bought a souped up Samsung laptop..We won’t be buying anything from apple again!
I understand patents but when it is used to deliberately quash development and competition it’s a little disgusting..
Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Apple is forcing the others to develop their own ideas. Copying is truly disgusting…
“Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock screen…” that was out before apple used it. they didn’t make it up themselves and apple just put android notification center on their own devices so how are they going to complain? That is exact mimicking, so be disgusted by them. They’re just being assholes. And it’s stupid that you would try to block new software that’s out. Technology should be about taking what’s out there and making it better and better. This is ridiculous.
Apple used to be cool to me back when the ipods were the “it” item to own before they made phones.
there should be a law that forbids a company to sue another one over a product that was built before new patents were acquired. It only makes sense.
Apple can die.
Apple = the forbidden fruit….
Apple, STFU