Legal

Motorola Mobility today filed a new patent-infringement suit against Apple and seeks to block imports of many foreign-made products such as the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and some Macs.

According to Bloomberg, Motorola, owned by Google, filed the suit in hopes that it could reach an agreement with Apple on their many existing patent disputes. In a statement to CNET, Motorola Mobility said that, "We would like to settle these patent matters, but Apple's unwillingness to work out a license leaves us little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers' innovations."

The request to block imports … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- With both sides now out of time, the end to the trial between two of the biggest companies in tech draws ever nearer to a close.

Apple and Samsung today both ran through the last few hours -- or in Samsung's case, just minutes -- of their allotted 25 hours for rebuttals and clarifications.

Still ahead are closing arguments in which the two companies get their last chance to convince a jury of nine that the other company is infringing on its technology. A decision in either direction could result in millions -- even billions … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Samsung did not comply with multiple guidelines set forth by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, according to the group's former top board member.

During testimony, Dr. Michael Walker -- who served as ETSI's chairman of the board between 2008 through 2011 -- said that Samsung had failed to disclose two of the patents it's using in its case against Apple to the standards group in a timely manner.

As a result of that, Walker says that Samsung should not be able to use them as ammunition in the case.

To prove that, Walker … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.-- Hours after chiding Apple for stacking up too many witnesses, the judge in the case between Apple and Samsung turned her attention to what she considered a strategical blunder on Samsung's part.

The company, she said, had burned up its time on cross-examining Apple's witnesses, versus presenting its case.

After each in a train of Apple witnesses were through with their testimony, Samsung passed on trying to cross-examine them, citing a lack of time. As a result, Apple has been able to run witness after witness with little resistance.

When the court was about … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Tempers boiled over in court this morning, with the judge in the case between Apple and Samsung flat out yelling at Apple for trying to book too many witnesses in its last few hours.

"I am not going to be running around trying to get 75 pages of briefings for people who are not going to be testifying," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh told Apple's lawyer Bill Lee.

"I mean come on. 75 pages! 75 pages! You want me to do an order on 75 pages, (and) unless you're smoking … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The $2.4 billion Apple says Samsung earned on devices with Apple's looks and technology is certainly a hefty sum, but about $1.7 billion off, according to Samsung.

To prove that, the company called on Michael Wagner, a former partner at PriceWaterhouse with 36 years of calculating corporate damages, who said that Apple's own damages expert had left out major parts of Samsung's financial data when making its calculation.

"[Apple's] total calculation of total profits did not include the total cost to figure out the profits," Wagner told the … Read more

The next big Apple feature could be a 2D fingerprint scanner.

Back in July, Apple licensed technology from AuthenTec to commercialize 2D fingerprint sensors for use in or with Apple products, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made yesterday. Apple has already said it has agreed to buy the security technology provider for $356 million, though the deal still needs shareholder approval.

The news was first reported by The Next Web.

Apple has a history of acquiring companies for their unique technology. Siri, for instance, was acquired and not developed internally.

CNET contacted Apple for further … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Aiming to save the jury a headache, the judge in the trial between Apple and Samsung here once again reminded both sides to pare down some of the claims against one another and settle.

"Are there trades that can be made?" U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh asked lawyers from both companies, adding that she hoped there could be some "horse trading" between the two before the jury sits down to decide the winner.

Koh spent much of the week asking both companies to sort out some of the claims -- … Read more

The Justice Department's proposed settlement with three book publishers over alleged e-book price fixing is "fundamentally unfair, unlawful, and unprecedented," Apple said in a legal memo today.

In an antitrust lawsuit filed in April, federal prosecutors accused Apple and five book publishers of conspiring to artificially hike prices. The same day, the Justice Department announced it had reached settlements with three publishers but said Apple and the other two publishers had opted to fight the charges.

The proposed settlement -- with Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (owned … Read more