Apple Corporate

As badly as it wants to ban the iPhone and iPad from sale, Samsung is having a difficult time getting it done.

A judge in the Netherlands' District Court of The Hague yesterday ruled that because Samsung is governed by FRAND (fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) licensing rules, the company cannot seek a sales injunction on Apple mobile devices that it claims violate essential patents it holds. As long as Apple shows that it wants to negotiate for use of the patents, the court ruled, Samsung must try to reach a deal.

Dutch Web site Webwereld.nl was the first to … Read more

The consortium of companies who successfully bid on Nortel's patent portfolio last year today received the go-ahead from the U.S. Department of Justice to proceed with the acquisition.

That deal was struck last June by the Rockstar Bidco consortium--a group of companies led by Apple that sought ownership of some 6,000 patents and patent applications from the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker.

The deal was put on hold following a DOJ investigation into the effects of the sale, which had a mandated waiting period that expired today.

"We are pleased to emerge from this review process, … Read more

According to Apple's design guru, competitors are too busy trying to do something different instead of trying to solve basic problems.

In a rare interview published by the London Evening Standard today, Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, chatted about how the company goes about the design process, and what he believes competitors fail to grasp when going out on a limb with new products.

"Most of our competitors are [interested] in doing something different, or want to appear new - I think those are completely the wrong goals," Ive told the outlet. &… Read more

The European Union is not too pleased with e-book publishers, but that doesn't mean it won't settle with them.

Speaking to reporters today, European Union Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that his organization would settle with e-book publishers as long as they "remove all of our objections." Reuters was first to report on the news.

Almunia reportedly didn't tell the journalists about the nature of the objections, but confirmed that deals could be struck with e-book publishers Pearson, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster (which is owned by CBS, CNET's parent company), among others.

The … Read more

Apple is planning a major investment in Texas, the governor's office has announced.

According to Gov. Rick Perry, Apple plans to drop $304 million into a new campus in Austin. The new facility, the governor's office said Friday, will create over 3,600 jobs in the state over the next decade and double the size of Apple's workforce across Texas. The state didn't divulge too many details but did say the facility will be used to expand "customer support, sales, and accounting functions."

Apple's major investment might lend a bit more credence to … Read more

Workers injured in a December blast at a Chinese factory say that Apple inspectors toured the facility hours before the accident.

NPR spoke with 25 injured workers who criticized safety conditions at the plant and said they were instructed not to speak with the Apple contingent.

One of the injured employees, Zhang Qing, told NPR that workers were not informed about a similar blast seven months earlier at a factory in Chengdu, China, which was tied to a buildup of aluminum dust.

Another worker hurt in the explosion, Liu Hengchao, said he watched as inspectors wearing white gloves checked for … Read more

Apple is fighting back against allegations that it has been involved in e-book price fixing to counter Amazon's dominance in that space.

In a court filing obtained by PaidContent yesterday, Apple argues that any claim that it views Amazon and the Kindle e-book store as a threat is nonsense.

Here's what Apple had to say in the court filing:

"Nor does this 'Kindle theory' make sense on its own terms. For example, if Amazon was a 'threat' that needed to be squelched by means of an illegal conspiracy, why would Apple offer Amazon's Kindle app on … Read more

At least one person didn't seem to have a good time at Apple's iPad event yesterday.

Salesforce's outspoken CEO Marc Benioff let loose with a barrage of nasty tweets as he watched Apple executives demo the company's latest iPad.

Benioff started kvetching even before the main event took place, tweeting that he was in the cheap seats listening to horrible pop music. After tweeting some of the facts and figures touted by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Benioff apparently wasn't impressed with the new Apple TV, tweeting that "We all hope we're not here … Read more

Apple will soon have far more information about Android and Google's Motorola Mobility acquisition than the search giant would like.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Posner yesterday ordered Motorola Mobility and its soon-to-be parent company Google to hand over development information about Android to Apple, according to Bloomberg, which obtained court documents. In addition, the judge said that Google must provide Apple with information about the company's $12.5 billion deal to acquire Motorola Mobility.

Apple has been asking for the data for quite some time in its battle against Motorola Mobility, which sells smartphones that … Read more