US appeals court nullifies Apple patents
By Yoon Sung-won
A U.S. appeals court has nullified key Apple patents, helping Samsung accelerate its efforts for an “exit strategy” from its long-running patent disputes with its “love-and-hate” American business partner.
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. overturned the original verdict that confirmed Samsung’s infringement on Apple’s three patent rights and nullified the charge.
The latest ruling means Apple’s attempts to receive $119 million from Samsung Electronics have failed and that Apple must pay $158,400 to the Korean company for infringing on one Samsung-owned patent.
“Last week’s ruling is significant because Samsung Electronics found an excuse that its Galaxy devices weren’t the result of copying,” an official said on Sunday. “Efforts by the two companies to end litigation will be accelerated.”
Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple in all countries, but not in the U.S.
Despite the continued legal tussle, Apple still relies heavily on Samsung Electronics to source displays, mobile processor chips and DRAM chips for iPhones and iPads.
Samsung Electronics refused to say if it had any imminent plans to withdraw its lawsuits against one of its largest business clients in the U.S.
Apple did not comment on the ruling. However, officials said the iPhone designer might take the case to the Supreme Court, expecting the ruling to be overturned in the final ruling.
The appeals court ruled that two of three Apple patents, which the original verdict claimed Samsung had violated, were “invalid patents,” and that the other was “not infringed.”
In particular, the “quick link” patent, which the court determined Samsung Electronics had not infringed, had led to an award of $98 million ― more than 80 percent of the total compensation in the original verdict.
The patent, also known as the “data tapping patent” or the “647 patent,” is about a technology that displays hyperlinks on screen and enables access to other information by clicking or tapping them.
The court said Samsung Electronics’ argument that the technologies it used for its mobile web browsers and messenger applications were different from those in Apple’s patents.
Apple had claimed that Samsung’s mobile applications providing the quick link function worked as analysis servers that detected data structure and connected to related actions.
But the court said Apple had failed to submit evidence that proved software library programs on Samsung’s smartphones worked separately to web browsers and messenger apps.
In 2014, Motorola succeeded in overturning the original verdict of a legal action over the same patent issue.
The two “invalid patents” were about Apple’s “slide-to-unlock” and “auto-correct” technologies, the appellate judgment revealed. It said the slide-to-unlock technology was already well known in the smartphone market and thus might not the key contributor to iPhones’ popularity and market success.
The second patent infringement lawsuit between Samsung Electronics and Apple started in February 2012 when Apple brought the case to the court. Samsung immediately brought a counteraction.
In the original verdict in May 2014, the jury at the San Jose Federal District Court in northern California said Samsung Electronics must pay $119.62 million to Apple for infringing three patent rights. It also said Apple must pay $158,400 to Samsung Electronics for violating one patent. Judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the first trial at that time, accepted the verdict as it is.
In April 2011, the two companies started their first legal battle for patent infringement. The appellate judgment for the first action was announced last May.
Samsung Electronics had applied for permission to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court in December last year over a $548 million award to Apple.