Judge Invalidates Two Samsung Patent Claims Ahead of Second Patent Lawsuit with Apple - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Judge Invalidates Two Samsung Patent Claims Ahead of Second Patent Lawsuit with Apple

by

Last May, Apple filed a motion detailing five patents violated by the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google's voice activated search assistant Google Now ahead of a second patent infringement lawsuit to take place on March 31, 2014. However, both Apple and Samsung agreed in September 2013 to drop one patent each from the trial, as Judge Lucy Koh ordered both companies to narrow the scope of their ongoing legal battle.

apple_samsung_logos
Now, FOSS Patents reports that Judge Koh yesterday invalidated a Samsung patent and ruled that Samsung infringed on an Apple patent, leaving the Korean company with only four patents to bring to the upcoming trial. In detail, Judge Koh nullified a Samsung multimedia synchronization patent and stated that Samsung's Android devices infringed on an Apple patent for a "method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendations", also known as autocomplete.

As Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents suggests, the infringed autocomplete patent could also be problematic for Google and Android device manufacturers:

If Samsung infringes this autocomplete patent (which is what Judge Koh concluded), then other Android device makers also have a problem. Google, which may be (possibly in close cooperation with Samsung) involved with an anonymous reexamination request against the word recommendations patent, will clearly be unhappy about this finding by its own home court.

The ruling by Judge Koh is also likely to affect the mediation meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon scheduled to take place on or before February 19. In addition to the second infringement lawsuit in March, both companies will also partake in a trial centered around Apple's new call for a U.S. ban on Samsung products set for January 30.


Popular Stories

iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
Read Full Article • 160 comments
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...
Read Full Article • 117 comments
Apple Foldable Thumb

iPhone Ultra's Very High Price and Features Revealed in New Report

Thursday September 3, 2026 7:33 am PDT by
Ahead of Apple's event on Wednesday, September 9, where it is expected to unveil its first-ever foldable iPhone, Taiwanese research firm TrendForce today outlined the device's estimated price range, features, and some other key details. In the U.S., TrendForce estimated that the foldable iPhone will have a starting price of $2,099 to $2,299 and said the highest-end configurations could...
Read Full Article • 301 comments

Top Rated Comments

U
Unggoy Murderer
165 months ago
Lucy Koh is the only judge on the planet who ALWAYS rules in Apple's favor. In all other countries, it's so much more difficult for Apple to defend its (design) patents - and at least half of the time, Apple loses.

Must be great to be an American corporation in an American court.

Oh please, even a South Korean judge recently dismissed a Samsung lawsuit against Apple. Samsung are being found out left, right and centre - pull your head out of the clouds and see what's really going on.

MacRumours.com article (https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/12/south-korean-court-dismisses-samsungs-patent-lawsuit-against-apple/)
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Oletros Avatar
Oletros
165 months ago
Mueller predicting doom and gloom about Googgle? Shocking.

The claim 18 infringed by Samsung:

18. A graphical user interface on a portable electronic device with a keyboard and a touch screen display, comprising: a first area of the touch screen display that displays a current character string being input by a user with the keyboard; and a second area of the touch screen display separate from the first area that displays the current character string or a portion thereof and a suggested replacement character string for the current character string; wherein; the current character string in the first area is replaced with the suggested replacement character string if the user activates a key on the keyboard associated with a delimiter; the current character string in the first area is replaced with the suggested replacement character string if the user performs a gesture on the suggested replacement character string in the second area; and the current character string in the first area is kept if the user performs a gesture in the second area on the current character string or the portion thereof displayed in the second area.


----------

Lucy Koh is the only judge on the planet who ALWAYS rules in Apple's favor.

Wrong
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
dragicon
165 months ago
The fact that this is over something as ridiculous as autocomplete just shows how these patent lawsuits have gotten out of hand. It is amazing that a company can patent something so simple. How apple was able to patent such a thing in the first place is where the real crime is. Hardware and design is a different story than this in my book.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Winni Avatar
Winni
165 months ago
Lucy Koh is the only judge on the planet who ALWAYS rules in Apple's favor. In all other countries, it's so much more difficult for Apple to defend its (design) patents - and at least half of the time, Apple loses.

Must be great to be an American corporation in an American court.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WilliamLondon Avatar
WilliamLondon
165 months ago
Oh please, even a South Korean judge recently dismissed a Samsung lawsuit against Apple. Samsung are being found out left, right and centre - pull your head out of the clouds and see what's really going on.

MacRumours.com article (https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/12/south-korean-court-dismisses-samsungs-patent-lawsuit-against-apple/)

Long time troll, he tosses his anti-Apple turds around the forum and then runs away. Same every single time.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Oletros Avatar
Oletros
165 months ago
So you clearly chosed to ignore the fact that they did actually win in Samsungs home, regardles of similar rulings on the past?

Well, if the OP say that Judge Koh is the only judge that always rules in favour of Apple posting a link from other Judge that has ruled against Samsung doesn't prove anything.

Perhaps is better to post a link to rulings from Judge Koh against Apple, and she has some of them. Funny thing is that when that happens then she is in Samsung pockets or people remembers her ascendancy.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments