New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

USPTO Invalidates One of Apple's iPhone Design Patents in Apple vs. Samsung Lawsuit

Monday August 17, 2015 8:51 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 11.37.33 PM
FOSS Patents reported tonight that the Central Reexamination Division of the United States Patent and Trademark Office has reexamined one of the key iPhone design patents in the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit. The validity of one of the patents (618,677) has received a non-final rejection:
The problem the D'677 patent faces here is that the USPTO has determined (for now) that this patent "is not entitled to benefit of the filing date" of two previous Apple design patent applications because the design at issue was not disclosed in those earlier applications. As a result, certain prior art is eligible now, and against the background of that additional prior art, the USPTO believes the patent shouldn't have been granted.
Apple was originally awarded over $1 billion from the original lawsuit, but that amount has been reduced substantially to about $548 million in damages. Aside from this particular design patent, Apple still has other claims that have not been reduced or invalidated from the previous decision.

Samsung was most recently denied their latest appeal attempt, leaving them with the only option of turning to the U.S. Supreme Court. It appears this invalidation has no direct impact on the current standing of the lawsuit, but may help Samsung in their appeal to the Supreme Court.

[ 88 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
AngerDanger
51 months ago
The dashed lines of the article's image encourage small children to cut out the device and commit potential patent infringements of their very own! :)
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
The Barron
51 months ago
Sammy is going down! The stock is having a very difficult time these days. Go iPhone 6s!
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
69Mustang
51 months ago

I could see how a desperate Samsung would turn to South Korean government to put pressure on the US Supreme Court and to also buy off US Senators to lobby on behalf of Samsung legal battles in US courts. After all…. much of SK politicians have been bought out by the chaebol/cartels long ago. And to be fair, I'm also implying that US politicians are equally corrupt, and can be bought out, which is exactly why it's possible for Samsung to "buy" legal favors from the US politicians and courts.


I was going to use this on my grill, but it seems you can use it more than me.:p
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
nepalisherpa
51 months ago
Apple and Samsung...like a married couple!
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
Rafterman
51 months ago

Sammy is going down! The stock is having a very difficult time these days. Go iPhone 6s!


Why are you excited about Samsung "going down"? The only thing motivating Apple to innovate on the iPhone is Samsung's competition. Not to mention that Samsung makes many of the iPhone's parts.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
peterdevries
51 months ago

I could see how a desperate Samsung would turn to South Korean government to put pressure on the US Supreme Court and to also buy off US Senators to lobby on behalf of Samsung legal battles in US courts. After all…. much of SK politicians have been bought out by the chaebol/cartels long ago. And to be fair, I'm also implying that US politicians are equally corrupt, and can be bought out, which is exactly why it's possible for Samsung to "buy" legal favors from the US politicians and courts.


Do you have proof for any of this? Because without any proof your assertions aren't any better than those of that astronaut that claimed aliens came to us to stop us from using nuclear weapons.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
Yojimbo007
51 months ago
The whole freaking system is brocken.....
Why did they even issue the patent to start with?
Any idiot can see that samdung copied iphones design.. All one has to do is look at samdung phones before iPhone and after..
All this hair splitting is only making the lawyers involved richer while at the same time destroying confidence in the system..
Good luck US of A...for paving the path for Anarchy ...
DOJ and now USPTO ... ...and shenanigans ...
It a shame !
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
Marrakas
51 months ago

Whilst I’m not suggesting that what you say has or has not any truth in it, it would help if you’d give some examples.


http://cdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/samsung/samsung-ativ-s-new1.jpg - released in 2012

and please, don't act like apple invented, say, fingerprint sensors or touchscreens. they just refined old tech and made it more popular, but talk about them and patent them as if they invented it.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
wbeasley
51 months ago

so in the end Apple will have spent tens of millions of dollars in legal fees to collect a couple dollars in from Samsung because this pretty much wipes out the remaining award.


or spent tens of millions to win hundreds of millions AND to prove a point. priceless when you get the world to see that blatant copying is not flattery.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
apolloa
51 months ago

Whilst I’m not suggesting that what you say has or has not any truth in it, it would help if you’d give some examples.


Here's an example of the patented music search system they stole from Creative several years ago, Creative took them to court and won, Apple of course attempted to counter sue as it always does but didn't win.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-settles-with-creative-for-100-million-1/

Or how about the small fact they are still stealing Ericsson's technology in every single iOS device with a cellular radio and not paying them for it, everyone else in the industry pays them but not Apple, no its tactic is to use their essential designs to make a phone a phone and not pay the inventor to try and get it cheaper then everyone else.
Apple has until December to pay them though, otherwise court cases raised by Ericsson in four different country's go ahead.
And lets not forget the Swiss Railway clock face design they stole for iOS, they paid for the rights to use the trademarked design after meeting with the rights owners, but not before they stuck it into iOS.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/15/apple-royalties-swiss-clock
Rating: 6 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]