Legal

Apple today lost part of its appeal in Italy involving the sale and promotion of its AppleCare service in the country.

Per Italian news site Repubblica.it (via The Next Web), Apple today lost part of its appeal, and must make changes to its localized AppleCare Web site as a result.

In December, Apple was hit with a 900,000 Euros ($1.2 million) fine for allegedly encouraging customers to purchase AppleCare, its technical support and extended warranty service. Under Italian law, the country requires companies to offer two years of technical support to product buyers, which is the same … Read more

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reportedly taken an interest in the mobile side of a business relationship between Apple and Google, and wants it on the record.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that the U.S. regulatory group has subpoenaed Apple in hopes of getting details about its mobile-search deal with Google. That includes information on the agreement that has made Google the default search engine on Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPhone since 2007, the report said.

The subpoena, which Apple did not confirm or comment on to Bloomberg, is part of a larger investigation by the FTC … Read more

A new lawsuit claims Google and Apple have infringed a patent by using the Street View feature in Google Maps.

In a lawsuit filed last week in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Florida-based PanoMap Technologies accuses Google and Apple for infringing on its patent covering the the 3D panorama mode found in the Google Maps app on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The lawsuit (pdf), picked up by PaidContent, says both companies knowingly infringed on U.S. Patent No. 6,563,529, issued to developer Jerry Jongerius in mid-2003. That patent covers an &… Read more

The voice mail system on Apple's iPhone has once again become the target of a lawsuit from a company claiming infringement on one or more software patents.

A new lawsuit filed yesterday against Apple by Pennsylvania-based Brandywine Communications Technologies in a U.S. District Court in Florida accuses Apple of infringing on two of its patents covering voice technologies.

The filing, picked up by GigaOm today, says Apple's infringing on U.S. Patent No. 5,719,992 as well as U.S. Patent No. 6,236,717, both of which cover a "simultaneous voice/data answering machine.&… Read more

A settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit targeting the antenna performance of Apple's iPhone 4.

As part of a preliminary approval made this afternoon, U.S. residents who bought Apple's iPhone 4 will be entitled to $15 in cash or a bumper case provided by Apple.

The settlement comes from 18 separate lawsuits that were consolidated into one. All share the claim that Apple was "misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4--particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and … Read more

The International Trade Commission today ruled in Apple's favor, saying the gadget maker does not infringe on a patent held by rival HTC.

The ruling (pdf), which was picked up by blog FOSS Patents this afternoon, comes exactly four months after an initial determination from the ITC's administrative law judge, who ruled in Apple's favor. That decision found Apple to be off the hook from HTC's complaint in early 2010 that accused Apple of being in violation of five HTC patents, a total that was later whittled down to four, then one, for review by the … Read more

The correspondence between Apple and Proview Technology chronicling what looks very much like the successful sale of the iPad trademark between the two companies has made its way into the wild.

Fifteen pages that include e-mails between Proview and IP Application Development Limited (the U.K.-based firm that bought the name off Proview), were posted this afternoon by All Things D.

The files are in conjunction with a Hong Kong court decision from July of last year, wherein the judge sided with Apple, saying the company continued to own the rights to the iPad trademark in the country.

In … Read more

Apple's legal headache over the iPad trademark in China is getting worse, now that a local company is seeking a ban on iPad imports and exports there.

Bloomberg reports that Proview International Holdings, which says it owns the rights to the iPad name in China, has filed paperwork with the country's customs body seeking a ban of both imports and exports of the device.

Should Proview succeed, its move could dramatically affect Chinese sales of the popular device--not to mention its worldwide distribution. The iPad, just like many other popular Apple products including the iPhone and iPod Touch, … Read more

Apple filed a new lawsuit against Motorola Mobility today, targeting the company's patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California and first reported by Reuters, takes aim at Motorola for being in breach of a licensing agreement both companies have with Qualcomm for the use of the company's wireless patents.

One of the patents mentioned in the suit (PDF) is the same one used by Motorola in its lawsuit against Apple in Germany last month. In this new filing, Apple asks the court to prohibit Motorola from making that claim in its … Read more