patent-infringement lawsuit

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

Apple is looking to put on hold two lawsuits involving Motorola, arguing that the handset maker has lost its patent rights as a result of its acquisition deal with Google.

The company filed motions in two separate U.S. District courts last Friday to delay the suits. Apple contends that under the merger agreement with Google, Motorola is limited in its ability to enforce its own patents or negotiate any legal settlements, explained Florian Mueller, founder of the Foss Patents blog..

In Apple's view, moving forward with the two lawsuits would potentially be a no-win situation for itself. If … Read more

Oracle's Larry Ellison and Google's Larry Page are expected to face each other on September 19 in an attempt to settle the year-long patent infringement case between their respective companies.

After trying to skirt any appearances by promising to send other people to the conference table, the two CEOs were ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal last Friday to attend the settlement talks themselves.

"The party representatives required to attend this and any further conferences include, but are not limited to, Larry Ellison of Oracle and Larry Page of Google," according to a copy of the court order … Read more

Samsung and Apple are prepping themselves for a key battle later this month over the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

On August 25, a German court will hear arguments on whether it should overturn a temporary ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the European Union.

Earlier this week, the court granted Apple a preliminary injunction banning the sale of Samsung's tablet in all European Union countries, except for the Netherlands. Apple, obviously pleased with the result, reissued a statement it has released several times over the last few months, charging that Samsung knowingly copied the … Read more

Handset makers using the Google Android mobile operating system may be slapped with additional licensing fees if Oracle and Microsoft have their way. But what might that mean for the average cell phone consumer? Would the price of Android devices go up?

It's not likely, say experts. There are several reasons to think that legal victories from Oracle or Microsoft would do little to move the needle in terms of pricing for consumers. What's more, whatever additional costs might be added to the phone would likely be offset by savings elsewhere, still guaranteeing that handset makers generate decent … Read more

Dolby has filed a lawsuit against Research In Motion for patent infringement, the audio technology company announced today.

Dolby is suing the maker of the BlackBerry in the U.S. and Germany for using "highly efficient digital audio compression technologies which allow manufacturers and consumers to provide and enjoy high quality audio while using extremely limited amounts of transmission and/or storage space for such audio."

Dolby asserts that it owns patents covering the technology used in RIM's BlackBerry smartphones and new tablet, the PlayBook, and claims "all other major" smartphone makers have agreed to … Read more

Lodsys, the company pursuing high-profile patent infringement cases against many in the tech industry, is finding itself on the receiving end of a pre-emptive lawsuit challenging its patents.

ESET, a San Diego-based antivirus software maker, filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit (see filing below) on Friday against Lodsys with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The lawsuit, first reported by Florian Mueller of the FOSS Patents blog, seeks a declaration that its products do not infringe on Lodsys' four patents and to invalidate those patents.

Lodsys claimed in letters to ESET that the upgrade feature in … Read more

The patent infringement lawsuit filed by WiLAN against Intel, HP, and other heavy hitters in the tech industry has entered a new stage.

Yesterday, Judge T. John Ward of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a 55-page order that defines the terms used in a patent claim when those meanings are disputed by the parties.

In this case, the order (PDF) may have given WiLAN an edge because the company announced that it is pleased with the decision and said it believes it can now demonstrate that many of the defendants' Bluetooth, WiMax, and … Read more

Handset maker HTC says it's ready to defend itself against a patent complaint filed by Apple.

Earlier this month, Apple launched legal action against HTC, alleging that the Taiwanese company had violated 20 different patents related to the Apple iPhone. HTC makes phones based on Google's Android operating system as well as Microsoft's Windows Mobile.

On Thursday, HTC issued its response.

"HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done," said HTC … Read more