02.26.16
In Apple/Samsung Patent Lawsuits Over Android/Linux, Only Patent Lawyers Are Winning (Again)
Never-ending legal battles with billions of dollars at stake and perhaps hundreds of millions in legal bills (soon)
It doesn’t matter who wins when one sells time and charges a lot by the hour
Summary: In Apple/Samsung patent wars (started by an increasingly jealous and nervous Apple), money flows mostly in a single direction (to neither Apple nor Samsung, only their patent lawyers) as possibility of appeal at SCOTUS is still being considered
BEFORE we continue EPO coverage we wish to get emerging news out of the way. As some people already know, Apple has just lost to Samsung. Here are some of the very earliest reports on this [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23]. There will probably be hundreds more by Monday (look around here), but this in itself is enough to help people understand what’s going on. Some lawyers’ sites cover this as well, whereas a lot of people link to the original PDF published by the Court.
We don’t wish to bore readers with the technical details (these exist in the articles above), but let’s just say that it won’t be long before patent lawyers’ sites bemoan this decision as it damages faith in patents. Also expect many so-called ‘news’ sites from all over the world to just license ‘reports’ from AP and Reuters, probably quoting all sorts of patent lawyers rather than people like myself who actually develop stuff (such as software). Everybody loses (especially the so-called ‘consumers’) when engineers and programmers waste time figuring out how to ‘work around’ patents.
“The smartphone patent war: 1) obtain 10,000s garbage patents + 2) 100s of lawsuits == $ for lawyers & little else…”
–Professor James BessenProfessor Mark Lemley wrote that “The only patent valid and infringed is one of Samsung’s” (yes, how ironic!).
“Live by the patent sword, die by the patent sword,” Simon Phipps (OSI, Sun, Wipro etc.) wrote.
Professor James Bessen says it like it is with this tweet: “The smartphone patent war: 1) obtain 10,000s garbage patents + 2) 100s of lawsuits == $ for lawyers & little else”
“The only patent valid and infringed is one of Samsung’s…”
–Professor Mark LemleyProfessor Mark Lemley and Professor James Bessen are reasonably noteworthy voices of reason in today’s patents lawyers-saturated corporate media. Don’t expect the mass media to cover this too well. The journalists care a lot about this case because, just as with all that FBI publicity stunt (pretending Apple fights for privacy and security), it’s about Apple. Many people are obsessed with everything ‘i’ (iPhone and so on).
Once upon a time Florian Müller supported Apple in its fight against Android, but not anymore. “Apple lost 100%,” he wrote. He also said “I guess they’ll petition for rehearing.” These comments are noteworthy because he essentially defected or switched sides not too long ago. “Apple v. Samsung (2nd Calif. case) turned out just the way I predicted in January,” he later claimed, adding: “After affirmance of Judge Posner’s Apple v. Moto claim construction, the ’647 patent should have been dropped. I said it then.”
“It adds insult to injury for Apple that the Fed. Cir. has affirmed Samsung’s symbolic win (prevailed on a counterclaim),” he noted.
“It adds insult to injury for Apple that the Fed. Cir. has affirmed Samsung’s symbolic win (prevailed on a counterclaim)…”
–Florian MüllerAlluding to this news about Koh (some sites speak about Koh’s nomination, noting her rise to fame in the Samsung/Apple patent cases), Müller said: “The appellate track record of Apple v. Samsung gives Republicans plenty of reasons to oppose Judge Koh’s nomination to the 9th Circuit.”
Finally, said Müller: “I didn’t just interpret the appellate hearing right. Back in 2014 I made my disbelief in Apple’s 2nd case against Samsung very clear.”
A lot has changed since then, including the Alice case at SCOTUS (where the bigger Apple lawsuit might go soon). If Apple appeals, then it’s guaranteed that only patent lawyers will rejoice. Hey, somebody should tell Battistelli about this as he obvious isn't keeping track. █
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