The German Federal Court of Justice has canceled Apple’s patent for the swipe movement to unlock iPhones and iPads. The court said the patent in question was not a new invention, reports German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (http://tinyurl.com/nzl6hfd).
Judges in the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe said Apple’s European patent, which was applied for in 2006 and awarded in 2010, is not new and that a mobile phone from a Swedish company already displayed these characteristics before Apple’s devices did.
The Karlsruhe court thus maintained a decision passed by the German patents court, which Apple had pleaded against, declaring the European patent void within Germany. The German Federal Court is the country’s highest authority which rules on patents cases.
In May the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adjusted Samsung’s US$930 million penalty, related to its patent infringement suit with Apple. The appeals court decision removed $382 million in damages, but $548 million still remained. Samsung is now challenging $399 million of the balance, which is an award of its entire profits from products found to infringe Apple’s design patents, according to a Samsung filing Wednesday in the appeals court.
This is all part of an ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung had filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices. On May 14, 2014, an U.S. appeals court affirmed a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that Apple is innocent of violating three patents owned by Samsung. Earlier that month, a jury handed back a verdict in the latest Apple-Samsung legal battle over patent infringement.
