Wednesday 31 July 2013

Apple lose another patent in Samsung battle

American tech giant Apple has lost another key patent battle with Korean Samsung as the row over smartphone technology rights continues.


Jurors had previously ruled that Samsung had violated or infringed upon multiple Apple patents, awarding Apple $1.05bn last year. This latest contest over U.S. Patent No. 7,844,915, which describes the way a user can 'pinch-to-zoom', could yet unravel last year's settlement.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ultimately declared that 21 of the 24 contested functions were rejected, with the 'pinch-to-zoom' feature predicated by Patent No. 7,724,242, relating to gestures on touch screens, which had been filed by W. Daniel Hillis and Bran Ferren of Applied Minds in 2005.

With Samsung overtaking Apple for sales of smartphones and tablets in the last year, this latest small victory - in Apple's home country, no less - must have Apple executives hopping mad.

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