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Samsung Beats Apple In Tokyo, Itching To Sue Over LTE Patents

Posted by Soulskill on from the one-for-you-one-for-me-one-for-you-one-for-me dept.

AmiMoJo writes "A court in Tokyo has ruled that Samsung Electronics did not infringe on a patent relating to transferring media content between devices. Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji dismissed the case filed by Apple in August, finding that Samsung was not in violation of Apple patents related to synchronizing music and video data between devices and servers." This particular battle is just one front in a patent war that spans ten countries and dozens of cases. Samsung also confirmed it was ready and willing to sue Apple if an LTE iPhone ever hits the market. Meanwhile, Apple was granted a number of new patents on Tuesday, including one for changing settings on a wireless device depending on its location (#8,254,902). For example, sound and light from the device could be disabled when entering a movie theater, or communications with other devices could be disabled in a science laboratory.

3 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. How much is this costing us? by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Obviously this is blatant abuse on both sides. It no longer about genuine infringement it's about sticking it to the competition or getting back at them. Now the patent system is it's own worst enemy, stifling innovation and progress. What a shame.

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
  2. Why do we even have a Patent Office? by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For example, sound and light from the device could be disabled when entering a movie theater, or communications with other devices could be disabled in a science laboratory.

    How is that patentable?
    Not only is a obvious, it is already implemented by various android applications. Tasker probably being the most famous.

    Can you now patent stuff people are already doing?

  3. Re:Is this over the same patents? by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't matter, what matters is that Apple is hurting all customers including their own, in the long run, by instigating spurious patent battles based on a rotten patent system. Whether it is an iphone, a Samsung phone or whatever else, you pay a hefty fee to lawyers anytime you buy a new phone.