Appeals Court Reinstates Apple's $120 Million Slide-To-Unlock Patent Win Over Samsung (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple Inc. won an appeals court ruling that reinstates a patent-infringement verdict it won against Samsung Electronics Co., including for its slide-to-unlock feature for smartphones and tablets. In an 8-3 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said a three-judge panel was wrong to throw out the $119.6 million verdict in February. Instead, it ordered the trial judge to consider whether the judgment should be increased based on any intentional infringement by Samsung. In this case, Apple claimed that Samsung infringed patents for the slide-to-unlock feature, autocorrect and a way to detect phone numbers so they can be tapped to make phone calls. The bulk of the award, $98.7 million, was for the detection patent that the earlier panel said wasn't infringed. The February decision also said the other two patents were invalid. That was a wrong decision, the court ruled Friday, because it relied on issues that were never raised on appeal or on information that was beyond the trial record. "The jury verdict on each issue is supported by substantial evidence in the record," Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore wrote for the majority.

Comments

There is always a hidden agenda

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop and think for a moment.. what purpose did this press release serve? Why would the FBI inform the public that they have an iPhone that they cannot unlock? Governments like to maintain a feeling of superiority and they can't do that while, at the same time, admitting mistakes or inadequacies. This press release was designed to show the FBI as a victim. What purpose does this "playing the victim" serve.. except to hopefully pluck at the heartstrings and gain the attention of people (read "voters") that can actually change the law in the FBI's favor?

Do you see what's really happening here? They're not trying to unlock an iPhone, they're trying (again) to gain sympathy from an unsuspecting public in order to change the law. They know that a court order forcing Apple to comply is a waste of time, been there.. done that.. it didn't work. Now, they're trying to change public opinion.

What they don't seem to understand is that, if they can easily get into the iPhone system, criminals will stop using iPhones. When was the last time the government had this kind of difficulty getting into an Android phone?

What ever happened to good old-fashioned detective work?