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Judge Recommends Import Ban On iPhones After Latest Apple Vs. Qualcomm Verdict (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The latest chapter in the ongoing and messy Apple versus Qualcomm legal battle might mean a U.S. import ban on some iPhone models. A U.S. trade judge has found Apple guilty of infringing on two Qualcomm patents related to power management and data download speeds. As a result, the judge -- International Trade Commission Judge MaryJoan McNamara -- says some iPhone models containing competing Intel modems might be blocked from shipping from China, where they're manufactured, to the U.S. The judgment is still pending review by the ITC. Qualcomm is expecting another ruling in a second case it brought to the ITC later today that is not expected to include an import ban on iPhones. Regardless, this ruling is another blow to Apple, which, earlier this month, was found to have infringed on three separate Qualcomm patents in one of many other legal skirmishes playing out between the two companies. Next month the two companies will square off in court to discuss Qualcomm's alleged anti-competitive licensing strategies and the patent royalties it claims Apple owes for disputing the terms of their long-standing relationship.
Woo Hoo!
It's about time Apple got a real taste of being on the wrong end of a patent infringement lawsuit.
Clearly Apple must feel that they didn't infringe. But then so did all those Apple was suing over patents not very many years ago. Pinch to zoom? Bouncy scrolling? And wanting to get 100% of the device retail cost as damages? Seriously?
IMO this couldn't happen to a better target than Apple.
FYI . . . long ago I was a card carrying Apple fanboy and longtime developer back in the Classic Mac days. Even after moving from Mac to Linux when OSX came out, I still had fond memories of Apple -- until it started all the patent lawsuits.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
A single judge can decide if someone lives or dies and you're shocked about how much power they have over a corporation? Perhaps you should check your priorities.
Besides, a jury usually decides guilt, the judge decides the penalty.
Keep in mind that Qualcomm didn't file this suit until Apple switched to using Intel chips rather than Qualcomm's own chips. This is about revenge for not using them as their primary supplier.
That's okay, Apple switched to Intel as revenge for Qualcomm not bending over and cutting their patent fees for Apple. Also they possibly (probably) gave Intel Qualcomm's trade secrets to improve their crappy performance. The wheel of screw your business partner over keeps spinning.
This isn't related to that. This suit was filed by Qualcomm when Apple decided to use Intel modems rather than theirs. They got upset over the loss of revenue from the move, so they found a patent to go after Apple over and try to force them to use their modems again.
Apple has not been shut down, the judge is not 75 years old, and she knows how to turn on a computer.
The bans will be for specific models that have been found to be infringing.
These cases take so long to complete that new models are out and the ones being banned aren't being shipped anymore.
Keep in mind that Qualcomm didn't file this suit until Apple switched to using Intel chips
You idiot, that's because Qualcomm had a patent agreement with Apple while they were supplying them the chips.
Apple didn't like how Qualcomm based the royalty payment on the retail price of the phone, the same as all the other manufacturers, because Apple have been skyrocketing the retail price - like paying $1099 for a 64GB phone or $1449 for a 256GB model. That's $350 for 192GB. A 256GB micro SD card costs less than $100.
They stopped paying Qualcomm royalties, so Qualcomm sued for infringement.
That's how it's supposed to work.
Maybe some day they will advocate for sensible IP laws.... but I doubt it.
No way. Big corps sue each other over IP, but except for legal fees, that is zero sum.
But IP laws are a win for big companies because they can use IP to crush small companies and dominate markets.
Apple owns no factories and has very little capital equipment. Yet they are the most valuable corporation in the history of the world.
Nearly all of that value is in the form of intellectual property.
Sounds like you're the deluded one. Removing the need for hardware by using software is novel and unique, Qualcomm didn't do it, and thus Qualcomm shouldn't have had any fucking win related to that.
You can't generally work around a patent by implementing the patented functionality in software rather than hardware, or vice versa.
It was completely fine for Apple to implement the functionality in software (or hardware, whatever), as long as they paid the appropriate royalties to the patent holder. Or, alternatively, Apple could have found a different approach to solve the problem that didn't infringe on the patent. Having failed to do both, Qualcomm will be awarded whatever remedies the court deems appropriate.
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