U.S. Trademark Office Invalidates Apple Patents
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated a patent held by Apple, raising hopes at Korean rival Samsung that an ongoing lawsuit between the two rivals in the U.S. could yet turn out more favorably for the Korean giant.
The USPTO provisionally invalidated Apple’s patent for a “touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics,” the FOSS Patents blog reported last Saturday.
Apple has two months to appeal.
The touch screen patent, also referred to as the “Steve Jobs patent,” is a feature that precisely reflects users’ hand movements. Previously the U.S. International Trade Commission held Samsung liable for infringing it.
In October, the USPTO also provisionally invalidated an Apple patent that causes an image on a screen to bounce or snap back when users scroll to the end of a list of data.
That was one of six Apple technologies that a jury at the Northern District Court of California found Samsung guilty of infringing, for which it awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.
Experts say the USPTO’s invalidations of Apple patents give Samsung the opportunity to strike back in its battle with Apple in the U.S.
Samsung and Apple face off on two broad fronts in the U.S. — the ITC and the court.
Samsung now has a more solid basis for an appeal even if the ITC or the Californian court find against it and impose punitive measures like an import ban of products or huge damages.
SML magazine 