Samsung wins reconsideration of Galaxy Tab sales ban

 SAN FRANCISCO: A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that a lower court should reconsider a sales ban against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 won by Apple in a patent dispute with the South Korean electronics maker.

The injunction was put in place ahead of a month-long trial that pitted iPhone maker Apple Inc against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in a closely watched legal battle that ended with a resounding victory for Apple last month on many of its patent violation claims.

However, the jury found that Samsung had not violated the patent that was the basis for the tablet injunction and Samsung argued the sales ban should be lifted. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said she could not act because Samsung had already appealed.

In its ruling on Friday, the Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said Koh could now consider the issue.

The decision comes just a month before the South Korean corporation is expected to unveil the second generation of one of its most successful devices, the stylus-equipped Note.

The Galaxy 10.1 is an older model, but the ban still hurts Samsung in the run-up to the pivotal holiday shopping season.

The world’s top two smartphone makers are locked in patent disputes in 10 countries as they vie to dominate the lucrative market, which is growing rapidly.

A U.S. jury found during the just-concluded trial that Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. - Reuters

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Samsung launches new oversized smartphone

 SEOUL: Samsung launched the newest version of its oversized smartphone Galaxy Note on Wednesday, just a week after Apple’s iPhone 5 hit shelves, in an apparent bid to outpace its rival with a wider range of gadgets.

The South Korean electronics giant said the Galaxy Note II, first unveiled at a trade fair in Berlin last month, will eventually hit stores in 128 nations including the United States, where the firm’s recently lost a $1.05 billion patent case to Apple.
The gadget is slightly bigger than the firm’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S series and comes with a stylus “S pen” to write notes or draw on the screen.
“We believe global sales of Galaxy Note II for the first three months will be more than three times those of the previous version,” J.K. Shin, the head of Samsung Electronics’ mobile unit, told reporters.
The world’s top smartphone maker has sold more than 10 million units of the first Galaxy Note since its debut in November and more than 20 million of the latest Galaxy S III, which was launched in late May.
“It took us some time to establish this new product category in the global market… but now we get far better response than the past,” Shin said.
The launch comes after a flurry of new devices from major phone makers including Apple, whose iPhone 5 just days ago enjoyed a record launch weekend with sales topping five million.
Samsung’s smaller rival LG Electronics last week put on sale the new version of its headline Optimus G, hopes it will help the world’s number five phonemaker meet its goal to sell 80 million mobile phones this year.
Galaxy Note II, powered by Google’s Android software – is equipped with a new 1.6 GHz quad-core processor that helps run multiple applications faster than the dual-core processor of the previous version.
About 15.1 centimetres long, 8 centimetres wide, 9.4 millimetres thin and featuring a 5.5-inch touchscreen, it allows users to split the screen in half to view two programmes at once.
“You can exchange chat messages or take part in a video conference while checking e-mails, or take notes while watching a video speech by famous speakers,” said Shin.
Samsung has been embroiled in a long-running patent battle with Apple in 10 countries, including the United States and Germany, with the two rivals accusing each other of stealing design and technology.
Last month the South Korean firm was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its Galaxy S smartphones. - AFP

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Apple did not violate Samsung patents

WASHINGTON: Apple did not violate patents owned by Samsung Electronics in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, a judge at the International Trade Commission said in a preliminary ruling on Friday.

Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to some 10 countries as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry. Apple won a landmark victory last month after a US jury found the South Korean firm had copied key features of the iPhone and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

ITC Judge James Gildea said on Friday that Apple did not violate the four patents in the case. Samsung had accused Apple of infringement in a complaint filed in mid-2011. It asked for the infringing products to be banned from sale in the United States.

The full commission is due to decide whether to uphold or overturn its internal judge's decision in January.

"We remain confident that the full Commission will ultimately reach a final determination that affirms our position that Apple must be held accountable for free-riding on our technological innovations," Samsung said in a statement.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The patents in the complaint are related to 3G wireless technology, the format of data packets for high-speed transmission, and integrating functions like web surfing with mobile phone functions.

Apple has a parallel complaint filed against Samsung at the ITC, accusing Samsung, a major Apple chip provider as well as a global rival, of blatantly copying its iPhones and iPads. The ITC judge's preliminary decision is due in mid-October.

Samsung was the top-selling mobile-phone maker in the second quarter of 2012, with Apple in third place, according to data from Gartner Inc.

Samsung's Galaxy touchscreen tablets are considered by many industry experts to be the main rival to the iPad, though they are currently a distant second to Apple's devices.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit the growth of Google's Android system. The fight has embroiled Samsung, HTC and others who use Android.

Google's Android software, which Apple's late founder Steve Jobs denounced as a "stolen product," has become the world's No. 1 smartphone operating system.

The ITC judge's decision comes just weeks after the most closely watched patent trial in years. A jury in a California federal court ordered Samsung to pay $1.05 billion in damages after finding that Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad and could face an outright sales ban on key products.

Samsung has said it will contest that verdict and work with carriers to modify its products to keep them on the US market.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794. - Reuters

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Samsung unveils Windows phone, new Galaxy Note

BERLIN/SEOUL: Samsung Electronics became the first handset maker to announce a smartphone using Microsoft's latest mobile software, making its surprise, hurried announcement just days before the highly anticipated launch of Nokia's version.

The brief announcement on Wednesday at a Berlin electronics show comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a U.S. jury decided many of Samsung's Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.

"It looks like a good phone, and seems like a pre-emptive announcement ahead of Nokia," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at investment firm McAdams Wright Ragen, of the Samsung phone.

"Microsoft or Windows never got their best teams, never got their best designs, just because Android was doing so well. With the change in the legal environment, there's a case to be made that Samsung will likely shift some of those resources to broaden out or diversify their own exposure."

Nokia, the ailing Finnish mobile firm, once the world's leading producer of phones but now struggling to reverse losses, is due to unveil its new Lumia line of smartphones using Windows Phone 8 in New York on September 5.

Samsung's new phone called ATIV S -- tacked onto the end of a long news conference in Berlin that focused on other products -- may elevate expectations for the Lumia. Samsung's ATIV S Windows phone sports a high-end 4.8-inch display, Corning "Gorilla" glass, and an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, Microsoft posted on its official blog on Wednesday.

"Expectations for a 40 megapixel or possibly 20 megapixel camera model are running high. If Nokia does not unveil a monster camera handset next week, many will be disappointed," said Tero Kuittinen, analyst at mobile analytics firm Alekstra.

But "this leaves Nokia plenty of room to draw a clear contrast with its upcoming announcement."

Samsung's Windows-based smartphone, introduced on Wednesday, marks the first in a "big lineup of new hardware" from the South Korean company based on Microsoft's software, Microsoft executive Ben Rudolph said in a blog posting.

Analysts say the introduction of Samsung's Windows phone may be designed to assuage concerns that Microsoft will favor Nokia, whose Chief Executive Stephen Elop -- himself a former senior Microsoft executive -- has staked its future on the Windows platform.

"The fact Samsung was allowed to be the first to announce is Microsoft's backhanded way of letting other vendors know that Nokia is not getting special treatment," Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said.

But Jack Gold, an independent mobile consultant who runs J. Gold Associates, argued Samsung had signalled its commitment to Windows for a while, but Nokia will remain the primary driver of the new breed of Microsoft-powered devices.

"Samsung has crossed the start line first and set the bar for Nokia's launch," said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight.

STEALING A MARCH

Microsoft gave a preview of its Windows Phone 8 software in June, and promised the first phones would be on the market by the autumn.

Windows Phone 8 looks similar to, and is built on the same core code as Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system, but is not the same product. Windows 8, which will run on tablets and PCs, is scheduled to launch on October 26.

Samsung said the ATIV phone would hit stores in the October-November period but did not give an exact start date.

On Wednesday, the Korean corporation also showed off a slew of tablets using Windows 8 software and the second generation of its popular Google Android-based Galaxy Note phone-cum-tablet "phablet" in downtown Berlin.

Samsung has sold some 10 million of its original Galaxy Note devices, creating a new product category which has smaller screen than tablets, but bigger than smartphones.

"I am pretty confident it will even outsell its predecessor," said JK Shin, Samsung's chief of mobile business.

Samsung hopes the new device will take the focus away from its loss of the court case. Apple is now seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung phones, moving swiftly to turn legal victory into tangible business gain.

Samsung hopes the phablet upgrade will lift any post-Apple gloom. The new version of the Note features a thinner and slightly bigger 5.5-inch screen, quad-core processor, the latest version of the Android operating system called Jellybean, and improved stylus function.

"There won't be huge innovative changes in design, but the Note 2 will feature quite a few improvements and enable Samsung to carry on its strong sales momentum in the category," said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities. "With the launch, Samsung will also be trying to turn around downbeat sentiment after the U.S. legal defeat."

Apple did not include the Note and other newly unveiled Samsung products in its original lawsuit. But the company and its lawyers are expected by many legal experts to try and use last week's legal victory to go after future gadgets, especially because the jury found infringing features in Samsung phones such as pinch-and-zoom and bounce-back -- common in Android.

Shares of Microsoft finished up 2 cents at $30.65 on Wednesday. -- AGENCIES

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