Apple-Samsung Patent Battle Heads for Next Round - Wall Street Journal

The patent fight between the smartphone giants returns to the spotlight, with U.S. regulators poised to rule on whether to ban some Samsung products. The WSJ's Yun-Hee Kim speaks about the implications with Ronald Yu, who teaches patent law at Hong Kong University. The long-running patent war between smartphone giants Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. will be back in the spotlight on Friday with two legal developments that could help tip the balance. The companies will argue before a federal appeals court in Washington over whether a lower court erred last year when it allowed Samsung to continue selling more than two dozen products after a jury found they infringed several Apple patents. Also on Friday, the International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial federal agency that can block imports of foreign-made goods, is expected to issue a ruling on whether Samsung infringed several different Apple patents. Samsung is based in South Korea, and Apple's iPhone's are manufactured abroad. Spokeswomen for Samsung and Apple each declined to comment. The nearly $400 billion smartphone industry has been roiled by more than three years of expensive litigation among smartphone makers in courts all over the world. Still, a decisive winner has yet to emerge. The events taking center stage on Friday could help clarify the strengths and weaknesses of the two leading sellers of smartphones. They follow the Obama administration's veto last Saturday of an ITC order banning the import and sale of some Apple iPhones and iPads. Victories for Apple on Friday could keep some current and future Samsung smartphones from the marketplace and cut into the company's commanding lead in world-wide smartphone sales. Victories for Samsung likely would allow the company to keep selling the full complement of its mobile devices. The appeals court case, in particular, could help determine whether Apple will be able to win product bans in future cases, including one case pending in San Jose, Calif., which is set to go to trial early next year. The case being heard Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized court that handles appeals of patent cases, arose from an earlier complaint that Apple filed against Samsung in federal court in San Jose in 2011, which went to trial last year. The jury in that case ruled that 26 Samsung's products violated six Apple patents and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. But the judge in the case, Lucy Koh, later denied Apple's request to ban the sale of the 26 products. Judge Koh ruled that Apple didn't satisfactorily link any harm it may have suffered in the market to Samsung's infringement. Apple is appealing that ruling. Since then, Samsung has stopped selling many of those 26 products. But the case still has big ramifications, legal experts say, because the Federal Circuit could drastically redefine whether—or when—companies should be able to knock competitors' products off the shelves after findings of infringement. "The appeal is really about how hard will it be for Apple to get injunctions in future cases," said Brian Love, a patent expert and law professor at Santa Clara University. "If the law tilts in its favor, their bargaining power goes up in future cases," he said. Mr. Love said Apple would gain leverage in a second suit brought in San Jose federal court, involving a set of newer Samsung phones. Apple filed claims against Samsung at the ITC in 2011, claiming that the company's products infringed several patents. An ITC judge agreed with Apple with regard to four patents, one of which relates to the basic design of the iPhone as a handheld rectangle with rounded corners. On Friday, the full commission is slated to unveil its review of the case. A broad finding of infringement could halt U.S. imports of some Samsung devices and, as Samsung's lawyers wrote in a June filing, "create an immediate and long-lasting shortfall in the availability of mobile devices in the U.S. market." Write to Ashby Jones at ashby.jones@wsj.com A version of this article appeared August 9, 2013, on page B3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Samsung's War With Apple Back In Spotlight. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFxhTF5kvlQRMDvZM65WCu5gr3W8g&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323838204579001070722801840.html

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