ITC SIDES WITH APPLE, BANS US IMPORT OF SOME HTC DEVICES

A judge with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled Monday that HTC is guilty of infringing Apple’s patents in several devices. The ITC also ordered a ban on the import of several of HTC’s smartphones although it is unclear which models are affected. The ban will take effect on April 19th. “Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has found a violation of section 337 in this investigation and has issued a limited exclusion order prohibiting importation of infringing personal data and mobile communications devices and related software,” the ITC said in its determination. “The Commission has determined that exclusion of articles subject to this order shall commence on April 19, 2012.”

The injunction applies to two patents related to “data tapping,” and “if Google can implement this popular feature, which users of modern-day smartphones really expect, without infringing on the two patent claims found infringed, this import ban won’t have any effect whatsoever,” patent expert Florian Muller of FOSS Patents said in a post.

Apple accused HTC of infringing on 10 total patents and the ITC ruled in July that HTC was in violation of two of those patents. HTC later filed for an appeal of the case, in which Apple sought to ban the Taiwan-based vendor from selling its devices in the United States. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs said in March, 2010, when the complaint was initially filed.

HTC released a statement after the ruling saying it will appeal the decision. Additionally HTC stated they have a solution ready to address the violations noted in the judgement.

APPLE FILES PATENT FOR KINECT LIKE MOTION CONTROL DEVICE

With the success of Microsoft’s Kinect device on both Windows PCs and the 360, you knew it was only a matter of time before the folks at Cupertino would try to cash in on motion control. Pictured above is an image taken from a patent application submitted by Apple that outlines a “three-dimensional imaging and display system.”

The concept illustrated here is pretty simple, the square device laying in front of the user on the table is the motion sensor that detects gestures and movements for user interactions. Using an infrared laser, the unit makes an imaginary “box” represented by the dotted lines that a user puts their hands inside to manipulate their desktop.

MICROSOFT LAWYER DEFENDS ANDROID LICENSING ARRANGEMENTS

Speaking with The San Francisco Chronicle recently, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property group, Horacio Gutiérrez, discussed his company’s decisions to chase down other firms for Android-licensing agreements and the current state of patent wars. Gutiérrez doesn’t think Microsoft should be viewed as a “patent troll” for its recent agreements with Samsung, HTC, ViewSonic and Acer (among others) and its ongoing lawsuit with Foxconn and Barnes & Noble over the Nook. He also does not think the current patent system is broken. “Every time there are these technologies that are really disruptive, there are patent cases,” Guitiérrez explained. “Licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about. Licensing is, in fact, the solution to the patent problem that people are reactive so negatively about.”

Guitiérrez says that Microsoft invented a number of functions used in Android, including the “ability to synchronize the content that you have in your phone with the information in the server of your company or in your computer at home,” and the “efficiency of operating systems” as a whole. “I think the most important part here is that a lot of the innovation that is happening today is really happening in the software space,” Gutiérrez noted. “So the question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection.”

AMAZON FILES PATENT ON RESTRICTED GIFT CARDS

We all have that one friend or family member that's nigh impossible to shop for, whether it's because they have everything or like nothing. Gift cards are the quick and dirty solution to this gifting conundrum, but what if you don't trust that special someone to make a purchase you'd be proud to call your present? Never fear, Amazon is here... with a new patent that lets you, the gift-giver, control which of the retailer's wares can be bought with its gift cards. Of course, those who aren't such control freaks can simply have the card make purchase recommendations instead. Plus, this gift card of tomorrow can also let you know what was bought with the card to give you some insight for future gifting occasions

U.S. JUDGE SAYS SAMSUNG INFRINGES ON APPLE, BUT.....

Reuters is reporting A U.S. judge said Samsung's Galaxy tablets infringe Apple's iPad patents, but also that Apple might have a problem establishing the validity of its patents. The comments from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh came on Thursday in a court hearing on Apple's request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the United States.

Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets. Apple must show that Samsung infringed its patents and that its patents are valid under the law. At the hearing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court, Koh also said she would deny Apple's request for an injunction based on one of Apple's so-called "utility" patents.

She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple "design" patents.

INVENTOR GETS PATENT FOR SNOWMAN/WOMAN

With all the patent lawsuit wars happening these days between pretty much every big-name tech company, including Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, HTC, (and the list goes on), you’d think the last thing we’d want to hear about today is another patent. However, this one happened to catch our eye. And, believe it or not, we’re talking about “eyes made out of coal.” Yes, Frosty the Snowman, or more correctly, snowmen and snowwomen as a whole, have been patented.

If you look at the 8,011,991th United States Patent, you will see the “Apparatus for Facilitating the Construction of a Snow Man/Woman,” granted to inventor Ignacio Marc Asperas of Melville, NY. The patent was filed on New Year’s Eve, Jan. 31, 2006 but was just granted on Sept. 6, 2011.

As someone who’s had to try to pick through long and boring patents to understand and extract the most important information, reading Asperas’ patent was actually a delight. It’s conversational and a bit humorous. Asperas says in the patent application that he’s surprised no one has thought of patenting the snowman before.

Asperas says that “as an old pro” he knows what a “pain in the back” it is to roll a snow boulder around a yard. As you all know, the more you roll the boulder around the yard, the larger the boulder grows and rolling it becomes exponentially harder. If you want to make a “real big snowman,” like Asperas does, you “end up breaking your back.”

The 25-page patent details methods for creating the spherical shape of the body, as well as some of the trials and tribulations, including uneven boulders that can make the snowman look like it has a “big caboose.” He also warns us that as temperatures rise, the snowman will melt, compact on itself and deform, possibly falling over. “Happy smiles fade into frowns.”

Asperas even goes into detail about a revolutionary way to build a snowman that would use a type of snow sphere that would make each boulder extremely light weight, but still able to hold snow thanks to static electricity that attracts and holds dry snow onto the sphere. His method of building a snowman is quite interesting, and we suggest you read the full patent for yourself (PDF).

And don’t go thinking this is a joke, because Asperas makes it perfectly clear in the beginning of the patent that it’s not. He includes a warning saying that “the following is not a joke patent.” He assures the readers that it’s completely serious.

US SENATE PASSES PATENT REFORM BILL, PRESIDENT TO SIGN INTO LAW

Yesterday, the Senate approved the America Invents Act by an 89-8 vote that could bring about the most drastic changes to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in five decades. Under the bill, which the House approved back in June, patents would be awarded not to the first person to invent a technology, but to the first one to actually file with the USPTO, bringing US policy in line with protocol adopted in most other countries. It also calls for a streamlined application process and would allow the USPTO to charge set fees for all apps. The revenue generated from these fees would go directly to a capped reserve fund, allowing the office to retain the lion's share of the money, rather than funneling much of it to Congress, as had become the norm.

Supporters say this extra revenue will give the USPTO more power to chip away at its backlog of some 700,000 patent applications, while a new third-party challenge system will help eliminate patents that should've never received approval in the first place. Opponents, meanwhile, criticized the bill for not eliminating fee diversion altogether (an amendment that would've placed more severe restrictions was ultimately killed, for fear that it would jeopardize the bill's passage), with Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell questioning the legislation's impact on small businesses, calling it "a big corporation patent giveaway that tramples on the rights of small inventors." But Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sponsored the bill, argued that yesterday's approval marks a major and historic inflection point in US patent policy.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law very soon.

APPLE WORKING ON PICO PROJECTORS FOR iPHONE

Apple may be working on pico-projector technology that could be used with its iPhone and Mac products according to a patent filing discovered by UnwiredView. The patent, titled “Projected display shared workspaces,” shows how one might be able to use an iPhone or Mac to project content onto a larger open space, such as a wall, by attaching a small pico-projector.

In addition, users could control the projection using multitouch gestures on their iPhone screen or Mac trackpad. The patent reminds us of AT&Ts LG eXpo, which had its own projector accessory but wasn’t much of a hit with consumers.

GOOGLE HATES PATENT WARS, BUYS 1,000 NEW PATENTS FOR DEFENSE

Google’s general counsel Kent Walker apparently doesn’t see eye to eye with the rest of his company. “The tech industry has a significant problem,” Walker said earlier this week. “Software patents are kind of gumming up the works of innovation.” According to SEO by the Sea however, Google purchased 1,030 patents from IBM just two weeks before Walker made those comments. According to the report, the patents purchased cover a wide rage of IP, “from the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips, to other areas of computer architecture including servers and routers as well.” Still more patents cover specific database functions, various aspects of object-oriented programming and even some business processes. The terms of Google’s acquisition have not been disclosed.

APPLE, NOKIA SPAT ENDS; APPLE PAYING NOKIA

On Tuesday Nokia announced that it has reached an agreement with Apple that “will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies,” and that both firms will withdraw all complaints against one another from the U.S. International Trade Commission. The two firms have been fighting over patents for the past few years, filing counter suit after counter suit. The battle was thought to have had some closure when the U.S. ITC ruled that Apple did not infringe on Nokia’s patents, but then last month the government group said it would continue its investigation. Nokia said Tuesday that the agreement “consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple,” and that the Cupertino-based company will continue to pay royalties to Nokia for the remainder of the agreement. “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia’s president and CEO. “This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.”

MICROSOFT CROWDSOURCING TO FEND OFF PATENT TROLLS

We've seen the havoc that patent trolls can wreak on tech companies and Microsoft clearly wants no part of it. That's why Ballmer & Co. have joined forces with Article One Partners -- a New York-based research firm that crowdsources scientific expertise to figure out whether or not patented ideas or inventions are as innovative as they claim, based on prior art.

By subscribing to Article One's new Litigation Avoidance service, Redmond hopes "to reduce risk and reduce potential litigation cost" brought by nonpracticing entities (NPEs) -- companies that collect thousands of patents, in the hopes that one may lay a golden egg. No word on how much the service will actually cost, but we're guessing it'll be worth at least a few legal headaches.

LODSYS SUING iOS DEVS FOR IN-APP PURCHASING

A handful of iOS developers received letters this week from a patent holding firm claiming that their applications that offer in-app purchases infringe on the firm's intellectual property (IP).

The letter threatens legal action if developers don't license the patent within 21 days. Lodsys, the firm in question, has apparently patented a system that collects usage data and facilitates feedback between a customer and vendor, though it doesn't address financial transactions specifically. The allegedly infringing applications use Apple's in-app purchase tool to encourage users to upgrade to a paid version after downloading a free app.

Though it's possible that Lodsys has sent a similar warning to Apple, only individual developers confirmed receiving the document.

The developers are understandably unwilling to share too many details at this point -- even though Apple developed the framework, developers could still be liable. Lodsys appears to be in the business of launching suits referencing U.S. patent 7,222,078, having gone after Canon, HP, Samsung, and other giants earlier this year. As the developers that have come to light so far are independent, with limited budgets, some have reached out to Apple legal for assistance, and are awaiting response.

RUMOR: APPLE WORKING ON 'SMART BEZEL' WITH ILLUMINATED BUTTONS

According to a patent discovered by Patently Apple, Apple may offer a new area around the iPhone’s primary display with controller buttons that glow and morph for work and play. Developers may even be able to control the icons presented, which could be used to control applications — maybe even games – without interrupting the content being displayed on the screen. The secondary, “printed segmented electroluminescence” display, could be “selectively illuminated to provide one or more indicators that represented where or how a user can provide inputs to the device,” Apple’s patent states. It reminds us a bit of the technology used on the Motorola ROKR E8, which launched in 2007, and we’re definitely interested to see how this pans out.

GOOGLE TEAMS WITH MASTERCARD AND CITIGROUP FOR NFC PAYMENTS

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out a mobile payment system using NFC (Near Field Communications). According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently reported about.

What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace.

PERMANENT ANTI-FOG COATING PATENTED; GLASSES WEARERS REJOICE

A team of Canadian researchers have patented a new permanent anti-fog coating that they claim is the first of its kind. To make sure the stuff wouldn't wash away, the crew applied four successive layers of molecules to a transparent material (either glass or plastic) before overlaying it with polyvinyl alcohol, allowing water to spread uniformly and avoiding the steamy-windows effect. The result? A super durable, multilayer coating that won't rub off, regardless of the freakish conditions you and your face encounter. Its creators see endless applications for their invention, including windshields, visors, camera lenses, and, of course, eyewear.

COURT RULES AGAINST LG, SONY CAN CONTINUE TO SHIP PLAYSTATION 3 IN EUROPE

The Hague's civil court of justice has just ruled in Sony's favor in its dispute with LG, and ordered that the 300,000 PS3s currently seized by customs be released to Sony for distribution across the continent. LG has also reportedly been ordered to pay €130,000 in legal fees -- and if it doesn't comply, it will face a fine of €200,000 per day until it does. That doesn't mean that the tussle between the two companies is over, however, as this ruling doesn't have anything to do with the patents at the heart of the dispute.

APPLE AWARDED PATENT TO KEEP YOUR iDEVICE SCRATCH FREE

A new patent granted to Apple this week could hint at yet another issue the company has solved. The iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad all look great when you first buy them, but after months of use the cases will no doubt have a few scratches on them. It’s the kind of thing we all put down to general wear and tear, and it is pretty much unavoidable.

The patent Apple has secured is for adding a nitride layer to devices. This layer is transparent and invisible to the eye, but it manages to stop the underlying materials from getting scratched. If Apple coats the next generation of its iDevices in this nitrate layer it could mean an end to scratched cases, or at the very least they stay scratch free for longer.

This is a relatively cheap solution for protecting a device. It’s also thin enough that not only does the underlying materials color come through, but so does its texture.

EUROPEAN PLAYSTATION 3 SHIPMENTS SEIZED BY CUSTOMS

Sony and LG have been going toe to toe with allegations of patent infringement for over a year now, but Sony's now been dealt what's surely its biggest setback to date in Europe. The civil court of justice in the Hague has just granted LG a preliminary injunction that will see all new PlayStation 3s imported into Europe confiscated by customs for at least ten days. Those are apparently now already being stockpiled in Dutch warehouses while the drama plays out, and there remains a possibility that the injunction will be extended even further, which would almost certainly lead to a shortage of PS3s on store shelves -- as the Guardian notes, retailers generally have two to three weeks worth of stock on hand across the continent. Not surprisingly, Sony is said to be "frantically" trying to get the ban lifted, but it isn't making any public comments on the matter at the moment.

RUMOR: APPLE RELEASING 3D DISPLAY DEVICE

According to a new rumor Monday morning, the company’s entry make take place sooner than expected. Japanese enthusiast blog Kanteidan Blog claims Apple is ready to start building small 3D displays that may be included in the next-generation iPod touch. The displays would not need special glasses to operate, and would instead rely on glasses-free 3D technologies like motion and head tracking in order to create a 3D effect. Kanteidan Blog speculates that gaming will be a major focus for the upcoming 3D technology making its way to the iPod touch. If true, the news could spell trouble for Nintendo, which is expected to announce the U.S. launch of its Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console later this week. Apple is known to have been exploring 3D technology for quite some time, and the company owns several patents that cover 3D. No real evidence suggests that Apple is ready to implement 3D into its upcoming devices, however. [BGR]

APPLE SEES 3D AND HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS AS NEXT FRONTIER

According to The Telegraph, Apple has recently been granted a patent for a system to produce 3D effects with the need for glasses. Apple's system uses a special screen dotted with tiny pixel-sized domes that deflect images taken from slightly different angles into the right and left eye of the viewer.

By presenting images taken from slightly different angles to the right and left eye, this creates a stereoscopic image that the brain interprets as three-dimensional. It could be used in computer monitors, televisions and cinema screens.

Apple also proposes using 3D imaging technology to track the movements of multiple viewers and the positions of their eyes so that the direction the image is deflected by the screen can be subtly adjusted to ensure the picture remains sharp and in 3D.

The patent claims this technology would also create images that appear to be holographic because of the ability to track the observers movements.
It states: "An exceptional aspect of the invention is that it can produce viewing experiences that are virtually indistinguishable from viewing a true hologram.
"Such a "pseudo-holographic" image is a direct result of the ability to track and respond to observer movements.

"By tracking movements of the eye locations of the observer, the left and right 3D sub-images are adjusted in response to the tracked eye movements to produce images that mimic a real hologram.

"The invention can accordingly continuously project a 3D image to the observer that recreates the actual viewing experience that the observer would have when moving in space around and in the vicinity of various virtual objects displayed therein. This is the same experiential viewing effect that is afforded by a hologram.

"It allows the observer, for example, to move around a virtual object and top observe multiple sides from different angles."

Most of the current technology requires viewers to where some type of special glasses to see the 3D effect. Apple's patent, however, has now raised speculation that the computer giant may be aiming to branch into the 3D domain by looking to abolish the need for glasses and even go further by offering the chance for holographic films.

Holographic movies, however, would require new filming techniques currently not being used by the movie industry to ensure actors are filmed from multiple angles.

Initially the holographic displays may be used for computers and the patent suggests a solution to allow users to walk around an object without ever having to go behind a screen.
It proposes using "holographic acceleration" – where the image moves faster relative to the observers' own movement so they would only need to walk in a small arc to see all the way around the holographic object.

Leander Kahney, a consumer technology expert and author of the Cult of Mac, said: "At present, Apple seems an unlikely company to get into the 3D TV business, which is struggling, but if Apple cracks the technology it could help make 3D the dominant display technology. It certainly does away with the biggest problem – the 3D glasses. [The Telegraph]