Koh explained in part:

Moreover, Apple has failed to cite any evidence of actual knowledge of infringement on Samsung’s part. Instead, Apple relies on evidence that Samsung purposely imitated Apple’s designs. Evidence of copying, however, is not evidence of infringement or knowledge thereof.

Given that, as explained above, it would have been reasonable for Samsung to believe that the D’087 Patent was limited in scope, Apple’sevidence that Samsung engaged in some copying of Apple’s designs does not establish that Samsung knew or should have known it was infringing. Rather, Samsung may have believed that any elements of Apple’s designs that it was copying were not protected by the limited scope of theD’087 Patent. Apple’s evidence thus does little to establish that Samsung knew or should have known it was infringing. Accordingly, the Court finds that the jury’s determination that Samsung’sinfringement was not willful as a subjective matter is supported by substantial evidence in the record.

It wasn’t all bad news for Apple, though. Koh did uphold the original damages award while also denying Samsung’s request for a new trial, noting that “the trial was fairly conducted, with uniform time limits and rules of evidence applied on both sides.”

In Silicon Valley, where engineering talent is king, keeping talented employees from jumping ship to rival firms is a top priority. The lawsuit, however, claims that in implementing these agreements, employees are often held hostage to the extent that their job opportunities may be limited as a result.

Despite efforts to have the case dismissed, US District Judge Lucy Koh ruled this past February that the case would continue pending an amended complaint from the plaintiffs. That complaint has since been amended and Koh has ruled that the case can proceed.

With trial set for June 2013, documents from the case are starting to leak out and we’re starting to see some really interesting to stuff.

Say, for instance, an email from Steve Jobs to former Palm CEO Ed Colligan where Jobs threatened Palm with legal action if they were to continue hiring Apple employees. Jobs of course wanted Palm to stop hiring Apple employees completely.

Colligan wrote an email to Jobs which read:

Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal.[...]Palm doesn’t target other companies-we look for the best people we can find. l’d hope the same could be said about Apple1s practices. However, during the last year or so, as Apple geared up to compete with Palm in the phone space, Apple hired at least 2% of Palm’s workforce. To put it in perspective, had Palm done the same, we’d have hired 300 folks from Apple. Instead, to my knowledge, we’ve hired just three.

Jobs fired back and said that Palm was actively recruiting Apple employees based on information from former Apple employees Jon Rubenstein and Fred Anderson.

Jobs also wrote:

[...] I’m sure you realize the asymmetry in the financial resources of our respective companies when you say: “We will both just end up paying a lot of lawyers a lot of money.”

Just for the record, when Siemens sold their handset business to BenQ they didn’t sell them their essential patents but rather just gave them a license. The patents they did sell to BenQ are not that great. We looked at them ourselves when they were for sale. I guess you guys felt differently and bought them. We are not concerned about them at all. My advice is to take a look at our patent portfolio before you make a final decision here.

In a declaration, Colligan noted that he nor Palm weren’t intimidated by Jobs’ veiled threats.

In any event, Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently ordered to sit for a 4-hour deposition as it relates to the ongoing suit.

via Reuters

Bloomberg is now reporting that the two sides have been ordered by the court to engage in settlement talks in the hopes that they’ll be able to come to an amicable agreement without having to go through the entire legal process.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco directed the companies to confer on March 21 and to bring their lead attorneys and people who have full authority to negotiate and settle the case, according to a court filing today. A trial is scheduled for August.

Interestingly enough, Amazon in its filings has noted that Apple executives (from Tim Cook to Steve Jobs) have in the past made reference to competing “app stores”, thereby signifying that the term is generic and not subject to trademark protection.

Samsung, he south Korean electronics giant, could face fines running to billions of pounds from the European commission over its attempts to use its “standard-essential” patents on 3G to ban sales of Apple’s iPhone and iPad in Europe.

The Google-owned smartphone company Motorola Mobility may face similar penalties over its attempts to ban sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 through its use of SEPs relating to Wi-Fi and the H.264 video standard.

Both companies could yet receive fines in the US as well, where the federal trade commission weighed in earlier in December in a court case between Motorola and Apple, arguing that Motorola’s use of SEPs amounted to a “hold-up”. Samsung is also being investigated by the US justice department over its use of SEPs in cases against Apple.

The European commission’s competition arm, run by Joaquin Almunia, issued a formal statement of objections last Friday.

Check out the full story over here at The Guardian.

Samsung had hoped allegations of juror misconduct would win it a do-over in the Apple v. Samsung case, but tonight Judge Lucy Koh put those aspirations to rest by denying its request. Samsung had accused jury foreman Velvin Hogan of intentionally hiding information about a lawsuit he was involved in with Seagate. Samsung recently became a primary shareholder of the company, providing Hogan a reason to be biased. As such, the company had asked for an evidentiary hearing — in which all of the jury members would be brought back to the courtroom to be questioned about what impact Hogan had on deliberations — as well as a new trial.

In tonight’s court filing, Judge Koh wrote that the discovery problem was the fault of Samsung’s legal team. Hogan admitted he worked for Seagate during the jury selection process, she wrote, providing Samsung with ample opportunity to discover the litigation if the company’s team had “acted with reasonable diligence.”

The truth never lies. Without Samsung-owned wireless patents, it’s impossible for the Cupertino-based Apple to produce its handsets,’’ said Samsung’s mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun in a brief meeting with local reporters on his way to the company’s main office in downtown Seoul, Wednesday.

“As you know, Samsung is very strong in terms of portfolios of wireless patents,’’ the executive added.

Apple’s attorneys had previously agreed to share a version of the agreement that redacted the financial terms of the settlement; in a hearing today Samsung argued that the fees HTC is paying Apple indicate how much consumer demand there is for those features covered by the patents. While Judge Grewal did write that he was “more than a little skeptical” of Samsung’s argument, he nevertheless ordered Apple to turn over the document. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear the details of the agreement will surface anytime soon, as it is being handed over subject to an “Attorneys-Eyes-Only” designation — basically, nobody but Samsung’s legal team will get a look.

via The Verge

With HTC expected to ship between 30 million and 35 million smartphones in 2013, that would result in annual revenue of between $180 million and $280 million for Apple.

“This is apparently lower than the range AAPL initially proposed,” Wu wrote in a note to investors on Monday. “But to put this in context, this compares to press reports indicated HTC pays (Microsoft) $5 per phone running Android.”

It’s nice for Apple to get HTC on board, but the big kahuna remains Samsung. Not only do their products more closely resemble the iPhone but they also comprise the best-selling Android smartphones on the market. And despite Apple’s victory over Samsung in California this past Summer – to the tune of $1.05 billion – that legal battle shows no signs of dying down anytime soon.

via AppleInsider

The press release reads:

HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”