Legal Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

US Patent Office withdraws primary objections to 'iPad mini' trademark application

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 8th, 2013)

As noted by MacRumors, The US Patent Office has withdrawn primary objections to Apple's "iPad Mini" trademark application. The primary objections were raised last month when the USPTO deemed elements related to the "iPad mini" name as descriptive instead of contributing a unique name to a ...

Anti-poaching lawsuit against Google, Apple and others denied class action status

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 8th, 2013)

In 2010, several high-profile tech companies -- including Apple, Google, Adobe, Intuit, Lucasfilm, Intel and Pixar -- settled a suit with the US Justice Department regarding anti-poaching agreements. The suit alleged that the aformentioned companies, from 2005 to 2009, agreed not to recruit ...

German Court finds Apple's 'slide to unlock' patent invalid

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 5th, 2013)

Germany's Federal Patent Court on Thursday invalidated all of Apple's claims for its slide to unlock patent. The news comes courtesy of Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents who was in the courtroom observing the proceedings in question. Samsung and Google's Motorola Mobility have just scored a ...

Hearing aid maker sues Apple over EarPods, alleges trademark infringement

by Yoni Heisler (Apr 3rd, 2013)

Late last week, Apple was hit with a trademark infringement lawsuit courtesy of Randolph Divisions, a company that manufactures digital hearing aids. The Next Web reports that the suit, which was filed in Hawaii, alleges that Apple's EarPods headphones infringe upon their own "HearPod" ...

Speck sues to combat counterfeit iPhone cases

by Steven Sande (Apr 1st, 2013)

The iPhone case business is big; so big, in fact, that a number of manufacturers are having problems with counterfeit cases being sold as their own products. We've previously heard of counterfeit Mophie battery cases, and OtterBox just recently announced that it has been battling bogus copies ...

USPTO asks Apple to amend its application to trademark 'iPad mini'

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 1st, 2013)

Earlier this year, Apple received a non-final Office action letter from the USPTO regarding its trademark application for the iPad mini mark. A non-final Office action is the first notice sent to an applicant about a problem with its trademark application. Following the notice, the applicant ...

Apple points out possible $85M court error in Samsung case

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 27th, 2013)

Legal maneuverings continue in the landmark court case between Apple and Samsung in the Northern District of California. In the latest development reported by FOSS Patents, Apple is questioning Judge Lucy Koh's decision to vacate $450 million of the original $1.05 billion award. Apple claims ...

THX sues Apple for speaker designs found in iDevices and iMacs

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 18th, 2013)

THX has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging the computer maker has infringed on its speaker designs. As Bloomberg reports, THX holds a patent that was granted in 2008 that covers narrow-profile speaker designs in consumer electronics and their ability to boost sound output. The technology is ...

Apple sued over defective MacBook Pro Retina displays

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 15th, 2013)

A lawsuit has been filed in federal court in California alleging that Apple is misleading consumers by not advertising that there are two different types of displays used in its MacBook Pros with Retina displays. The issue stems from widespread reports that MacBook Pros with Retina displays ...

US regional iPhone carriers band together to ease unlocking rules

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 14th, 2013)

Smaller wireless carriers in several US regional and rural areas are backing bills in Congress that would allow consumers to unlock mobile phones and tablets without a carriers' permission, according to Bloomberg. The support is in response to a January 26 law that made it illegal to unlock ...

Apple, IGB 'close to settlement' on Brazilian 'iPhone' trademark lawsuit

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 11th, 2013)

Apple is close to reaching a settlement for the "iPhone" trademark in Brazil, according to Forbes. The company has been locked in a lawsuit with Brazilian company IGB Electronica, which was granted the Brazilian iPhone trademark in 2007. IGB originally applied for the iPhone trademark in 2000. ...

David Einhorn drops his lawsuit against Apple

by Randy Nelson (Mar 1st, 2013)

Greenlight Capital hedge fund manager David Einhorn has decided to end what Apple CEO Tim Cook has referred to as a "silly sideshow" by dropping the lawsuit he'd brought against 1 Infinite Loop in early February. Filed in conjunction with other Apple shareholders, the lawsuit sought to force ...

Apple files statement with US Supreme Court backing gay marriage

by Michael Grothaus (Feb 27th, 2013)

Apple is among 60 companies filing a brief with the US Supreme Court in support of gay marriage nationwide. The iPhone maker will argue that gay marriage bans in 41 states are a detriment to workplace morale, harm employees and undermine recruiting, according to Bloomberg. The brief comes at a ...

Judge believes Greenlight Capital has a strong case against Apple

by Randy Nelson (Feb 20th, 2013)

Earlier this month, David Einhorn of hedge fund Greenlight Capital and Apple shareholders brought a lawsuit against Apple seeking to force the company to share more of its massive cash reserves with shareholders, and claiming that it had violated SEC rules in a proposed amendent to its corporate ...

Apple loses iPhone trademark in Brazil

by Mike Schramm (Feb 13th, 2013)

The BBC is saying that Apple has lost the trademark for "iPhone" in Brazil, to a company that makes an Android-powered phone, of all things. Gradiente Eletronica registered the name "iPhone" in that country back in 2000, years before Apple tried to do the same thing, and so the ruling ...