Patent Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple fails to get Galaxy Nexus sales ban reinstated

by Mike Wehner (Jan 31st, 2013)

After the US Court of Appeals reversed a proposed sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus this past October, Apple requested that the ban be reconsidered. The request was a long shot and it didn't swing in Cupertino's favor, as Reuters reports that the ban has been shot down by the court yet ...

Trade commission decides not to ban Samsung devices in the U.S. before further review

by Mike Wehner (Jan 24th, 2013)

Late last year, International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender recommended that the commission ban the sale of certain Samsung smartphones found to have infringed on Apple patents. But now, Reuters reports that rather than move forward with a full ITC review of the ruling which could result in ...

US judge won't help Samsung in Japanese suit against Apple

by Randy Nelson (Jan 24th, 2013)

Samsung's latest legal maneuver in its ongoing patent war with Apple has been shot down by a US court. The company was attempting to get Judge Paul S. Grewal to issue a subpoena demanding that Apple turn over evidence so it could use it in a case getting underway in Japan. The evidence included ...

Apple patent shows a way for iPhone to auto-adjust brightness based on on-screen content

by Steven Sande (Jan 23rd, 2013)

For smartphone designers, extending battery life on the devices is a complex dance of sharing a limited amount of milliampere-hours between the cellular radio, the device's display and the processors that are converting digital bits into viewable content. Apple has been awarded a patent for a ...

Apple wins iOS 'loupe' magnification patent

by Michael Grothaus (Jan 23rd, 2013)

Apple has been awarded a patent for the loupe magnification tool in iOS. The tool is familiar to almost everyone who has ever used an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. It's the magnifying glass that pops up while you are positioning the cursor in a text field. The loupe tool also pops up when you are ...

Apple awarded glass-on-metal trackpad design patent

by Steven Sande (Jan 15th, 2013)

The next time you sit down at an aluminum unibody MacBook and glide your finger atop the trackpad, you can take pride in knowing that the design of that trackpad has been issued a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Design patent D674382 was published today under the rather mundane ...

Apple awarded more than a thousand patents in 2012

by Randy Nelson (Jan 11th, 2013)

We've written an awful lot regarding patents in the past 12 months. As it turns out, during that time Apple has been awarded a quite a few new ones for us to spend the next several decades talking about. In fact, The New York Times reports that 1 Infinite Loop was awarded 1,136 new patents in ...

Apple looking into "Location-Based Emergency Information" app for travelers

by Michael Grothaus (Jan 10th, 2013)

I'm an American, but I live in the United Kingdom and travel frequently to foreign countries in Europe. If there's one piece of technology that has most benefited the international traveler in the last five years it's been the iPhone. Having a personal computer in your pocket that lets you ...

Google will license 'essential' Motorola patents, ending FTC probe

by Randy Nelson (Jan 3rd, 2013)

Google has reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission to bring the body's 19-month antitrust investigation into the search giant to a close, according to Apple Insider. Part of the settlement hinged on Google's agreement to license certain standard-essential patents (SEPs) it acquired ...

Apple patent reveals its retail management tools

by Mike Wehner (Jan 3rd, 2013)

We're used to seeing patents for things like device form factors and new functionality, but a recent Apple filing offers a look at your typical Apple Store like you've never seen it before: a calculated retail battleground where every product has a place, and no layout decision is without ...

Attempts to ban Apple devices could see Samsung fined $15 billion

by Randy Nelson (Dec 28th, 2012)

The European Commission has made it clear that it's none too happy with Samsung over the company's attempts to get Apple devices including the iPhone and iPad banned there. The Guardian reports that the commission is claiming Samsung tried to use so-called standard-essential patents to request ...

Apple drops Galaxy S III mini from patent case

by Randy Nelson (Dec 28th, 2012)

More news today from the ongoing legal tussle between Apple and Samsung. Reuters reports that 1 Infinite Loop's lawyers have withdrawn the Galaxy S III mini handset from the company's ongoing patent infringement case against Samsung. The device was added to the lawsuit just last month. The ...

Daily Update for December 26, 2012

by Steven Sande (Dec 26th, 2012)

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player ...

Apple wins patent rights to new curved glass process

by Mike Schramm (Dec 26th, 2012)

Apple has been granted patent rights for a new process using high temperatures to shape and mold a curved glass casing, similar to the one currently on newer Samsung devcies, as opposed to the very flat screen found on the iPhone 5. This exact patent doesn't have a huge influence on Apple's ...

USPTO rejects Apple touch input patent used in Samsung case

by Randy Nelson (Dec 20th, 2012)

The US Patent and Trademark Office has handed Apple a tentative rejection of a touch recognition patent that was part of the company's $1.05 billion court victory against Samsung in August. According to FOSS Patents, all 20 claims of US Patent No. 7,844,915 have been invalidated, but it was ...