February: The battle rages on
The German appeals court upheld the injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, which found it had infringed on Apple’s intellectual property.
However, Samsung was able to breathe a sigh of relief after the German court confirmed its earlier preliminary finding that the Galaxy Tab 10.1N was different enough from Apple’s products that it did not infringe on its intellectual property rights.
Undeterred and showing it wanted to hurt Samsung where it hurt most in financial sales, Apple again filed another patent lawsuit in the US against Samsung seeking a preliminary injunction to ban sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone until court cases had been decided.
In Australia, Apple finally said it was willing to compromise on a hearing proposal in the Federal Court, saying it would be willing to start the hearing in July, with the rest of the case to be heard in September.
However, with Samsung originally wanting to begin the case in April and end no later than August, Apple appeared to be playing hardball.
March: Samsung lodges litigation on home soil
Neither party could claim victory when a German court dismissed both their cases against one another on patent claims. Samsung indicated it was going to appeal the decision, while Apple still had a chance at winning with another case in the Mannheim court involving the slide-to-lock function.
A total of 10 other intellectual property lawsuits were still being considered by the Mannheim court, with four being dismissed.
Over in its home country, Korea, Samsung slapped Apple with an expanded patent litigation, which saw the Korean electronics company add three more patents to the case against the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
Later in the month, Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung around Apple’s slide-to-unlock feature was suspended in Germany due to questions regarding intellectual property protection. The case was put on hold until the German Patent and Trade Mark Office made a decision around the utility model which protected the Apple feature.
April: Evidence mounts on both sides
Back in Australia, Apple was allowed leave to file further evidence against Samsung in relation to the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S. Apple was chasing the source code for the baseband chips used in the smartphone which was previously viewed by both Apple and Samsung attorneys for the US case.
With neither side being willing to concede anything to the other, the two companies were eventually forced to attend a settlement conference in the US after Judge Lucy Koh ordered the companies to attend.
Meanwhile, the Düsseldorf court in Germany set a 5 June court date to hear an appeal from Apple, which was seeking an injunction preventing Samsung from selling its modified tablet to beat an earlier injunction.
The case related to Apple’s win, with the court finding Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 was too close in design to Apple’s registered design. While Samsung appealed that initial decision, the Higher Regional court in Düsseldorf upheld the ban.
May: Judge says don’t punish the jury
Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court of California ordered both Samsung and Apple to pare down their cases to save inflicting a “cruel and unusual punishment to a jury”.It was the second time the judge had instructed the companies to scale back their claims, with both sides claiming the other was stopping them from carrying out the judge’s orders. The case was eventually whittled down to 16 patents, six trademarks, five ‘trade dress’ claims and 37 product violations.
Six days later, Apple said it would cut its claims down to four utility patents and some design-related claims in order for the case to stick to is 30 July trial date. The patent claims related to Apple’s multi-touch functions, while the design claims related to the iPhone’s body style and icon layout.
The bevy of claims Apple stated it was willing to drop included three utility patents, two design patents, all infringement claims based on the iPhone ‘trade dress’ and six trademark claims, with a condition – it be allowed to pursue those claims in a bench trial decided by a judge with no jury.
Samsung, meanwhile, dropped two patent claims from the lawsuit, leaving 15 claims on seven patents it was still pursuing.
In Germany, a lawsuit was suspended pending validity cases in the German Federal Patent Court to see if Apple’s case against Samsung was even valid. The court case related to list scrolling and document translation, scaling and rotation on a touchscreen display.
Over in the US, Apple filed a motion in the US District Court to ban the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. With the companies scheduled to go to court 21 and 11 May, the injunction was not expected to be granted over the following days.
The number of lawsuits now totalled around 50 cases spread across several countries.
June: Samsung strikes back
Apple’s bid to ban the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US was delayed after the Federal Court in California said it couldn’t immediately rule on the request due to the issuance of a mandate from the Federal Circuit still being undecided.
Not content with the number of court cases currently taking place around the world, Apple sought a preliminary injunction in the US against Samsung’s Galaxy S III prior to its launch in the country, alleging it violated at least two of Apple’s patents. The patents related to the universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system and the method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data.
Judge Lucy Koh stepped in again to ease the pain on jurors in the case, placing orders on both sides which limited the number of exhibits they could submit to 125 per side. Each side would also be restricted to 25 hours of arguments.
Meanwhile, in a massive win for Samsung, a Dutch court found Apple had infringed on a Samsung patent and ordered the company to pay an unspecified amount in damages.
"The court orders that the defendant pay Samsung for the damages it suffered since August 4, 2010 as the result of an infringement on (patent) EP 269," The Hague district court said in its ruling.
However, while Samsung had argued Apple had violated four infringements related to the iPhone and iPad, the Dutch court found only one patent infringement had been violated by Apple.
Regardless, Samsung was keen to pick up any win as a victory.
"Today's ruling confirms that Apple was freeriding on our technological innovation," said Vivian Peters, Samsung's spokeswoman.
Late June
In the US, Apple received a set-back when American judge Richard Posner dismissed lawsuits Apple and Motorola had lodged against each other for copyright infringement in October 2010, stating it was "wild conjecture" that Apple had suffered loss of market share and neither party had produced enough evidence to create a "triable issue".
Apple alleged Motorola had violated patents regarding touchscreen technology, while Motorola accused Apple of violating 18 of its patents with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
However, later in the month Apple notched up a significant win against Samsung when Judge Lucy Koh approved Apple's request to stop Samsung selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US. Judge Koh had previously denied Apple's request for an injunction on the tablet and some Galaxy smartphones but was ordered to reconsider the injunction request on the tablet by a federal appeals court.
As part of the injunction approval, Apple was required to post a US$2.6 million bond to protect against damages to Samsung in case the injunction was later overturned.
However, lawyers for Samsung later petitioned to suspend the preliminary injunction that has blocked its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.
July: Apple scores
In the US, Judge Lucy Koh gave Apple another win, banning Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone from sale.
As part of the ban, Judge Koh ordered Apple to post a US$95 million bond in case the injunction was overturned.
Late July
Meanwhile, in Australia, the court case finally kicked off, with Samsung getting the first blow in by accusing Apple of refusing to enter into negotiations to license essential 3G patents included in the iPhone and iPad during the first day of their patent trial.
Samsung also asked Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett to separate the company's cross-claim hearings from Apple's tablet allegation.
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