Judge: Samsung's case against Apple over 3G is "ridiculous"
Apparently, it is not only us, consumers and media, who are completely tired of the never-ending legal drama. Australian Court Judge Annabelle Bennett has recently declared the latest Samsung vs. Apple case "ridiculous", reports Bloomberg.
Here is a little back story: after Apple launched its full-scale legal assault against Samsung, accusing it of directly copying its hardware and software products, Samsung decided to counter-sue Apple, claiming that Cupertino is infringing on a number of patents of its own. One of the latest cases between both companies is over a set of 3G patents, which, however, Apple says are FRAND patents. FRAND stands for "Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory". These are fundamental patents that should be licensed to other companies. If a FRAND patent owner doesn't wish to license those patents, it can be accused of intentionally trying to hamper competition. Obviously, that's what Apple believes Samsung is doing with its 3G patents, with CEO Tim Cook recently saying that the ability of a device to connect to a 3G network isn't a patent that a company should be able to get an injunction on (than again, so is the rectangular tablet patent).
Back to the story at hand, here's what Judge Annabelle Bennett had to say about that Samsung vs. Apple case over 3G patents: "Why on earth are these proceedings going ahead?"... "It’s just ridiculous.”... “Why shouldn’t I order the parties to mediation?"
According to the source, Apple's lawyers have claimed to have approached Samsung with a proposal for a licensing fee, but Samsung had declined that offer. If this turns out to be true, we can imagine the case would be going down pretty soon.
Here is a little back story: after Apple launched its full-scale legal assault against Samsung, accusing it of directly copying its hardware and software products, Samsung decided to counter-sue Apple, claiming that Cupertino is infringing on a number of patents of its own. One of the latest cases between both companies is over a set of 3G patents, which, however, Apple says are FRAND patents. FRAND stands for "Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory". These are fundamental patents that should be licensed to other companies. If a FRAND patent owner doesn't wish to license those patents, it can be accused of intentionally trying to hamper competition. Obviously, that's what Apple believes Samsung is doing with its 3G patents, with CEO Tim Cook recently saying that the ability of a device to connect to a 3G network isn't a patent that a company should be able to get an injunction on (than again, so is the rectangular tablet patent).
According to the source, Apple's lawyers have claimed to have approached Samsung with a proposal for a licensing fee, but Samsung had declined that offer. If this turns out to be true, we can imagine the case would be going down pretty soon.
source: Bloomberg
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