Sometimes, it seems like history just repeats itself in the courtroom. Though we've passed the threshold of the new year, we're facing another awful legal battle between Samsung and Apple regarding patent infringement. This is going to be fun--again!
Grab some apple strudel and cue the "dun dun!"
Apple is back in German court this week squaring off against archnemesis Samsung with two new lawsuits. According to Bloomberg, the lawsuits filed in the Düsseldorf Regional Court claim that 15 Samsung devices -- 10 smartphones and five tablets -- infringe on Apple product designs. Claims against product design are trickier to settle than technical patents, which can be clearly licensed between two companies. In this case, Apple is asking the court to step in and clarify exactly what design aspects Cupertino can lay claim to, and how far those claims can go.
We meet again, at last.
Unlike previous lawsuits, Apple isn't going after Samsung for the copycat products it currently has on the market. According to FOSS Patents, several of the Samsung products mentioned in the lawsuit have been on the market too long to claim an urgent injunction anyway, and so Apple is just trying to simply establish the ground rules rather than disrupting the sales of Samsung products.
Is this the end of the product blocking, injunction-slinging lawsuits by Apple? Perhaps a shift to seeking guidance from the court instead of gridlock? Time will tell.
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, subscribe to him on Facebook.
