Apple and Samsung have both scaled back their patent infringement claims against each at the request of Judge Lucy Koh ahead of their scheduled July 30 trial date.
Apple withdrew its multipoint touchscreen patent claim against Samsung, along with a trade dress claim against Samsung’s original 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet. The company also clarified that Samsung’s F700 smartphone isn’t on the list of devices in its trade dress claims, according to Florian Muller of Foss Patents.
Apple & Samsung work to focus their cases ahead of patent infringement trial
Samsung dropped six claims against Apple, bringing its total number from 15 down to 9. “After just losing an entire patent on summary judgment, Samsung didn’t want to drop another patent, but it has reduced the number of claims (from its six remaining patents-in-suit) from 15 to 9. Samsung will assert two claims each from three of its patents, and one claim from each of its other three patents,” Mr. Muller said.
Apple and Samsung have accused each other of using patented technologies without proper licensing. The two companies have taken their patent battle to courts in several countries, and Apple has called the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet a blatant copy of the iPad.
Apple recently won two preliminary injunctions against Samsung products as part of its patent infringement legal fight. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was the first Samsung device to get hit with an injunction, and the second was the Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Apple has already posted the required US$2.6 million bond to get the Galaxy Tab tablet blocked from being sold in the United States, but hasn’t posted the $95 million bond needed to block the Galaxy Nexus from being sold in the country.
Judge Koh hasn’t said yet if she’s satisfied with the scaling back both companies have done. Considering her desire to keep the end of month trial focused, she’ll look close at the concessions both sides have made and if she isn’t happy she’ll let both companies know they have to cut back even more.