Samsung Electronics is preparing for another patent legal battle against Apple Inc. as it confirmed Thursday that the firm added the iPad mini to the list of patent-infringing products at a San Jose court.
“Some of Apple’s wireless gadgets, including the iPad mini, have infringed on two standards-essential patents and six other patents belonging to the company,” said a Samsung official.
The official, however, said it was still unclear which of the eight patents the iPad mini violated.
The iPad mini will be a part of a second litigation staged at the court in San Jose, following a previous court session which will hold a hearing on Dec. 6.
The second court case will begin its hearings on Feb. 14.
It is scheduled to take place as Samsung filed the lawsuit against Apple last April, claiming that the Cupertino-based firm had infringed on eight of its patents. Apple products and services like the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iPod Touch, Apple TV, iTunes and iCloud are included in Samsung’s list.
The filing of the suit came shortly after Apple made similar moves against the Korean IT behemoth and filed the first lawsuit at the San Jose court earlier in February.
So far, Apple has won a $1 billion jury verdict.
In another related event, a federal judge in San Jose ruled on Thursday that Apple must disclose licensing terms of its settlement with HTC Corp. to its rival Samsung.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal said in an order that financial terms of licensing agreements for other third parties have been disclosed in the patent-infringement case between Apple and Samsung. He ordered Apple to produce a copy of the agreement under an “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” designation, meaning it won’t be publicly available.
“HTC is not entitled to special treatment, especially when it has recognized the general sufficiency of the protective order and the integrity of Samsung’s outside counsel,” Grewal wrote.
In August, Apple won a $1.05 billion patent-infringement verdict in a jury trial against Samsung in San Jose.
U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh scheduled a Dec. 6 hearing for Apple’s bid for a permanent U.S. sales ban on eight Samsung smartphone models and the Tab 10.1 tablet computer. She will also consider Samsung’s bid to have the verdict thrown out based on claims of juror misconduct.
Samsung had argued the terms of the licensing agreement are “highly relevant” to Apple’s request for an order blocking U.S. sales of Samsung smartphones. Before Thursday, lawyers for Apple said HTC was willing to provide a copy of the accord with the financial terms redacted.
(sharon@heraldcorp.com)
Daryl Crone, a lawyer for Samsung, told Grewal by phone in court that if HTC agreed to pay Apple a small sum for licenses of patents at issue in the San Jose case, that could be used to undermine Apple’s argument that it has suffered “irreparable harm,” a standard required to win an injunction barring sales of Samsung’s products.
Apple, which had accused HTC of copying features that made its iPhone unique, on Nov. 10 settled all global lawsuits with HTC and agreed to a 10-year licensing deal.
By Cho Ji-hyun and Bloomberg (sharon@heraldcorp.com)
