Android Patent Lawsuits Roundup: Apple, HTC, Motorola and Samsung

These are news summaries from the period and the cases have long since concluded.

Apple and HTC

A report said Apple had spent about $100 million on its legal fight with HTC. The International Trade Commission found HTC infringing, and HTC quickly changed a small piece of code. The author argued that the change made no noticeable difference to users, so the cost looked large for a limited result.

Netherlands: Galaxy Tab 10.1

A Dutch court rejected Apple’s claims on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, using the phrase “narrow scope” for Apple’s rights. The ruling covered the original tablet, not the revised 10.1N, which was not due until the following month.

Slide to unlock

Apple filed a new slide-to-unlock case, but the Galaxy Nexus was reportedly not a target. With TouchWiz also using a swipe to unlock, it was unclear what the case aimed at.

Motorola on two fronts

• Microsoft: Motorola declined to take a licence deal and kept fighting, while an outside analyst published an overview of the disputes.
• Apple: Motorola sued Apple over iCloud software. The author questioned how Motorola could claim cloud storage but guessed the claim involved how the code runs.

Samsung in Germany

Samsung lost a second claim based on 3G patents. It had hoped to use them against Apple.