The smartphone wars have definitely seen their share of assertions of standard-essential patents in recent years.  Even more of these SEPs entered the fray in a flurry of litigation at the end of 2012 between Ericsson and Samsung.

In late November 2012, Ericsson filed several complaints for patent infringement against Samsung – all of which relate to standard-essential patents.  On November 27, Ericsson filed two complaints in the E.D. Tex. against Samsung, alleging infringement of 24 patents that allegedly cover inventions relating to the use of various electronic devices such as telephones, base stations, televisions, computers, etc. in wireless communications networks.  One of Ericsson’s district court complaints also alleges that Samsung has breached its contractual obligations with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) by failing to offer Ericsson a license to Samsung’s essential patents on FRAND terms, while the second district court complaint simply accuses Samsung of infringing 13 U.S. patents.  Then, on November 30, Ericsson also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission accusing Samsung of violating 19 U.S.C. § 1337 by importing products that infringe the same 11 patents in Samsung’s first district court complaint.Continue Reading Ericsson, Samsung Engage in Standard-Essential Patent Battle

Today, Thu., Oct. 11, 2012, in Apple v. Samsung, No. 2012-1507, the Federal Circuit (Prost, Moore and Reyna) reversed preliminary injunctive relief where the patentee did not establish that the accused infringing feature in a multicomponent device drove consumer demand for the entire enjoined device.  This is an important case in the Federal Circuit’s recent trend to rein-in relief available from accused infringement by one component of a multicomponent device.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit limits injunctive relief for multicomponent devices (Apple v. Samsung)