Articles About smartphones

25September

Jury Finds Apple Infringed Smartphone Patent

By Quandary Peak Research

A patent trial in the District of Delaware between MobileMedia Ideas (MMI) and Apple ended with a jury finding of infringement by Apple and an award of $3 million to MMI. The patent at issue, U.S. Patent No. RE 39,231, described the invention of the “polite ignore” feature on cell phones for silencing an incoming call in a way that prevents the caller from knowing that the call was ignored.

During the trial, which lasted a week, the jury heard expert testimony from Dr. Sigurd Meldal, a Professor of Computer Engineering and Software Engineering at San Jose State University and an expert with Quandary Peak Research. Dr. Meldal’s testimony related to technical aspects of the Apple devices at issue, the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4. Dr. Meldal, who was the sole technical expert called by MMI, had previously testified as a smartphone expert in other patent cases, including another trial between MMI and Apple that concluded with a favorable verdict for MMI in 2012.

After deliberating for less than two days, the jury found the patent valid and returned an infringement verdict with a damages award to MMI. Additional details about the case are available at Law360 and Delaware Law Weekly.

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15June

It’s Not Over Yet: Apple Inc. and the FBI Continue Fight Over Encrypted Data Access

By Quandary Peak Research

In what could’ve been the highest-profile case the tech world has ever seen, Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) locked horns for months over gaining access to an iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks. The world watched as the tech giant held its position seeking not to undermine the security of its products, and the FBI attempted to force Apple’s hand in creating code that would enable them to access information on a locked iPhone.

Normally, the force of the federal government would have this case framed as a David vs. Goliath. But Apple Inc. is the world’s second largest company by market capitalization (Alphabet is the first), and with $215 billion in cash as of year-end 2015, it is better capitalized than the federal government—Apple’s debt to cash ratio is around 30% while the federal government’s debt to GDP ratio is over 100%. This is Goliath vs. Goliath, where both entities seemingly have unlimited resources to fight this case to any end. And there’s sufficient pride on both sides to expect just that.

In a world where tech security is a growing paramount concern, the case was—and still is—poised to set a new precedent governing the complicated relationship between the U.S. government, tech companies, and access to private data. In the case of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, the FBI argued (inaccurately) that they would not be able to access important information contained on the phone without Apple’s help. They obtained a court order from a Federal Magistrate demanding Apple’s assistance after citing the All Writs Act, a 227-year-old law that can be used by the government to compel companies to perform actions by government order, so long as they are legal and for good reason. […]

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22September

Relying on Sole Expert Witness, Samsung Wins Patent Case…Twice

By Quandary Peak Research

Samsung prevailed in the retrial of a patent infringement case earlier this month as the jury found the asserted patents to be valid but not infringed. Quandary Peak software expert Dr. Nenad Medvidovic was called as an expert witness by Samsung in both the original trial, which took place in July, and the retrial, which was ordered after the jury was given documents accidentally. Dr. Medvidovic was the only witness called by Samsung’s counsel, Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

The plaintiff in the case, Cascades Computer Innovation LLC, was dubbed the “original patent troll” by IP Law & Business magazine back in 2006. The company has been buying up patents to assert against technology companies since the late 1990s. Recent trends, however, seem to indicate that patent activity by non-practicing entities may be declining.

More details about the case can be found at Law360.

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8April

Ericsson Gets Paid in Patent Dispute Case Against Samsung

By Quandary Peak Research

Victories in patent dispute cases sometimes amount to little more than a moral victory. One company sues another and the judgment, if ever actually awarded, hardly covers the cost of legal fees.

On January 27, 2014, however, many were reminded that a legal victory can also carry with it pronounced economic benefits, as Ericsson experienced when it won a $650 million award in a drawn out case against Samsung.

The victory boosted the Swedish company’s stock price 2.4 percent in one day and included royalties that will provide the company with cash for years to come. JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall noted that “Ericsson’s settlement with Samsung is going to be an important future driver of its earnings. The ongoing revenue could be approximately 2.1 billion Swedish crowns annually and, with these revenues having 70% ongoing margin, they could add 5.4 percent to 2014 earnings per share.”

In this case, moral victory came with economic upside.

A Look Back on the Details of the Case

In 2001, Samsung signed a licensing deal with Ericsson involving Global System for Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and LTE standards that covered both handset and network patents. Everything was fine until 2011 when the deal ran out, and Ericsson asked for a significantly higher royalty rate.

Samsung refused the deal on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) grounds. Owners of standard-essential patents are often required to license those patents on FRAND terms. Samsung asserted that after Ericsson sold its 50% stake in mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson to Sony for $1.46 billion in 2011, they were repositioning themselves as nothing more than another patent troll.

After Samsung’s accusations, Ericsson took legal action by filing a complaint in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Samsung retaliated by filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission over the […]

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8February

Quandary Peak Assists in Nokia v. HTC Patent Litigation

By Quandary Peak Research

Nokia’s recent settlement with HTC over smartphone patents was widely reported in the media on Friday, resulting in the dismissal of all pending patent litigation worldwide between the two companies. Industry observers widely cited the outcome as an important step for Nokia in its effort to generate royalties from its patent portfolio.

Right up until the settlement was finalized, several of our software experts here at Quandary Peak were working earnestly with the attorneys at Desmarais LLP on behalf of Nokia. Nenad Medvidovic, George Edwards, and Brad Ulrich were all down in the trenches, performing the painstaking work of documenting the technical evidence related to the patents-in-suit in the matters before the International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The patents disclosed inventions related to receiving push messages, downloading and installing apps over the network, video compression and encoding, protecting sensitive device configuration data, Bluetooth connectivity, calendar data management, and other technologies. The analysis by Quandary Peak included C++ source code review and Java source code review.

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5November

Runaway Growth: China’s Dominant Role in the Smartphone Market

By Ed Flores

In 2012, China became the world’s largest smartphone market, having accounted for 26.5% of global smartphone shipments that year. That put it well ahead of the US, whose market share dipped from 21.3% to 17.8% year over year (2011-2012), according to research firm IDC. Looking forward, both countries seem set to continue along those divergent paths.

Chinese Consumers Rapidly Shifting to Smartphones

China now has over 1 billion mobile phone subscribers, and many of them are shifting from traditional mobile phones to smartphones. Domestic demand gets a boost in large part due to enhanced accessibility, more coverage, and lower prices, all of which stem from increased competition in the marketplace from the main players—Samsung, Lenovo, Yulong Coolpad, and Apple, Inc. What’s more, subsidies by operators like China Mobile and China Unicom are also making first-time purchases less expensive, which attracts even more buyers.

Cultural forces also provide a tailwind for domestic demand, as owning a smartphone equates to having social status, something that consumers are becoming increasingly aware of as the broader Chinese economy expands.

The effect of these forces on demand is remarkably quantified when you take a look at shipments year over year. In 2012, China shipped some 213 million smartphones, which was more than double the amount shipped in 2011. This year, according to research firm IDC, that figure is set to hit 360 million with further growth to 450 million by 2014, indicating truly astounding growth rates.

The rapid growth should only continue from here. Below, we’ll highlight two potential — and rather paramount — future shifts in the smartphone landscape, the confluence of which we believe serve as compelling reasons to believe China’s smartphone dominance should continue.

China Set to Issue 4G Licenses Soon

According to an October 23 statement issued by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China […]

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