Apple, Samsung make final pitch to jury

Closing arguments were delivered at trial between Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in a federal court in San Jose, California. The jury will begin deliberating on Wednesday.

Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven countered by urging jurors to consider that a verdict in favor of Apple could stifle competition and reduce choices for consumers."Rather than competing in the marketplace, Apple is seeking a competitive edge in the courtroom," Verhoeven said. "(Apple thinks) it's entitled to having a monopoly on a rounded rectangle with a large screen. It's amazing really."

Apple and Samsung are going toe-to-toe in a patents dispute that mirrors the struggle for industry supremacy between the two companies, which control more than half of worldwide smartphone sales.

A win for Apple could have a major impact on the industry because the South Korean company's mobile products are run on Google Inc's Android operating system, popular software that is used by many other manufacturers. Before he died, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his biographer he intended to go "thermonuclear" on Android, saying it had copied Apple.

If the jury determines Samsung violated Apple's valid patents, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh could impose sales bans against the Korean company's products.

In court on Tuesday, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny urged jurors to consider the testimony of a South Korean designer who said she worked day and night on Samsung's phones for three months."In those critical three months, Samsung was able to copy and incorporate the result of Apple's four-year investment in hard work and ingenuity -- without taking any of the risks," McElhinny said.

Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung. An Apple expert said Samsung earned 35.5 percent margins on the tablets and phones at issue in the lawsuit from mid-2010 through March 2012, on $8.16 billion in U.S. revenue. Samsung has disputed that figure.

Apple accuses Samsung of copying the design and some features of its iPad and iPhone, and is asking for a sales ban in addition to monetary damages. Samsung, which is trying to expand in the United States, says Apple infringed several patents, including some for its key wireless technology.

Both Apple and Samsung used a series of internal emails, witness testimony from designers, product demonstrations and mockups to present their case.

CROWD OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE
McElhinny laid out what he said was chronological evidence that showed Samsung copied Apple's designs. He also told the jury that, while Apple brought many of its top executives to testify and face cross examination, Samsung had presented no major decision makers."From the very beginning, Samsung has disrespected this process," he said.

McElhinny said Samsung's internal documents compared its products with Apple's -- and determined it had a crisis of design.Scores of journalists, lawyers, analysts and observers turned out to watch the arguments. By 7:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Tuesday, the line outside the courthouse was nearly a block long. The nine member jury spent over two hours listening to granular legal instructions before Apple's McElhinny began his presentation just after lunch.

McElhinny focused on a meeting between Samsung and Google executives in February 2010, where Google asked Samsung to stop imitating the iPad so closely."Samsung executives chose to ignore that demand and continue on the path of copying," he said.Apple said the products looked so similar that it led to confusion in the marketplace.

Samsung's Verhoeven said Apple had not shown any evidence that consumers were actually deceived into buying Samsung products instead of the iPhone or iPad."Consumers make choices, not mistakes," he said. Verhoeven also went on to tell the jury that Apple's damages claims were not calculated correctly, calling them "ridiculous."

On rebuttal, Apple attorney Bill Lee said Apple was not trying to keep Samsung out of the smartphone market. "All we're saying is, 'Make your own,'" Lee said.

This article comes from:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/us-apple-samsung-trial-idUSBRE87K02320120822?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71

Apple offered Samsung a licensing deal at $30 per smartphone

APPLE AND SAMSUNGmight have avoided their high-profile court case, as it has been revealed that the Iphone maker tried to strike a licensing deal with Samsung in 2010.

According to Allthingsd, Apple offered to license its design patents to its arch-rival Samsung, asking for $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet. The cappuccino company was also willing to give Samsung a 20 per cent discount if it would cross-license its standards essential mobile technology patent portfolio to Apple.

Otherwise, Apple has offered pennies to license Samsung's mobile technology patents."Samsung chose to embrace and imitate Apple's iPhone archetype," Apple said in a presentation to Samsung dated October 2010.

"Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device."

Of course, clearly these negotiations didn't work out, as the two companies are now embroiled in the biggest patent infringement court case of all time. Apple is claiming that by not licensing its patents, Samsung is "slavishly copying" its Iphone and Ipad devices and is seeking £2.5bn in damages.

Samsung, on the other hand, is arguing that Apple is trying to stop competition in the market, saying that it can't claim merely a 'black rectangle' as a design patent.

The court case between Samsung and Apple is expected to continue until the end of Augus.

This article comes from:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2198265/apple-offered-samsung-a-licensing-deal-at-usd30-per-smartphone

Apple Requests Sanction for Samsung

Apple Inc. AAPL +0.16% asked a federal judge to sanction Samsung Electronics Co.005930.SE -2.85% and an attorney for releasing disputed evidence to the media, as a squabble in their patent case continued for a third day.

In a filing made public on Thursday, Apple said "Samsung and its counsel engaged in bad faith litigation misconduct by attempting to prejudice the jury." Apple further said the court "should not condone this behavior" and should "severely sanction Samsung."

The harsh words followed Samsung's unusual move on Tuesday to send evidence blocked by the court to reporters. Earlier in the day, John Quinn, the lawyer representing Samsung, said he was "begging" U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to allow evidence the company believes is integral to the case but that she rejected several times. Judge Koh was nonplused, telling Mr. Quinn, "Don't make me sanction you."

Mr. Quinn then approved the release of that evidence to reporters. Samsung believes the documents show the iPhone was "inspired" by Sony Corp.'sSNE -7.41% products. Judge Koh demanded Samsung explain the move, prompting a response Wednesday from Mr. Quinn, founding partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.

Mr. Quinn said in the declaration that the move was "lawful" and "ethical" in part because the materials were already in the public domain. He added they weren't designed to influence jurors.

Even for Mr. Quinn, known for sometimes using a bit of flamboyance to good effect, the move caused raised eyebrows among other patent lawyers. Attorneys involved in the case said they had never seen anything like it.

In California and many other states, ethical rules prohibit lawyers from making press statements that could prejudice a judge or jury, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor and legal-ethics expert at New York University.

Mr. Gillers called Mr. Quinn's maneuver "a bold move, to put it kindly," adding that Judge Koh now will have to determine whether Mr. Quinn violated the rules and, if so, what sanctions might be warranted.

This article comes from:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443866404577564922926800912.html

Hulu Plus Debuts on Apple TV

For those of us who have long been awaiting an Apple-based television subscription service, well, this may be the closest we get for a while. On Tuesday, Apple quietly added support for Hulu Plus to its Apple TV set-top box, bringing access to ad-supported television episodes and movies for paid subscribers of that service. The addition was first noted by MacRumors.



Hulu Plus subscribers get access to the service’s content, while new users have the option of signing up for a free one-week trial or subscribing to the service via their iTunes account, as with Netflix. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll have access to your favorites and your queue, as well as a catalog of TV episodes, movies, and popular clips.

The Apple TV interface for Hulu is very similar to Netflix's and that of the other video services; the top menu provides access to Popular and Recommend items, Recently Watched videos, TV, Movies, Trailers, and Search. Videos are ad-supported, as in other Hulu’s Web and mobile offerings, but you can still skip around, and pause and play as you’d expect. You can resume a video from where you left off, even across platforms, allowing you to start watching a video on your iPad and continue later on your Apple TV.

This article comes from:http://www.pcworld.com/article/260091/hulu_plus_debuts_on_apple_tv.html

Apple and Cisco rise, but chips weigh on techs

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. rose on Monday, but semiconductor stocks weighed down the tech sector.

Apple (US:AAPL) shares rose 1.7% to close at $595.03 after the technology powerhouse said downloads of its new Mountain Lion operating system topped 3 million in four days, the most successful operating system launch in its history. Read more on Mountain Lion's popularity.

The patent infringement legal battle between Apple and Samsung also goes before a U.S. federal court in San Jose on Monday. Apple has accused Samsung of violating patents related to technologies used in the iPhone and the iPad.

Shares of Cisco (US:CSCO) gained 1.2% to close at $15.87, one of the top gainers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (US:DJIA), which was down 3 points at 13,076.



“I think both are seeing relief rallies today,” Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said in emailed comments. “Both stocks were under pressure last week, Apple with earnings and Cisco with the VMware acquisition of Nicira ... At the end of the day, they are still two of the better companies in technology.”

Cisco lost 4.1% last week after analysts speculated that VMware’s acquisition of Nicira could pose a threat to the networking giant. Apple fell 3.2% last week after the company missed Wall Street’s earnings estimates for its fiscal third quarter.

The VMware acquisition, followed by Monday’s announcement from Oracle Corp. (US:ORCL) that it has agreed to buy Xsigo Systems, a network virtualization technology company, heightened the focus on the so-called “software-defined networking” and the impact on other software players like Citrix Systems.(US:CTXS)

Shares of Citrix (US:CTXS) slumped 5.9% to close at $73.25, while VMware (US:VMW) slipped 3.5% to close at $92.37.

Mizuho Securities analyst Gabriel Lowy said in a note, “We believe investors are overreacting to the hype and acquisition flurry around software defined networking, most recently with Oracle’s acquisition of Xsigo. The weakness in shares of both VMware and Citrix is an overreaction in our view, presenting a buying opportunity in both, particularly Citrix.”

Meanwhile, the chip sector was in the red, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index(US:SOX) down 1%.

Wedbush analyst Betsy Van Hees cited investor worries related to the third-quarter forecasts from the sector.

“We think Q2 earnings for the most part have been in-line with some notable beats, but Q3 guidance has been well below seasonal,” she said in emailed comments.

“I think investors may be taking some profits today given the big move in the last two weeks of the Philadelphia Index vs. the S&P as concerns over Europe and the strength of the broader market may be moving off the back burner and back to forefront of investors minds,” she added.

Highlighting the decline was SanDisk Corp. (US:SNDK), shares of which lost 3%, closing at $41.17

This article comes from:http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-07-30/markets/32932699_1_agee-analyst-shaw-wu-cisco-systems-apple

Apple earns a place on Chinese blacklist

The consumer watchdog based in the southern province of China, Guangdong, has included technology giant Apple on a "company integrity" blacklist.

The company's after-sales service policies has come under fire from the China Consumer Association (CCA), who researches and monitors company and consumer policies affecting Chinese customers. Described as "unfair", National Business Daily reports that strong customer dissatisfaction within aftercare has resulted in numerous complaints.

The China Consumer Association released a report documenting an investigation into the support structure and policies of the popular technology developer last week.

The report focused on a number of complaints made during the first half of 2012, including the case of a customer named Wang -- who needed his iPhone 4 repaired. Although it was within the official warranty period, Apple replaced the parts but refused to renew the warranty.

The Chinese report singled out a number of electronics companies that maintain "poor" after-sales care -- including some that refuse to offer such a service altogether.

The CCA has previously branded Apple's policies as "unfair", and some critics suggest that recent policy changes made by the company to alleviate some of their customer's dissatisfaction is not enough. Pointing to a clause in Apple's repair policy, according to National Business Daily, it apparently states that the technology giant is able to use old, spare parts to repair dysfunctional devices -- and as users must hand defective parts back to Apple, suspicion exists that these parts may be repaired as part of the system, to be used once more.

The China Consumer Association raises the point that potentially, Apple's current policies may impede on Chinese consumer rights and protection laws. Apparently, there has also been cases of complaints made against the company due to product damage occurred in transit -- which Apple takes no responsibility for.

There are currently no official Apple stores within the southern province of Guangdong, although recent rumors have suggested that new stores may soon be appearing within Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The nearest outlet is currently located in Hong Kong.

This article comes from:http://www.zdnet.com/apple-earns-a-place-on-chinese-blacklist-7000001781/

Apple to release new Mac operating system 'Mountain Lion' Wednesday

Apple Inc. will release its new operating system for Mac computers on Wednesday, with features borrowed from mobile devices and a tighter integration with online file storage.

Dubbed Mountain Lion, the new software narrows the gap between the PC and phone software packages, making Mac personal computers work more like iPhones and iPads.

It's similar to what Microsoft Corp. is doing with its forthcoming Windows 8 system. That system, to be released Oct. 26, will bring the look and user interface of Windows Phone to PCs.

Mountain Lion will cost $20 and will be sold only as a download. Only computers running the two most recent versions of Mac OS, Lion and Snow Leopard, can be upgraded.

Macs bought on or after June 11 can be upgraded for free.

Apple previously announced Mountain Lion's features, but it hadn't disclosed the exact availability date until Tuesday's release of its earnings for the April-June quarter. Apple provided no new details in that release.

Among the features of Mountain Lion:
-- The new software will have better integration with social networks such as Facebook Inc.'s. It will have built-in features to facilitate sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other services. For instance, you'll get notifications when you get a message or a mention in a Facebook or Twitter post. You need to sign in only once, and you can share directly from other apps you are using.
-- Power Nap keeps your Mac updated even while it's in power-saving "sleep" mode. It will get your email messages, back up your files and download software updates automatically. It will work with recent MacBook Air computers and the higher-end MacBook Pro model, the one with the sharper, "Retina" display.

-- A new Messages app, copied from Apple's mobile operating system, will replace iChat. It will allow you to send messages to other Apple users, whether that person is on a Mac or an Apple mobile device.

-- Mountain Lion will be integrated with iCloud, the new Internet storage service designed for the mobile devices.

-- The software will bring dictation to Macs, essentially allowing the computer to type as you talk.

-- Game Center will store high game scores and help users find opponents on both Macs and Apple mobile devices.
This article comes from:http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/07/24/apple-to-release-new-mac-operating-system-mountain-lion-wednesday/