We ve got Apple legal news from two fronts: its ongoing battle with Samsung, and its fight with the government over e-books price-fixing.
In Apple vs. Samsung — yes, it s still going on — a federal appeals court has ordered Samsung to stop selling its older devices that were found to have infringed on the iPhone maker s patents. It s another victory in Apple s string of wins against Samsung in a battle that has gone on for years.
Howard Mintz reports that the ruling may be largely symbolic because the injunction applies to Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphones and several other older Android devices, and Samsung already is selling the Galaxy S6. But the outcome could have ramifications beyond this case: Companies such as Google had sided with Samsung, arguing that such injunctions could worsen the tech patent wars.
Samsung said last month it is planning to appeal to the Supreme Court a 2012 ruling against it that awarded $500 million in damages to Apple over the patent violations.
Meanwhile, Apple filed papers Wednesday urging the Supreme Court to hear its appeal in the case in which it was found to have violated antitrust law for conspiring with publishers to fix prices of e-books. A federal appeals court in June upheld a 2013 lower court ruling against Apple in the case. Apple has been ordered to pay $450 million.
The case stems from Apple s entry into the e-books market in 2010, when it was dominated by Amazon. Apple and some big publishers teamed up to give Amazon some competition, and prices of e-books rose. The publishers have since settled the case, but Apple continues to fight.
This case… presents issues of surpassing importance to the United States economy, Apple argues in the court filing, according to Fortune. The company said dynamic, disruptive entry into new or stagnant markets [is] the lifeblood of American economic growth.
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