Apple and Samsung’s CEOs are scheduled to meet on May 21st to discuss a possible settlement to the widely-publicized on-going legal battle, FOSS Patents reported. The two companies have been in a bitter patent war since last April that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries. Despite the scheduled settlement talks, however, the Korean manufacturer asserted eight additional patents against the Cupertino-based company last week. Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts during the company’s earnings call that he would rather settle lawsuits than fight them in court. “I’ve always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it. We just want people to invent their own stuff,” the CEO said. “I would highly prefer to settle versus battle. But the key thing is that it’s very important that Apple not become the developer for the world.” If the two companies cannot come to an agreement, a trial is scheduled for July in the United States.

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Last week, Apple and Proview initiated talks in an attempt to resolve an ongoing legal dispute over the iPad trademark, and the Chinese company is confident that it will receive a settlement offer from Apple, the Associated Press reports. “It is likely that we will settle out of court. The Guangdong High Court is helping to arrange it and the court also expects to do so,” said Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer for Proview. “Actually Proview always expected to settle out of court from the beginning. I don’t know if Apple has changed its attitude, but I believe that the key point now is the price.” In a previous statement, Apple claimed it would never “knowingly abuse someone else’s trademarks,” and said that Proview “still owe a lot of people a lot of money, they are now unfairly trying to get more from Apple for a trademark we already paid for.” Fu Shuangjian, the Deputy Director of China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce, however, has already stated that Proview is still the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in the country. If the companies cannot reach a settlement, the Guangdong High Court will rule over the matter.

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Apple and Proview have initiated talks in an attempt to resolve an ongoing legal dispute over the iPad trademark, IDG News Services reported on Friday. Earlier this week, a Chinese high court recommended the two companies find a way to mediate the ongoing dispute. The mediation talks were voluntary, however both companies agreed to meet. “I think there is some hope the talks will lead to a resolution,” Zhao Zhanling, a legal expert on China’s information technology law, said, adding that if the negotiations were to fail, the higher court will be forced to move ahead and make a ruling. Apple and Proview have been locked in a high-profile legal dispute over whether or not Apple has the right to use the use the iPad name in China and elsewhere. If Apple were to lose the case, the Cupertino-based company could be banned from selling the iPad in China. Apple maintains that it licensed the trademark from Proview in 2009, however the Chinese company claims the transaction in question is invalid.

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A judge in Southern California last month awarded $850 to an iPhone user who was throttled on AT&T’s network. The plaintiff, Matt Spaccarelli, filed a small claims case against AT&T, arguing that the carrier unfairly slowed speeds on his iPhone 4 despite his unlimited data plan. Spaccarelli on Thursday took to Twitter to announce that the carrier will not appeal the decision and instead paid him $850 plus $85 for court fees. In an interview with Mashable, Spaccarelli revealed that AT&T was still throttling his phone, which had an average download speed of 0.31Mbps. He said he plans to use the money to cancel his service with the network before his contract is up and will also travel to an AT&T stockholders meeting in April in Salt Lake City. “To me the check means AT&T didn’t stand a chance in the appeal,” Spaccarelli said. “If they did, they wouldn’t have paid me.” Read on for more.

AT&T’s decision comes shortly after the carrier offered Spaccarelli a new settlement and threatened to shut off his phone service for tethering. Spaccarelli, however, refused to sign the carrier’s proposed non-disclosure agreement. ”It isn’t about the money,” Spaccarelli said. “It’s about getting the service I’m paying for. I pay $130 per month and with that I expect a little bit of reasonableness.” Since the lawsuit, Spaccarelli said he switched to Walmart’s Straight Talk and now experiences download speeds of 3.83Mbps on AT&T’s 3G network. “Not bad for paying $45 per month for unlimited talking, texting, data and no contract,” he said.

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A judge in Southern California last month awarded $850 to an iPhone user who was throttled on AT&T’s network. The plaintiff, Matt Spaccarelli, filed a small claims case against AT&T, arguing that the carrier unfairly slowed speeds on his iPhone 4 despite his unlimited data plan. According to a report from the Associated Press, AT&T is offering Spaccarelli a new settlement, however the company declined to comment on the matter. If Spaccarelli does not want to sit down with the carrier, it will reportedly look into shutting off his service. Earlier this month AT&T amended its data throttling policy for unlimited users, stating that LTE phones will be slowed after a 5GB monthly allowance, while non-LTE devices will be limited to 3GB of full-speed data.

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Apple is currently locked in dozens of lawsuits around the world with various Android vendors, but the Cupertino-based company is apparently willing to negotiate terms that would end a number of its outstanding spats. According to sources speaking with Dow Jones Newswires, Apple has proposed settlements to at least two Android smartphone vendors. Under the terms of Apple’s proposed deals, which were reportedly offered to both Samsung and Motorola, the company would collect royalties of between $5 and $15 for each Android handset sold. If this report is accurate, the move represents a sharp departure from Apple’s strategy under former CEO Steve Jobs who vowed to spend every last dollar Apple had in an effort to destroy Android. ”I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said, according to Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of the Apple co-founder. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

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A settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit filed against Samsung over a number of its television sets. The company is offering free repairs and up to $300 to customers who owned one of several TV models that were manufactured prior to December 31, 2008. The lawsuit alleged that a power defect caused TVs to experience a delay in turning on, making a clicking sound, cycling on and off, or simply not turning on at all. While Samsung denied the allegations, it agreed to settle to “avoid the costs and uncertainty of continued litigation.” Hit the break for a list of the models covered in the settlement.

[Via Engadget]

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A settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit targeting the iPhone 4′s antenna and reception problems, reports CNET. U.S. residents who bought the handset will be offered either $15 or a free bumper case, however the offer is only valid for those individuals who did not take advantage of Apple’s previous offer. The settlement comes from 18 separate lawsuits that were consolidated into one, all claiming that Apple was “misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4–particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software.” Original buyers will be notified via email before April 30th, or they can visit www.iPhone4Settlement.com, although the site is not yet live. After the notifications are sent, the claims period will last for 120 days.

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Apple will pay $5 million to settle a patent lawsuit with the Taiwan-based firm Elan, a report said Thursday. According to its website, Elan focuses on the research and development of integrated circuits and touchpad module solutions. Concluding an ongoing spat, the two companies have now agreed on a patent sharing relationship, according to Reuters. Elan originally filed a suit against Apple in 2009 alleging that Apple was infringing on two patents related to multitouch technology. Apple countersued in the United States and a judge eventually ruled last year that Apple was not in violation of Elan’s patents, Reuters explained. However, CNET said Elan continued its patent battle with Apple in a California court case that was expected to kick off in February. Apple is currently locked in a number of patent suits around the globe with several firms, including Samsung, and most recently tried to ban Samsung’s tweaked Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany.

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AT&T has settled a patent lawsuit with TiVo in which it will pay the DVR vendor $215 million through June 2018, including an initial payment of $51 million. AT&T will also pay “incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees” to TiVo through July 2018 if its subscriber base surpasses a certain level, TiVo said in a statement Wednesday. AT&T and TiVo were locked in a patent battle after AT&T began to market its own digital video recorder using a technology patented by TiVo. TiVo also recently settled similar lawsuits with Dish Network and EchoStar Corp. Read on for more.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts.”

Rogers continued, “The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.” TiVo’s full press release follows below.

TiVo Announces Settlement of Patent Litigation With AT&T; TiVo and AT&T Enter Into a Patent Licensing Arrangement

ALVISO, CA — (Marketwire) — 01/03/2012 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) announced today that it has settled its pending patent litigation with AT&T and that the companies have entered into a mutual patent licensing arrangement. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay TiVo an initial payment of $51 million, followed by recurring quarterly guaranteed payments through June 2018, totaling $164 million, which together yield minimum payments of $215 million. In addition to these minimum payments, AT&T will pay incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees through July 2018 should AT&T’s DVR subscriber base exceed certain levels.

As part of the settlement, TiVo and AT&T agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies with prejudice. The parties also entered into a cross license of their respective patent portfolios in the advanced television field.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts. The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.”

Sony and LG have reached an agreement over a patent battle that involved several consumer electronics devices including televisions, the PlayStation 3 and phones, Reuters reported on Thursday. The two companies have agreed to enter a cross-licensing deal. “LG and Sony recently agreed to drop patent infringement lawsuits against each other,” an LG spokeswoman confirmed. Sony originally filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in an attempt to block the sale of several LG phones, including the Rumor Touch. LG fired back and argued that Sony was using its patented Blu-ray technology inside the PlayStation 3.

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Samsung on Monday denied Apple attorney Harold McElhinny’s claim that the two companies are currently holding high-level talks in an attempt to settle ongoing patent disputes. U.S. district judge Lucy Koh told the companies last week to meet and discuss possible amicable solutions to their disputes. McElhinny responded by saying executives from the two companies are “meeting and talking,” but Samsung is singing a different tune. “We are unaware of any meetings or discussions between the two sides over this matter,” a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement. It’s odd that Apple’s counsel would falsely claim the two companies are holding meetings if they are not, but we’re sure judge Koh will have a few choice words for McElhinny if it turns out his statement was not accurate.

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Executives at Apple and Samsung are attempting to reconcile their differences and settle the numerous patent disputes each company has filed recently, FierceWireless reports. Despite their partnership, the two companies are locked in an ongoing battle over patents that has drawn tremendous media attention. Apple claims that various recent Samsung products such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Nexus S are copycat devices that make obvious use of Apple IP without license to do so. Samsung responded by filing a series of suits against Apple claiming that the Cupertino-based firm is infringing on 10 of its patents covering mobile devices. Harold McElhinny, Apple’s attorney, confirmed to the judge presiding over the case that executives from each of the two companies “are in fact meeting and talking.” Samsung did not confirm McElhinny’s statement. Apple is Samsung’s top display panel customer and several analysts have speculated that an ongoing legal dispute could cause tension between the two tech giants.

[Via The Loop]

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Deutsche Bank analyst Kai Korschelt on Tuesday estimated that Nokia stands to make a pretty penny off of royalty payments from Apple moving forward. Nokia announced early on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with Apple regarding a series of patent disputes filed by each company over the past few years. Based on recent settlements tied to similar cases in the industry, Korschelt estimates that Apple will give Nokia a $608 million lump-sum payment up front. Following that initial payment, Apple will like pay Nokia a 1% royalty on all iPhones sold each quarter as a licensing fee. At Apple’s current pace — which has increased steadily rapidly since the iPhone first launched — that works out to approximately $138 million each quarter, or more than $550 million annually.

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On Tuesday Nokia announced that it has reached an agreement with Apple that “will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies,” and that both firms will withdraw all complaints against one another from the U.S. International Trade Commission. The two firms have been fighting over patents for the past few years, filing counter suit after counter suit. The battle was thought to have had some closure when the U.S. ITC ruled that Apple did not infringe on Nokia’s patents, but then last month the government group said it would continue its investigation. Nokia said Tuesday that the agreement “consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple,” and that the Cupertino-based company will continue to pay royalties to Nokia for the remainder of the agreement. “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia’s president and CEO. “This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.” Nokia’s full press release can be found after the break.

Nokia enters into patent license agreement with Apple

Published June 14, 2011

Apple payments to Nokia settle all litigation and have positive financial impact

Nokia Corporation
Stock exchange release
June 14, 2011 at 08:05 (CET +1)

Espoo, Finland – Nokia announced that it has signed a patent license agreement with Apple. The agreement will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia and Apple of their respective complaints to the US International Trade Commission.

The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement.  The specific terms of the contract are confidential.

“We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia. “This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.”

During the last two decades, Nokia has invested approximately EUR 43 billion in research and development and built one of the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with over 10,000 patent families.  Nokia is a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia’s strong patent position.

This agreement is expected to have a positive financial impact on Nokia’s recently revised outlook for the second quarter 2011 of around break-even non-IFRS operating margin for Devices & Services.