Notable litigation of Apple Computer
Encyclopedia
From the 1980s to the present, Apple Inc. has been plaintiff or defendant in civil actions in the United States
and other countries. Several of these actions have determined significant case law
for the technology industry, while others simply captured the attention of the public and media. Apple's litigation generally involves intellectual property
disputes, but it litigates in other areas as well. Between January 2008 and May 2010, Apple, Inc. filed more than 350 cases with the US Trademark office alone, most in opposition to or taking exception to others' use of the terms 'apple', 'pod', and 'safari': those cases include sellers of apples (the fruit), as well as many others' less unassuming use of the term 'apple'.
statutes in operating a music-downloading monopoly
that it created by changing its software design to the proprietary FairPlay
encoding in 2004, resulting in other vendors' music files being incompatible with and thus inoperable on the iPod. The suit initially alleged that five days after RealNetworks
released in 2004 its Harmony technology making its music playable on iPods, Apple changed its software such that the RealNetworks music would no longer play on iPods. The claims of Apple's changes to its encoding and its refusal to license FairPlay technology to other companies were dismissed by the court 2009, but the allegation of Apple's monopoly on the iPod's music download capabilities between 2004 and 2009 remain as of April 2011. On March 22, 2011, Bloomberg
news reported that after a related 3-year inquiry by the Competition Commission, Apple agreed in 2008 to lower its prices on iTunes tracks sold in the U.K.; and also reported that Steve Jobs had been directed by the court in March 2011 to make himself available to be deposed
on Apple's FairPlay changes as they relate to the plaintiffs' monopolization claim.
, breach of warranty under the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, and other violations of consumer protection laws. In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that consumers were offered iPhones by Apple only if they signed a two-year service agreement with AT&T Mobility, but that unknown to consumers at the time of purchasing the iPhones, the two companies had agreed to technologically restrict voice and data service in the aftermarket for continued voice and data services after the consumers' initial two-year service period expired, while at the same time continuing to share revenue stemming from provision of voice and data services to iPhone users. Plaintiffs allegations include that such an arrangement is a violation of the U.S. federal antitrust laws, of consumer protection laws, and of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act
; that the arrangement constitutes monopolization of the aftermarket, that it constitutes a conspiracy to monopolize the aftermarket, and that as such and as an unfair and deceptive trade practice the alleged conduct deprives consumers of the benefit of their bargain in the purchase of iPhones. In October 2008 the court denied the defendants' motions to dismiss the case on the federal claims, granted their motions to dismiss the state unfair trade practice claims except in California, New York, and Washington, but gave the plaintiffs leave to amend those claims.
support policy led them to rescind the offer, resulting in a class action lawsuit which ultimately reinstated the phone support for the duration of original ownership of these otherwise obsolete products. Customers who were refused telephone service and charged per incident or incurred third party support charges were given a limited reimbursement.
s were filed against Apple in New York and California, alleging the first, second, and third generation iPod
music players sold prior to May 2004 did not have the battery life represented and/or that the battery's capacity to take and hold a charge substantially diminished over time. Rather than litigate these claims, Apple entered into a settlement agreement in August 2005 after a fairness hearing in the California action, with the settlement designed to end the New York action as well by the settlement's terms. An appeal followed the California court's approval of the settlement but the appellate court upheld the settlement in December 2005. Eligible members of the class were entitled to extended warranties, store credit, cash compensation, or battery replacement, and some incentive payments, with all unfiled claims expiring after September 2005. Apple agreed to pay all costs of the litigation, including incentive payments to the class members and the plaintiffs' attorney fees, but admitted no fault.
reported that two separate groups of iPhone
and iPad
users have sued Apple, Inc. alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent. The cases are identified as: In re: Freeman et al v. Apple Inc et al, No. 5:10-cv-05881-HRL and In re: Lalo v. Apple Inc et al, No. 5:10-cv-05878-PSG, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
, San Jose division. The complainants seek a ban on the "passing of user information without consent and monetary compensation". The Reuters report said that in April, Apple had agreed to amend its developer agreement to stop this from happening "except for information directly necessary for the functionality of the apps" however the lawsuit alleges that Apple has taken no steps to do this or enforce it "in any meaningful way due to criticism from advertising networks."
The Associated Press
reported a pending congressional inquiry into the matter, with United States Congress
members stating that commercial storage and usage of location information without a consumer's express consent is illegal under current law, but Apple defended its use of customer tracking in a letter released May 9, 2011 by the House of Representatives. NPR
's senior director of technology published an article examining the data collected by his own iPhone, showing examples of the data collected and maps correlating the data. Separately, digital forensics researchers reported they regularly use the data collected in working with law enforcement officials investigating crimes and have been doing so since at least mid-2010. In contrast with earlier statements, Apple revealed in a hearing with the US Senate Judiciary Committee that a "software bug" caused iPhones to continue to send anonymous location data to the company's servers, even when location services on the device were turned off.
code-named the mid-level Power Macintosh 7100
"Carl Sagan
" after the popular astronomer in the hope that Apple would make "billions and billions" with the sale of the PowerMac 7100. The name was only used internally, but Sagan was concerned that it would become a product endorsement and sent Apple a cease and desist letter. Apple complied, but engineers retaliated by changing the internal codename to "BHA" for "Butt-Head Astronomer". Sagan then sued Apple for libel, a form of defamation, in federal court. The court granted Apple's motion to dismiss Sagan's claims and opined in dicta
that a reader aware of the context would understand Apple was "clearly attempting to retaliate in a humorous and satirical way", and that "It strains reason to conclude that Defendant was attempting to criticize Plaintiff's reputation or competency as an astronomer. One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase 'butt-head'." Sagan then sued for Apple's original use of his name and likeness, but again lost. Sagan appealed the ruling. In November 1995, an out of court settlement was reached and Apple's office of trademarks and patents released a conciliatory statement that "Apple has always had great respect for Dr. Sagan. It was never Apple's intention to cause Dr. Sagan or his family any embarrassment or concern."
(The Beatles
-founded record label and holding company) filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. The suit settled in 1981 with an undisclosed amount being paid to Apple Corps, later revealed to be US$80,000. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business. In 1991, after the introduction of the Apple IIgs
, a computer with an Ensoniq
music synthesizer chip, which Apple Corps alleged to be in violation, another settlement of around US$26.5 million was reached, and Apple Computer agreed that it would not package, sell or distribute physical music materials.
In September 2003, Apple Computer was sued by Apple Corps again, this time for introducing iTunes
and the iPod
which Apple Corps believed was a violation of the previous agreement by Apple not to distribute music. The trial opened on March 29, 2006 in the UK. Judgement was issued in favor of Apple Computer on May 8, 2006. "I find no breach of the trademark agreement has been demonstrated," the presiding Justice Mann said.
On February 5, 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced a settlement of their trademark dispute under which Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to “Apple” and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. The settlement ends the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The settlement includes terms that are confidential.
registered the domain name appleimac.com, two months before Apple announced the iMac
, in an attempt to draw attention to the web-hosting business he was running out of his parents' basement. A note on his site stated that his plan was to "generate traffic to our servers and try to put the domain to sale. [sic]" After a legal dispute that lasted until April 1999, Traya and Apple settled out of court with Apple paying legal fees and giving Traya a "token payment" in exchange for the domain name.
. The domain name then forwarded to CyberBritain's cash back/rewards website. In 2005, Apple took the matter to the Dispute Resolution Service operated by .uk
domain name registry
Nominet UK
(the DRS), stating that they had rights in the name "iTunes" and that the use of the domain name by Cohen's company was abusive (these being the two tests under the DRS rules). The dispute was not resolved at the free mediation stage and Apple paid for an independent expert to decide the case, who decided in Apple's favor in the dispute. Cohen immediately launched a media offensive stating that the DRS was biased towards large businesses and made frequent threats of lawsuits against Nominet.
Cohen then stated that the DRS was unfair for a number of reasons and stated that he would take Nominet to the High Court
via judicial review
. Nominet said that he should appeal the case via the appeal process in the DRS. Cohen refused to do this, and after several months did issue proceedings. The judge at first instance rejected his case noting that Cohen's company, Cyberbritain Group Ltd, should have used the appeal process which forms part of Nominet's domain resolution service, and Cohen's company asked for a rehearing. As that case progressed, the interim domain name was transferred to Apple in accordance with the expert's decision and it now points to the music site. In November 2005, Cohen dropped all legal action against Apple.
filed a lawsuit against Apple, standing that Apple's iPhone
infringed on their iPhone
trademark. The two companies were in negotiation to allow Apple the rights to use the name, although the meetings came to standstill when Cisco pushed for the two products to be interoperable. Cisco has alleged that Apple subsequently created a front company to try to acquire the rights another way. Following the public unveiling of the iPhone at the 2007 Macworld Expo, Cisco filed the lawsuit. Apple claimed that there will be no confusion between the two products, and that their iPhone is the first cell phone with such a name, Cisco's "iPhone" being a VoIP phone. On February 21, 2007, Cisco and Apple announced an agreement under which both companies would be allowed to use the iPhone name worldwide.
(TTAB) against New York City
's (NYC) trademark application for the "Big Apple
" logo for NYC's GreeNYC initiative. NYC originally filed for its trademark: "a stylized apple design" for "Education services, namely, providing public service announcements on policies and practices of the City of New York in the field of environmentally sustainable growth" on May 14, 2007, and then amended its application on Jun 27, 2007. The TTAB's Notice of Publication was published September 18, 2007, and then Apple filed an opposition with the TTAB the following January, claiming a likelihood of confusion. On June 26, 2008, NYC filed a motion to amend its application to delete the leaf element from its design, leaving the stem, and the TTAB dismissed the Apple's opposition and counterclaims in accordance with the parties' stipulation on July 22, 2008. As of February 23, 2010, NYC's trademark application is pending.
, claiming the school's logo infringed upon Apple’s rights. Apple also claimed that the school's logo falsely suggested Apple had authorized the school's activities. The logo in question featured the outline of an apple and a leaf, however, its design incorporated a mountain and had three bumps on top instead of the two used by Apple, additionally, there was no bite out of the school's apple. In April 2011, the Victoria School of Business and Technology reported it had settled its 3-year dispute with Apple, was launching a new logo under a new name, Q College, and was expanding its operations.
in Australia
over its new supermarket logo, a stylised green "W", similar in shape to an apple. Apple reportedly took objection to the breadth of Woolworths' application, which would allow it to brand products, including consumer electronics, with the logo.
, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over Amazon's use of the "App Store" phrase relating to Amazon's "Amazon Appstore
Developer Portal" and Amazon's alleged other similar uses of the phrase. Reuters reported that in the case Microsoft is opposing Apple's attempted registration of the phrase as a trademark, and that part of the matter is currently before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
. In June 2011, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who is presiding over Apple's case against Amazon, said she'll "probably" deny Apple's motion that seeks to bar the Web retailer from using the "App Store" name.
and an as yet unreleased product code-named Asteroid, also known as Project Q97. Two sites, Apple Insider and Power Page were subpoena
ed for information to identify their confidential sources (a third site, Think Secret, was also subpoenaed but did no original reporting on the case, and thus had no sources to reveal). The suit raised the problem of bloggers, and whether they hold the same protection that journalist
s do. In February 2005, it was decided by a trial court in California that the website operators do not have the same shield law
protection as do other journalists. The journalists appealed, and in May 2006, the California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's decision, ruling that activities in question are covered by the shield law. The court adamantly chastized Apple's litigiousness by remarking:
's parent company, the dePlume Organization LLC, and Think Secret's editor on January 4, 2005, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets with regard to Think Secret's stories concerning a "headless iMac" and new version of iWork
. dePlume filed a motion to dismiss the case in response, based on First Amendment
grounds under California's state Anti-SLAPP
statute, a law designed to dispense with meritless legal claims attempting to silence valid exercises of freedom of speech.
's operating system
and ROM
. Decided in Franklin's favor but reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Apple v. Franklin established the fundamental basis of copyright of computer software, even if it was provided only as object code or in firmware.
(see also object file
) was seminal in the development of contemporary copyright law because the company's object code cases brought different results in different courts. In the 1980s, Apple litigated two now-famous copyright cases with central issues that included the question of whether object code (as contrasted with source code
) of a computer program is subject to copyright laws. A third case not involving Apple but involving the Apple decisions followed in New Zealand. The specific cases involved were Computer Edge Pty. Ltd. v Apple Computer Inc. (1986, Australia), Apple Computer Inc. v Mackintosh Computers Ltd. (1987, Canada), and IBM v. Computer Imports Ltd. (1989, New Zealand).
In the Computer Edge case, the Australian court decided against the then-prevailing opinions in other courts (the UK, Canada, South Africa, and the US) and ruled object code was not copyrightable; while the Supreme Court of Canada
in Apple v. Mackintosh reversed its earlier decisions and ruled that because object code was a translation of source code and embodied in a silicon chip, it was therefore a translation of an original literary work expressed in a material form and unauthorized reproduction of the object code was therefore an infringement of copyright. The Canadian court opined that programs within ROM
silicon chips are protected under the Copyright Act of Canada
, and the conversion from the source code into object code is a form of translation. It further held that such translation does not include the expression of an idea in another form, but rather only applies to the expression of an idea in another language, and that a translation has a one-to-one correspondence between works that are expressed in two different languages.
In these conflict of laws
cases, Apple met with conflicting international judicial opinions: an Australian court decision conflicted with a Canadian court decision on the copyrightability of object code. The New Zealand High Court then considered these prior decisions and sided with the Canadian decision in ruling that although object code is not an original literary work in its own right, it is a reproduction of source code in material form and therefore an infringement of copyright takes place if it is copied without the authorization of the copyright owner. These legal conflicts affected not only Apple but all other software companies, and remained unresolved until the creation of an international legal regime embodied in further changes to national copyright laws, which ultimately made object code subject to copyright law.
These revisions to copyright law in favor of including object code are still controversial, and form the technical underpinnings for the legal notion of computer trespass and the following development of anti-hacking law-making such as the Patriot Act and such as are defined by the Convention on Cybercrime
.
and Hewlett-Packard
alleging that Microsoft Windows
and HP's NewWave
violated Apple's copyrights in the Macintosh user interface. Cited, among other things, was the use of overlapping and resizable windows in Windows 2.0. The case was one of the significant "look and feel" copyright lawsuits of the 1980s. After several years in court, Apple's claims against Microsoft were dismissed, primarily due to a license John Sculley
had negotiated with Bill Gates
for Windows 1.0. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994, but legal disputes on this topic were still ongoing until 1997, when the two companies came to a wide-ranging agreement that included Microsoft buying non-voting Apple stocks.
(DMCA) as a means of shielding its intellectual property from reverse engineering
. In November 2008, Apple sent a cease and desist
letter to BluWiki, a non-commercial wiki
provider, alleging BluWiki infringed Apple's copyrights in publishing a discussion of how to make the latest iPods inter-operate with other software, and that by so doing, violated the DMCA. On April 27, 2009, Odioworks (the operators of BluWiki), backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
, defensively sued Apple seeking a declaration of non-infringement and non-circumvention. On July 8, 2009, Apple ceased claiming infringement, stating it was "withdrawing [Apple's] takedown notifications", and that "Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the itunesDB Pages which are the subject of the OdioWorks complaint." After Apple withdrew its complaint and cited code obsolescence as a contributing factor in its decision to withdraw, BluWiki then republished its discussion of the issue. The EFF noted, "While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after 7 months of censorship and a lawsuit."
Apple forced Digital Research
to alter basic components in its Graphical Environment Manager
("GEM"), almost a direct copy of the Macintosh's "look and feel
" with a copyright infringement
suit. Features removed from GEM as a result of the lawsuit included drive icons on the desktop, movable and resizable windows in the file manager, shading in the title bars, and window open/close animations. In addition, visual elements including the scrollbar thumbs
and the window close button were changed to be less similar to those in the Mac OS.
, whose eOne
too closely resembled the then-new iMac's trade dress
. The eOne was taken off the market, resulting in eMachines' losing the ability to sell the eOne as intended. In eMachines' EDGAR
statement for May 1, 2001, eMachines stated that its "net loss for the first quarter of 2001 was $31.1 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a loss of $11.9 million, or $0.13 per share, in the first quarter of 2000", but that these results "reflect the substantial discounts and incentives that we gave to retailers to enable liquidation of product inventories."
sued Apple for alleged infringement of a Zen
patent in the United States. Also, the Singapore-based company filed a trade complaint with a United States trade agency against Apple Computer, and a lawsuit in California alleging that Apple had infringed its patent. Creative asked for a court injunction to block the import and sale of Apple's iPod and iPod nano
in the United States. It also sought undisclosed damages for past sales. Apple, in return, filed suit against Creative on much the same grounds.
On August 23, 2006, Apple settled with Creative Technology for US$100 million, effectively ending the patent dispute and 5 other pending lawsuits between the two companies. In return, Creative secured an agreement to participate in the "Made for iPod" program by producing accessories for the iPod.
in portable touch screen technology. The suit was important for illustrating the vagaries of litigating patent licensing and royalty collection issues in the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights. The plaintiff, Typhoon Touch Technologies, acquired two pre-existing patents, (filed in 1993 and 1994 and issued in 1995 and 1997), in mid-2007 for $350,000 plus a percentage of collected licensing fees. The patents had languished for some time and were not being policed, however Typhoon sought to begin enforcement by bringing suit against infringers. Shortly after Typhoon acquired the patents, it began to sue exploiters of the technology who had not paid licensing fees. Typhoon was successful in its patent infringement suits against some small companies, and then expanded its litigation to go after larger companies. Typhoon alleged that Apple and others used its patented technology inventions without permission. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
, Tyler Division, Case No. 6:07-cv-546, and identified the technology as U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same," and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same". Typhoon originally filed the suit in December 2007 against Dell
after settling with some smaller companies, but in mid-2008 amended its complaint to add Apple, Fujitsu
, Toshiba
, Lenovo, Panasonic, HTC, Palm
, Samsung
, Nokia
, and LG. In 2010, Apple settled with Typhoon for an undisclosed amount and was then dismissed from the litigation as of September 2010. Ultimately, Typhoon could not prevail against patent defense arguments of prior art
and obviousness, and earned itself infamy as a patent troll
. Typhoon ceased doing business in 2008 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended its trading in a fraud investigation.
, and also filed a complaint against HTC under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (as amended) at United States International Trade Commission
, Washington, D.C. The suit involves 20 alleged patent infringements relating to the iPhone's user interface
, underlying architecture and hardware. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours".
(RIM) in January 2010, filing two lawsuits against Apple and a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against both Apple and RIM, alleging Apple's and RIM's phones infringe on a Kodak digital imaging
technology, after the companies refused to pay patent royalties on Kodak's digital camera technology. Kodak seeks an injunction against further imports into the U.S. of Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry
.
began to engage in what became known as the mobile device patent wars: extensive litigation in fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. By August 2011, Apple and Samsung were carrying out their legal battles in 19 ongoing lawsuits in 12 courts in nine countries on four continents; by October, the fight expanded to 10 countries.
Apple sued Samsung, one of its component suppliers, in a 38-page legal complaint on April 15, 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
, alleging that several of Samsung’s Android phones and tablets, including the Nexus S
, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab
, infringed on Apple’s intellectual property: its patents, trademarks, user interface
and style
. Apple's complaint included specific claims for patent infringement, federal false designation of origin and unfair competition, federal trademark infringement, state unfair competition, common law trademark infringement, and unjust enrichment.
Apple's purported evidence submitted to the court included side-by-side image comparisons of Apple iPhone 3GS and Galaxy S i9000 to illustrate the alleged similarities in packaging and icons for apps. The images were later found to have been tampered with in order to make the dimensions and features of the two differing products seem more similar.
Samsung counter-sued Apple on April 22, 2011, filing federal complaints in courts in Seoul
, Tokyo
and Mannheim
, Germany, alleging Apple infringed Samsung's patents related to mobile-communications technologies. A German court (the Landgericht Düsseldorf
) in August 2011 granted Apple's request for an EU-wide preliminary injunction barring Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab v10.1 device on the grounds Samsung's product infringed on two of Apple's interface patents. After Samsung's allegations of evidence tampering were heard, the court rescinded the EU-wide injunction and granted Apple a lesser injunction that only applied to the German market. In the same time period and in similar cases of related legal strategy, Apple filed contemporaneous suits against Motorola
with regard to the Xoom
and against a German consumer electronics reseller named JAY-tech in the same German court, both for design infringement claims. Apple did not state the specific relief it sought in its complaints except for the preliminary injunctions, and is expected to amend its filings after the injunctions are granted.
Shortly after the release of the iPhone 4S
, Samsung filed motions for injunctions in courts in Paris and Milan to block further Apple iPhone sales in France and Italy, claiming the iPhone infringed on two separate patents of the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
standard. Samsung reportedly singled out the French and Italian markets as key electronic communications markets in Europe, and by filing suit in a different court, avoided going back to the German court where it had lost a round earlier in its battle with Apple. In late October 2011, the civil court in The Hague
rejected Samsung's infringement arguments and denied Samsung's motion made there; a short time later an Australian federal court granted Apple's request for an injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung agreed to an expedited appeal of the Australian decision in the hope that if it won its appeal before Christmas, it might salvage holiday sales that it would otherwise lose.
alleging the computer company sold Intel-based systems with Mac OS X
pre-installed. This act violated trademark
, copyright
, and software licensing
laws, which is not in accordance with Apple's shrink wrap license. The shrink wrap
license
requires that Mac OS X only be installed on Apple-brand computers.
, alleging that Microsoft and Intel knowingly used the software company to aid them in stealing several thousand lines of Apple's QuickTime
code in an effort to improve the performance of Video for Windows
. After a threat to withdraw support for the Macintosh edition of Microsoft Office
, this lawsuit was ultimately settled in 1997, along with all lingering issues from the "Look & Feel"
lawsuit. Apple agreed to make Internet Explorer the default browser over Netscape, and Microsoft agreed to continue developing Office and other software for the Mac for the next five years, and purchase US$150 million of non-voting Apple stock.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other countries. Several of these actions have determined significant case law
Case law
In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...
for the technology industry, while others simply captured the attention of the public and media. Apple's litigation generally involves intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
disputes, but it litigates in other areas as well. Between January 2008 and May 2010, Apple, Inc. filed more than 350 cases with the US Trademark office alone, most in opposition to or taking exception to others' use of the terms 'apple', 'pod', and 'safari': those cases include sellers of apples (the fruit), as well as many others' less unassuming use of the term 'apple'.
Apple iPod, iTunes antitrust litigation
The case In re Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litigation was filed as a class-action in 2005 claiming Apple violated the U.S. antitrustCompetition law
Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
statutes in operating a music-downloading monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
that it created by changing its software design to the proprietary FairPlay
FairPlay
FairPlay is a digital rights management technology created by Apple Inc., based on technology created by the company Veridisc. FairPlay is built into the QuickTime multimedia software and used by the iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV, iTunes, and iTunes Store and the App Store. Formerly, all songs in...
encoding in 2004, resulting in other vendors' music files being incompatible with and thus inoperable on the iPod. The suit initially alleged that five days after RealNetworks
RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...
released in 2004 its Harmony technology making its music playable on iPods, Apple changed its software such that the RealNetworks music would no longer play on iPods. The claims of Apple's changes to its encoding and its refusal to license FairPlay technology to other companies were dismissed by the court 2009, but the allegation of Apple's monopoly on the iPod's music download capabilities between 2004 and 2009 remain as of April 2011. On March 22, 2011, Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
news reported that after a related 3-year inquiry by the Competition Commission, Apple agreed in 2008 to lower its prices on iTunes tracks sold in the U.K.; and also reported that Steve Jobs had been directed by the court in March 2011 to make himself available to be deposed
Deposition (law)
In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
on Apple's FairPlay changes as they relate to the plaintiffs' monopolization claim.
Apple and AT&T Mobility antitrust class action
In the class action filed in 2008 against Apple, Inc. and AT&T Mobility: In re Apple & AT&T Mobility Antitrust Litigation, plaintiffs allege violations of the Sherman Antitrust ActSherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
, breach of warranty under the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, and other violations of consumer protection laws. In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that consumers were offered iPhones by Apple only if they signed a two-year service agreement with AT&T Mobility, but that unknown to consumers at the time of purchasing the iPhones, the two companies had agreed to technologically restrict voice and data service in the aftermarket for continued voice and data services after the consumers' initial two-year service period expired, while at the same time continuing to share revenue stemming from provision of voice and data services to iPhone users. Plaintiffs allegations include that such an arrangement is a violation of the U.S. federal antitrust laws, of consumer protection laws, and of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act
Protected Computer
Protected computers is a term used in Title 18, Section 1030 of the United States Code, which prohibits a number of different kinds of conduct, generally involving unauthorized access to, or damage to the data stored on, "protected computers"...
; that the arrangement constitutes monopolization of the aftermarket, that it constitutes a conspiracy to monopolize the aftermarket, and that as such and as an unfair and deceptive trade practice the alleged conduct deprives consumers of the benefit of their bargain in the purchase of iPhones. In October 2008 the court denied the defendants' motions to dismiss the case on the federal claims, granted their motions to dismiss the state unfair trade practice claims except in California, New York, and Washington, but gave the plaintiffs leave to amend those claims.
Technical support class action
From 1993 to 1996, Apple developed a marketing strategy that promised free unlimited live-telephone support on certain products for as long as the original purchaser owned it. However, by 1997, changes in Apple's AppleCareAppleCare
AppleCare is a service and support plan offered by Apple Inc. that extends the standard Apple warranty and phone support for its products to two years for iPods, iPads, and iPhones or three years for Macs.-AppleCare Protection Plan:...
support policy led them to rescind the offer, resulting in a class action lawsuit which ultimately reinstated the phone support for the duration of original ownership of these otherwise obsolete products. Customers who were refused telephone service and charged per incident or incurred third party support charges were given a limited reimbursement.
iPod battery life class-action
In 2004 and 2005, two state-level class actionClass action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
s were filed against Apple in New York and California, alleging the first, second, and third generation iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
music players sold prior to May 2004 did not have the battery life represented and/or that the battery's capacity to take and hold a charge substantially diminished over time. Rather than litigate these claims, Apple entered into a settlement agreement in August 2005 after a fairness hearing in the California action, with the settlement designed to end the New York action as well by the settlement's terms. An appeal followed the California court's approval of the settlement but the appellate court upheld the settlement in December 2005. Eligible members of the class were entitled to extended warranties, store credit, cash compensation, or battery replacement, and some incentive payments, with all unfiled claims expiring after September 2005. Apple agreed to pay all costs of the litigation, including incentive payments to the class members and the plaintiffs' attorney fees, but admitted no fault.
iPad and iPhone privacy issue class-action
In December 2010, ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
reported that two separate groups of iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
users have sued Apple, Inc. alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent. The cases are identified as: In re: Freeman et al v. Apple Inc et al, No. 5:10-cv-05881-HRL and In re: Lalo v. Apple Inc et al, No. 5:10-cv-05878-PSG, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
, San Jose division. The complainants seek a ban on the "passing of user information without consent and monetary compensation". The Reuters report said that in April, Apple had agreed to amend its developer agreement to stop this from happening "except for information directly necessary for the functionality of the apps" however the lawsuit alleges that Apple has taken no steps to do this or enforce it "in any meaningful way due to criticism from advertising networks."
The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported a pending congressional inquiry into the matter, with United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
members stating that commercial storage and usage of location information without a consumer's express consent is illegal under current law, but Apple defended its use of customer tracking in a letter released May 9, 2011 by the House of Representatives. NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's senior director of technology published an article examining the data collected by his own iPhone, showing examples of the data collected and maps correlating the data. Separately, digital forensics researchers reported they regularly use the data collected in working with law enforcement officials investigating crimes and have been doing so since at least mid-2010. In contrast with earlier statements, Apple revealed in a hearing with the US Senate Judiciary Committee that a "software bug" caused iPhones to continue to send anonymous location data to the company's servers, even when location services on the device were turned off.
iTunes price-switching class action
In June 2009, complainants filed the class action suit Owens v. Apple, Inc. against Apple, Inc. seeking to certify a nationwide class of individuals who purchased iTunes gift cards. The complaint alleges that Apple wrongfully marketed, distributed and sold iTunes gift cards and songs through its online iTunes store, while representing to consumers that they could use the gift cards to purchase songs for $.99 a song, and then after such gift cards were purchased, raised the price on certain songs to $1.29 on April 7, 2009. Complainants allege Apple's conduct constitutes breach of contract, violates the state consumer fraud statute, and violates consumer protection statutes of other states. Plaintiffs seek a remedy of $.30 refund for each song that Plaintiffs and other class members purchased using a $.99 iTunes card for which they were charged $1.29, plus their attorneys' fees and costs. Apple sought to dismiss the suit but lost its motion in December 2009.Resellers v. Apple
In 2004, independent Apple resellers filed a lawsuit against the company alleging misleading advertising practices and unfair business practices were harming sales while boosting company owned Apple outlets. The lawsuit claimed that Apple had favored Apple stores by providing significant discounts that were unavailable to independent dealers. The complaint further accused the corporation of breach of contract, false advertising, fraud, trade libel, defamation, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. As of 2006, Apple had reached settlements with all of the plaintiffs, including the bankruptcy trustee for one reseller that failed. The former principal of that company has appealed the bankruptcy court's approval of the settlement.Libel dispute with Carl Sagan
In 1994, engineers at Apple ComputerApple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
code-named the mid-level Power Macintosh 7100
Power Macintosh 7100
The Power Macintosh 7100 was a mid-range Apple Macintosh personal computer that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to January 1996. The PowerMac 7100 was faster and more expandable than the Power Macintosh 6100, and was a part of the original Power Macintosh line...
"Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
" after the popular astronomer in the hope that Apple would make "billions and billions" with the sale of the PowerMac 7100. The name was only used internally, but Sagan was concerned that it would become a product endorsement and sent Apple a cease and desist letter. Apple complied, but engineers retaliated by changing the internal codename to "BHA" for "Butt-Head Astronomer". Sagan then sued Apple for libel, a form of defamation, in federal court. The court granted Apple's motion to dismiss Sagan's claims and opined in dicta
Obiter dictum
Obiter dictum is Latin for a statement "said in passing". An obiter dictum is a remark or observation made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court's opinion, does not form a necessary part of the court's decision...
that a reader aware of the context would understand Apple was "clearly attempting to retaliate in a humorous and satirical way", and that "It strains reason to conclude that Defendant was attempting to criticize Plaintiff's reputation or competency as an astronomer. One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase 'butt-head'." Sagan then sued for Apple's original use of his name and likeness, but again lost. Sagan appealed the ruling. In November 1995, an out of court settlement was reached and Apple's office of trademarks and patents released a conciliatory statement that "Apple has always had great respect for Dr. Sagan. It was never Apple's intention to cause Dr. Sagan or his family any embarrassment or concern."
Trademark disputes with Apple Corps
In 1978, Apple CorpsApple Corps
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...
(The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
-founded record label and holding company) filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. The suit settled in 1981 with an undisclosed amount being paid to Apple Corps, later revealed to be US$80,000. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business. In 1991, after the introduction of the Apple IIgs
Apple IIGS
The Apple , the fifth and most powerful model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The "GS" in the name stands for Graphics and Sound, referring to its enhanced graphics and sound capabilities, both of which greatly surpassed previous models of the line...
, a computer with an Ensoniq
Ensoniq
Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid 1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.- Company history :...
music synthesizer chip, which Apple Corps alleged to be in violation, another settlement of around US$26.5 million was reached, and Apple Computer agreed that it would not package, sell or distribute physical music materials.
In September 2003, Apple Computer was sued by Apple Corps again, this time for introducing iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and the iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
which Apple Corps believed was a violation of the previous agreement by Apple not to distribute music. The trial opened on March 29, 2006 in the UK. Judgement was issued in favor of Apple Computer on May 8, 2006. "I find no breach of the trademark agreement has been demonstrated," the presiding Justice Mann said.
On February 5, 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced a settlement of their trademark dispute under which Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to “Apple” and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. The settlement ends the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The settlement includes terms that are confidential.
Trademark dispute over appleimac.com
In July 1998, Abdul TrayaAbdul Traya
Abdul Traya from Calgary, Alberta became famous after he registered the domain AppleiMac.com before the launch of the Apple iMac computer. He is also the founder of WestNet in 1999. WestNet is the first company in Canada to offer city-wide WiFi Internet....
registered the domain name appleimac.com, two months before Apple announced the iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....
, in an attempt to draw attention to the web-hosting business he was running out of his parents' basement. A note on his site stated that his plan was to "generate traffic to our servers and try to put the domain to sale. [sic]" After a legal dispute that lasted until April 1999, Traya and Apple settled out of court with Apple paying legal fees and giving Traya a "token payment" in exchange for the domain name.
Trademark dispute over itunes.co.uk
The iTunes case was important because it turned around prior decisions by awarding a domain name to a subsequent registrant (Apple), rather than to the prior registrant (Cohen). (The full text of the following decision, including the full history of the use of the domain, is available at nominet.org.uk.) In November 2000, Benjamin Cohen of CyberBritain registered the domain name itunes.co.uk. The domain was initially pointed to skipmusic.com, then to cyberbritain.com and then inoperative for some time. Apple applied for a UK trademark for iTunes on October 23, 2000, and this was granted on March 23, 2001. Apple launched its popular iTunes music store service in the UK in 2004. Once they had done this, Cohen reactivated the domain name, which was then for a while redirected to iTunes' then-biggest rival, NapsterNapster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
. The domain name then forwarded to CyberBritain's cash back/rewards website. In 2005, Apple took the matter to the Dispute Resolution Service operated by .uk
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. , it is the fourth most popular top-level domain worldwide , with over 9.5 million registrations....
domain name registry
Domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
Nominet UK
Nominet UK
Nominet UK is the .uk domain name registry in the United Kingdom, which was founded by Dr Willie Black and five others on 14 May 1996 when its predecessor, the 'Naming Committee' was unable to deal with the volume of registrations then being sought under the .uk domain. Nominet is a non-profit...
(the DRS), stating that they had rights in the name "iTunes" and that the use of the domain name by Cohen's company was abusive (these being the two tests under the DRS rules). The dispute was not resolved at the free mediation stage and Apple paid for an independent expert to decide the case, who decided in Apple's favor in the dispute. Cohen immediately launched a media offensive stating that the DRS was biased towards large businesses and made frequent threats of lawsuits against Nominet.
Cohen then stated that the DRS was unfair for a number of reasons and stated that he would take Nominet to the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
via judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
. Nominet said that he should appeal the case via the appeal process in the DRS. Cohen refused to do this, and after several months did issue proceedings. The judge at first instance rejected his case noting that Cohen's company, Cyberbritain Group Ltd, should have used the appeal process which forms part of Nominet's domain resolution service, and Cohen's company asked for a rehearing. As that case progressed, the interim domain name was transferred to Apple in accordance with the expert's decision and it now points to the music site. In November 2005, Cohen dropped all legal action against Apple.
iPhone trademark
On January 10, 2007, Cisco SystemsCisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
filed a lawsuit against Apple, standing that Apple's iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
infringed on their iPhone
Linksys iPhone
The Linksys iPhone was a line of internet appliances from Cisco Systems. The first iPhone model, released by Infogear in 1998, combined the features of a regular phone and a web terminal. The company was later purchased by Cisco and no new products were marketed under the name between 2001 and 2006...
trademark. The two companies were in negotiation to allow Apple the rights to use the name, although the meetings came to standstill when Cisco pushed for the two products to be interoperable. Cisco has alleged that Apple subsequently created a front company to try to acquire the rights another way. Following the public unveiling of the iPhone at the 2007 Macworld Expo, Cisco filed the lawsuit. Apple claimed that there will be no confusion between the two products, and that their iPhone is the first cell phone with such a name, Cisco's "iPhone" being a VoIP phone. On February 21, 2007, Cisco and Apple announced an agreement under which both companies would be allowed to use the iPhone name worldwide.
Trademark dispute with New York City over an apple-shaped mark
In January 2008, Apple filed an opposition with the US Trademark Trial and Appeal BoardTrademark Trial and Appeal Board
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings...
(TTAB) against New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's (NYC) trademark application for the "Big Apple
Big Apple
"The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sports writer for the New York Morning Telegraph...
" logo for NYC's GreeNYC initiative. NYC originally filed for its trademark: "a stylized apple design" for "Education services, namely, providing public service announcements on policies and practices of the City of New York in the field of environmentally sustainable growth" on May 14, 2007, and then amended its application on Jun 27, 2007. The TTAB's Notice of Publication was published September 18, 2007, and then Apple filed an opposition with the TTAB the following January, claiming a likelihood of confusion. On June 26, 2008, NYC filed a motion to amend its application to delete the leaf element from its design, leaving the stem, and the TTAB dismissed the Apple's opposition and counterclaims in accordance with the parties' stipulation on July 22, 2008. As of February 23, 2010, NYC's trademark application is pending.
Trademark dispute with the Victoria School of Business and Technology
In September 2008, Apple sent a cease and desist letter to the Victoria School of Business and Technology in Saanich, British ColumbiaSaanich, British Columbia
The District of Saanich is a municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is located north of the provincial capital, Victoria. It has a population of 108,265 people, making it the most populous municipality on Vancouver Island, and the seventh most populous in the province...
, claiming the school's logo infringed upon Apple’s rights. Apple also claimed that the school's logo falsely suggested Apple had authorized the school's activities. The logo in question featured the outline of an apple and a leaf, however, its design incorporated a mountain and had three bumps on top instead of the two used by Apple, additionally, there was no bite out of the school's apple. In April 2011, the Victoria School of Business and Technology reported it had settled its 3-year dispute with Apple, was launching a new logo under a new name, Q College, and was expanding its operations.
Trademark dispute with Woolworths Limited over Apple logo
In October 2009, Apple disputed a trademark application by Woolworths LimitedWoolworths Limited
Woolworths Limited is a major Australian company with extensive retail interest throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the:* largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand by market capitalisation and sales...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
over its new supermarket logo, a stylised green "W", similar in shape to an apple. Apple reportedly took objection to the breadth of Woolworths' application, which would allow it to brand products, including consumer electronics, with the logo.
Apple v. DOPi
In March 2010, an Australian Trademarks tribunal denied Apple's attempt to prevent a small company from trademarking the name DOPi for use on its laptop bags and cases for Apple products. Apple argued that the DOPi name - which is iPod spelled backwards - is too similar to its own product's name, the iPod. The order effectively meant that Apple can no longer have exclusive claim to the letter 'i'.Apple v. Amazon.com: "App Store" dispute
In 2011 Apple filed suit against Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over Amazon's use of the "App Store" phrase relating to Amazon's "Amazon Appstore
Amazon Appstore
The Amazon Appstore is a mobile application store for the Google Android operating system and was opened on March 22, 2011. It was launched with around 3,800 applications both free or paid. Developers are paid either 70% of the sale price or 20% of the developer's list price, whichever one is...
Developer Portal" and Amazon's alleged other similar uses of the phrase. Reuters reported that in the case Microsoft is opposing Apple's attempted registration of the phrase as a trademark, and that part of the matter is currently before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings...
. In June 2011, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who is presiding over Apple's case against Amazon, said she'll "probably" deny Apple's motion that seeks to bar the Web retailer from using the "App Store" name.
Apple v. Does
In November 2004, three popular weblog sites that feature Apple rumors publicly revealed information about two unreleased Apple products, the Mac miniMac Mini
The Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop computer manufactured by Apple Inc. Like earlier mini-ITX PC designs, it is uncommonly small for a desktop computer: 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches tall. It weighs 2.7 pounds...
and an as yet unreleased product code-named Asteroid, also known as Project Q97. Two sites, Apple Insider and Power Page were subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed for information to identify their confidential sources (a third site, Think Secret, was also subpoenaed but did no original reporting on the case, and thus had no sources to reveal). The suit raised the problem of bloggers, and whether they hold the same protection that journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s do. In February 2005, it was decided by a trial court in California that the website operators do not have the same shield law
Shield law
A shield law or reporters' privilege is legislation designed to provide a news reporter with the right to refuse to testify as to information and/or sources of information obtained during the news gathering and dissemination process.-Definition:...
protection as do other journalists. The journalists appealed, and in May 2006, the California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's decision, ruling that activities in question are covered by the shield law. The court adamantly chastized Apple's litigiousness by remarking:
... the discovery process is intended as a device to facilitate adjudication, not as an end in itself. To accept Apple’s position on the present point would empower betrayed employers to clothe themselves with the subpoena power merely by suing fictitious defendants, and then to use that power solely to identify treacherous employees for purposes of discipline, all without any intent of pursuing the underlying case to judgment. An employer pursuing such an objective might prefer not to join any defendants lest it expose itself to negative consequences up to and including a countersuit for malicious prosecution or abuse of process. Our sympathy for employers in such a position cannot blind us to the gross impropriety of using the courts and their powers of compulsory process as a tool and adjunct of an employer’s personnel department.
Apple v. Think Secret
Apple sued Think SecretThink Secret
Think Secret, founded in 1998, was a web site which specialized in publishing reports and rumors about Apple Inc..The name of the site was a play on Apple's one-time advertising slogan, "Think Different". Think Secret's archives reached as far back as May 3, 1999. On December 20, 2007, it was...
's parent company, the dePlume Organization LLC, and Think Secret's editor on January 4, 2005, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets with regard to Think Secret's stories concerning a "headless iMac" and new version of iWork
IWork
iWork is an office suite of desktop applications created by Apple for the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. The first version of iWork, iWork '05, was released in 2005. The suite originally bundled Keynote, a presentation program which had previously been sold as a standalone application, and...
. dePlume filed a motion to dismiss the case in response, based on First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
grounds under California's state Anti-SLAPP
Strategic lawsuit against public participation
A strategic lawsuit against public participation is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition....
statute, a law designed to dispense with meritless legal claims attempting to silence valid exercises of freedom of speech.
Apple v. Franklin
In 1982, Apple filed a lawsuit against Franklin Computer Corp., alleging that Franklin's ACE 100 personal computer used illegal copies of the Apple IIApple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
's operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
and ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
. Decided in Franklin's favor but reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Apple v. Franklin established the fundamental basis of copyright of computer software, even if it was provided only as object code or in firmware.
Object code cases and conflicts of law
Apple's litigation over object codeOverhead code
Overhead code is the additional object code generated by a compiler to provide machine code which will be executed by a specific CPU. This code includes translations of generic instructions listed in cross-platform code, and is tailored for execution on a specific platform or architecture...
(see also object file
Object file
An object file is a file containing relocatable format machine code that is usually not directly executable. Object files are produced by an assembler, compiler, or other language translator, and used as input to the linker....
) was seminal in the development of contemporary copyright law because the company's object code cases brought different results in different courts. In the 1980s, Apple litigated two now-famous copyright cases with central issues that included the question of whether object code (as contrasted with source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
) of a computer program is subject to copyright laws. A third case not involving Apple but involving the Apple decisions followed in New Zealand. The specific cases involved were Computer Edge Pty. Ltd. v Apple Computer Inc. (1986, Australia), Apple Computer Inc. v Mackintosh Computers Ltd. (1987, Canada), and IBM v. Computer Imports Ltd. (1989, New Zealand).
In the Computer Edge case, the Australian court decided against the then-prevailing opinions in other courts (the UK, Canada, South Africa, and the US) and ruled object code was not copyrightable; while the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
in Apple v. Mackintosh reversed its earlier decisions and ruled that because object code was a translation of source code and embodied in a silicon chip, it was therefore a translation of an original literary work expressed in a material form and unauthorized reproduction of the object code was therefore an infringement of copyright. The Canadian court opined that programs within ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
silicon chips are protected under the Copyright Act of Canada
Copyright Act of Canada
Copyright Act of Canada is Canada's federal statute governing copyright law in Canada. The Copyright Act of Canada which was first passed in 1921 and substantially amended in 1988 and 1997. In 2005 an attempt to amend the Canadian Copyright Act was made but Bill C-60 did not pass into law before...
, and the conversion from the source code into object code is a form of translation. It further held that such translation does not include the expression of an idea in another form, but rather only applies to the expression of an idea in another language, and that a translation has a one-to-one correspondence between works that are expressed in two different languages.
In these conflict of laws
Conflict of laws
Conflict of laws is a set of procedural rules that determines which legal system and which jurisdiction's applies to a given dispute...
cases, Apple met with conflicting international judicial opinions: an Australian court decision conflicted with a Canadian court decision on the copyrightability of object code. The New Zealand High Court then considered these prior decisions and sided with the Canadian decision in ruling that although object code is not an original literary work in its own right, it is a reproduction of source code in material form and therefore an infringement of copyright takes place if it is copied without the authorization of the copyright owner. These legal conflicts affected not only Apple but all other software companies, and remained unresolved until the creation of an international legal regime embodied in further changes to national copyright laws, which ultimately made object code subject to copyright law.
These revisions to copyright law in favor of including object code are still controversial, and form the technical underpinnings for the legal notion of computer trespass and the following development of anti-hacking law-making such as the Patriot Act and such as are defined by the Convention on Cybercrime
Convention on Cybercrime
The Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime or just the Budapest Convention, is the first international treaty seeking to address Computer crime and Internet crimes by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques and increasing cooperation...
.
Apple v. Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard
In 1988, after the introduction of Windows 2.0, Apple filed a lawsuit against MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
alleging that Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and HP's NewWave
NewWave (HP software)
NewWave was an object-oriented graphical desktop environment and office productivity tool for PCs running early versions of Microsoft Windows . It was developed by Hewlett-Packard and introduced c. 1989...
violated Apple's copyrights in the Macintosh user interface. Cited, among other things, was the use of overlapping and resizable windows in Windows 2.0. The case was one of the significant "look and feel" copyright lawsuits of the 1980s. After several years in court, Apple's claims against Microsoft were dismissed, primarily due to a license John Sculley
John Sculley
John Sculley is an American businessman. Sculley was vice-president and president of PepsiCo , until he became CEO of Apple on April 8, 1983, a position he held until leaving in 1993...
had negotiated with Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
for Windows 1.0. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994, but legal disputes on this topic were still ongoing until 1997, when the two companies came to a wide-ranging agreement that included Microsoft buying non-voting Apple stocks.
OdioWorks v. Apple
The Odioworks case was notable for being one of the first high-profile cases illustrating Apple's attempts to employ federal police power in its litigation practices by invoking the anti-circumvention provisions of of the Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
(DMCA) as a means of shielding its intellectual property from reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
. In November 2008, Apple sent a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter to BluWiki, a non-commercial wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
provider, alleging BluWiki infringed Apple's copyrights in publishing a discussion of how to make the latest iPods inter-operate with other software, and that by so doing, violated the DMCA. On April 27, 2009, Odioworks (the operators of BluWiki), backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
, defensively sued Apple seeking a declaration of non-infringement and non-circumvention. On July 8, 2009, Apple ceased claiming infringement, stating it was "withdrawing [Apple's] takedown notifications", and that "Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the itunesDB Pages which are the subject of the OdioWorks complaint." After Apple withdrew its complaint and cited code obsolescence as a contributing factor in its decision to withdraw, BluWiki then republished its discussion of the issue. The EFF noted, "While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after 7 months of censorship and a lawsuit."
GEM "look and feel" suit
Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. was the company created by Dr. Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer world...
to alter basic components in its Graphical Environment Manager
Graphical Environment Manager
GEM was a windowing system created by Digital Research, Inc. for use with the CP/M operating system on the Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors...
("GEM"), almost a direct copy of the Macintosh's "look and feel
Look and feel
In software design, look and feel is a term used in respect of a graphical user interface and comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces , as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus...
" with a copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
suit. Features removed from GEM as a result of the lawsuit included drive icons on the desktop, movable and resizable windows in the file manager, shading in the title bars, and window open/close animations. In addition, visual elements including the scrollbar thumbs
Scrollbar
A scrollbar is an object in a graphical user interface with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled including time in video applications, i.e., viewed even if it does not fit into the space in a computer display, window, or viewport...
and the window close button were changed to be less similar to those in the Mac OS.
Apple v. eMachines
In 1999, Apple successfully sued eMachinesEMachines
eMachines is a brand of entry level PCs, based in Irvine, California. eMachines employed about 135 employees and sold between 1 to 2 million computers each year before its purchase on January 30, 2004, by rival Gateway Computers...
, whose eOne
EOne
The eOne was an all-in-one desktop computer produced by eMachines in 1999 that bore a clear resemblance to the design of Apple's iMac. It targeted buyers who liked the iMac style but wanted to use the Microsoft Windows operating system....
too closely resembled the then-new iMac's trade dress
Trade dress
Trade dress is a legal term of art that generally refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging that signify the source of the product to consumers...
. The eOne was taken off the market, resulting in eMachines' losing the ability to sell the eOne as intended. In eMachines' EDGAR
EDGAR
EDGAR, the Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...
statement for May 1, 2001, eMachines stated that its "net loss for the first quarter of 2001 was $31.1 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a loss of $11.9 million, or $0.13 per share, in the first quarter of 2000", but that these results "reflect the substantial discounts and incentives that we gave to retailers to enable liquidation of product inventories."
Creative Technology patent dispute
On May 16, 2006, Creative TechnologyCreative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singapore-based global company headquartered in Jurong East, Singapore. The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries consist of the design, manufacture and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia, and personal...
sued Apple for alleged infringement of a Zen
Creative Zen
The Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...
patent in the United States. Also, the Singapore-based company filed a trade complaint with a United States trade agency against Apple Computer, and a lawsuit in California alleging that Apple had infringed its patent. Creative asked for a court injunction to block the import and sale of Apple's iPod and iPod nano
IPod nano
iPod Nano is a digital media player designed and marketed by Apple Inc.. The first generation of iPod Nano was introduced on September 7, 2005 as a replacement for iPod Mini. It uses flash memory for storage. iPod Nano has gone through six models, or generations, since its introduction...
in the United States. It also sought undisclosed damages for past sales. Apple, in return, filed suit against Creative on much the same grounds.
On August 23, 2006, Apple settled with Creative Technology for US$100 million, effectively ending the patent dispute and 5 other pending lawsuits between the two companies. In return, Creative secured an agreement to participate in the "Made for iPod" program by producing accessories for the iPod.
Typhoon Touch Technologies touch screen patents
In June 2008, Apple was named among others as a defendant in a suit alleging patent infringementPatent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
in portable touch screen technology. The suit was important for illustrating the vagaries of litigating patent licensing and royalty collection issues in the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights. The plaintiff, Typhoon Touch Technologies, acquired two pre-existing patents, (filed in 1993 and 1994 and issued in 1995 and 1997), in mid-2007 for $350,000 plus a percentage of collected licensing fees. The patents had languished for some time and were not being policed, however Typhoon sought to begin enforcement by bringing suit against infringers. Shortly after Typhoon acquired the patents, it began to sue exploiters of the technology who had not paid licensing fees. Typhoon was successful in its patent infringement suits against some small companies, and then expanded its litigation to go after larger companies. Typhoon alleged that Apple and others used its patented technology inventions without permission. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is the Federal district court with jurisdiction over the eastern part of Texas and is a part of the Fifth Circuit. The court's headquarters are in Tyler, Texas and has five subdivision offices in Beaumont, Lufkin, Marshall,...
, Tyler Division, Case No. 6:07-cv-546, and identified the technology as U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same," and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same". Typhoon originally filed the suit in December 2007 against Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
after settling with some smaller companies, but in mid-2008 amended its complaint to add Apple, Fujitsu
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, Lenovo, Panasonic, HTC, Palm
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, and LG. In 2010, Apple settled with Typhoon for an undisclosed amount and was then dismissed from the litigation as of September 2010. Ultimately, Typhoon could not prevail against patent defense arguments of prior art
Prior art
Prior art , in most systems of patent law, constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality...
and obviousness, and earned itself infamy as a patent troll
Patent troll
Patent troll is a pejorative but questioned term used for a person or company who is a non-practicing inventor, and buys and enforces patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered by the target or observers as unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to...
. Typhoon ceased doing business in 2008 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended its trading in a fraud investigation.
Apple v. HTC
Apple Inc. filed a patent infringement suit against HTC on 2 March 2010 at the U.S. District Court for the District of DelawareUnited States District Court for the District of Delaware
The United States District Court for the District of Delaware is the Federal district court having jurisdiction over the entire state of Delaware. The Court sits in Wilmington...
, and also filed a complaint against HTC under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (as amended) at United States International Trade Commission
United States International Trade Commission
The United States International Trade Commission is an independent, bi-partisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches. Further, the agency determines the impact of imports on U.S...
, Washington, D.C. The suit involves 20 alleged patent infringements relating to the iPhone's user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
, underlying architecture and hardware. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours".
Kodak v. Apple
Kodak sued Apple Inc. and Research In MotionResearch In Motion
Research In Motion Limited or RIM is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada that designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market...
(RIM) in January 2010, filing two lawsuits against Apple and a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against both Apple and RIM, alleging Apple's and RIM's phones infringe on a Kodak digital imaging
Digital imaging
Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of digital images, typically from a physical scene. The term is often assumed to imply or include the processing, compression, storage, printing, and display of such images...
technology, after the companies refused to pay patent royalties on Kodak's digital camera technology. Kodak seeks an injunction against further imports into the U.S. of Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
.
Apple v. Samsung: Android phones and tablets
In the spring of 2011, Apple and SamsungSamsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul...
began to engage in what became known as the mobile device patent wars: extensive litigation in fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. By August 2011, Apple and Samsung were carrying out their legal battles in 19 ongoing lawsuits in 12 courts in nine countries on four continents; by October, the fight expanded to 10 countries.
Apple sued Samsung, one of its component suppliers, in a 38-page legal complaint on April 15, 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
, alleging that several of Samsung’s Android phones and tablets, including the Nexus S
Nexus S
The Nexus S is a smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung and manufactured by Samsung Electronics. It was the first smartphone to use the Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" operating system, and the first Android device to support Near Field Communication in both hardware and software...
, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab
Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is an Android-based tablet computer produced by Samsung introduced on 2 September 2010 at the IFA in Berlin.The Galaxy Tab has a TFT-LCD touchscreen, Wi-Fi capability, a 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Samsung Exynos 3110 processor, the Swype input system, a 3.2 MP rear-facing...
, infringed on Apple’s intellectual property: its patents, trademarks, user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and style
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
. Apple's complaint included specific claims for patent infringement, federal false designation of origin and unfair competition, federal trademark infringement, state unfair competition, common law trademark infringement, and unjust enrichment.
Apple's purported evidence submitted to the court included side-by-side image comparisons of Apple iPhone 3GS and Galaxy S i9000 to illustrate the alleged similarities in packaging and icons for apps. The images were later found to have been tampered with in order to make the dimensions and features of the two differing products seem more similar.
Samsung counter-sued Apple on April 22, 2011, filing federal complaints in courts in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, Germany, alleging Apple infringed Samsung's patents related to mobile-communications technologies. A German court (the Landgericht Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
) in August 2011 granted Apple's request for an EU-wide preliminary injunction barring Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab v10.1 device on the grounds Samsung's product infringed on two of Apple's interface patents. After Samsung's allegations of evidence tampering were heard, the court rescinded the EU-wide injunction and granted Apple a lesser injunction that only applied to the German market. In the same time period and in similar cases of related legal strategy, Apple filed contemporaneous suits against Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
with regard to the Xoom
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom is an Android-based tablet computer by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was the first tablet to be sold with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The Verizon branded Xoom was the first tablet to run Android 3.1 Honeycomb, however the 3.1 update has not yet been provided...
and against a German consumer electronics reseller named JAY-tech in the same German court, both for design infringement claims. Apple did not state the specific relief it sought in its complaints except for the preliminary injunctions, and is expected to amend its filings after the injunctions are granted.
Shortly after the release of the iPhone 4S
IPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a widescreen iPod with a touchscreen, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, iPhone 4, but is host to a range...
, Samsung filed motions for injunctions in courts in Paris and Milan to block further Apple iPhone sales in France and Italy, claiming the iPhone infringed on two separate patents of the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
W-CDMA (UMTS)
W-CDMA , UMTS-FDD, UTRA-FDD, or IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread is an air interface standard found in 3G mobile telecommunications networks. It is the basis of Japan's NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service and the most-commonly used member of the UMTS family and sometimes used as a synonym for UMTS...
standard. Samsung reportedly singled out the French and Italian markets as key electronic communications markets in Europe, and by filing suit in a different court, avoided going back to the German court where it had lost a round earlier in its battle with Apple. In late October 2011, the civil court in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
rejected Samsung's infringement arguments and denied Samsung's motion made there; a short time later an Australian federal court granted Apple's request for an injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung agreed to an expedited appeal of the Australian decision in the hope that if it won its appeal before Christmas, it might salvage holiday sales that it would otherwise lose.
Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corporation
On July 3, 2008, Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Psystar CorporationPsystar Corporation
Psystar Corporation was a Miami, Florida based company which sold "Open Computers". These computers, first announced in April 2008, had the option to be pre-installed with Mac OS X Leopard, making them the first commercially distributed "hackintosh" computers. In November 2009, a U.S...
alleging the computer company sold Intel-based systems with Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
pre-installed. This act violated trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
, copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
, and software licensing
Software licensing
A software license is a legal instrument governing the usage or redistribution of software. All software is copyright protected, except material in the public domain. Contractual confidentiality is another way of protecting software...
laws, which is not in accordance with Apple's shrink wrap license. The shrink wrap
Shrink wrap
Shrink wrap, also shrinkwrap or shrink film, is a material made up of polymer plastic film. When heat is applied it shrinks tightly over whatever it is covering. Heat can be applied with a hand held heat gun or the product and film can pass through a heat tunnel on a conveyor.-Composition:The...
license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
requires that Mac OS X only be installed on Apple-brand computers.
Apple v. Microsoft, Intel, and San Francisco Canyon Company
In 1995, Apple added Microsoft and Intel to an existing lawsuit against the San Francisco Canyon CompanySan Francisco Canyon Company
San Francisco Canyon Company was a software developer company that was contracted by Apple Computer in 1992 to port the QuickTime technology to Microsoft Windows...
, alleging that Microsoft and Intel knowingly used the software company to aid them in stealing several thousand lines of Apple's QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
code in an effort to improve the performance of Video for Windows
Video for Windows
Video for Windows was a multimedia framework developed by Microsoft that allowed Microsoft Windows to play digital video.-Overview:...
. After a threat to withdraw support for the Macintosh edition of Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, this lawsuit was ultimately settled in 1997, along with all lingering issues from the "Look & Feel"
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 was a copyright infringement lawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. sought to prevent Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett-Packard from using visual graphical user interface elements that were similar to those in Apple's Lisa and Macintosh...
lawsuit. Apple agreed to make Internet Explorer the default browser over Netscape, and Microsoft agreed to continue developing Office and other software for the Mac for the next five years, and purchase US$150 million of non-voting Apple stock.