Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Screen Ghosting on Retina MacBook Pros

Macrumors

Ghost images of previous content have been widely demonstrated on some Retina MacBook Pros, as in the above video. A support thread on apple.com on the issue currently runs to over 7000 posts across almost 500 pages. Apple uses displays manufactured by both Samsung and LG in its Retina laptops, and it has been strongly indicated that the issue affects mostly machines with LG screens. Apple has so far made no statement on the issue beyond a support document in which it describes “image persistence” as a characteristic of IPS displays and gives some advice on minimizing the effects.

I would be pissed if that happened to my laptop.

Judge denies Apple permanent injunction, throws out Samsung’s jury misconduct claims

FOSS Patents:

Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over the Apple v. Samsung litigation in the Northern District of California, just entered two important post-trial orders. Within minutes of each other, the first order denied Apple a permanent injunction against Samsung despite a multiplicity of infringement findings by a federal jury in August and the second order denied Samsung a new trial on the grounds of alleged jury misconduct (the court won’t even hold an evidentiary hearing on that issue, which most observers considered a long shot).

They both loose, move on.

Samsung: Goal of Next Year – BEAT APPLE (By Copying?)

The Verge has some interesting statements and facts from the evidence to be used in court:

In February of 2010, an email suggests that Google had concerns that Samsung’s “P3″ tablet — the Galaxy Tab 10.1 — and requested design changes. “Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3.” Google went so far as to ask Samsung to make it “noticeably different starting with the front side.”

In May of 2010, after Google I/O, internal emails reveal that some of the iPhone-related comments from the developers in attendance were circulated within the company. “The GalaxyS [sic] looks very similar to iPhone.”

At Best Buy:

The most common pattern is that a customer returns the product which was purchased because the customer thought it was an Apple iPad2 [sic]

Two plus two is four, no matter who says so.

Judge halts U.S. sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab

Reuters:

A U.S. judge on Tuesday backed Apple Inc’s request to stop Samsung Electronics selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the global smartphone and tablet patent wars.

Java vet says Google ‘slimed’ Sun

Electronista:

Java pioneer James Gosling has criticized Google for the tactics it used in going without a Java license for Android. He argued that, despite former Sun chief Jonathan Schwartz saying Sun couldn’t sue Google, the decision to skip a license still hurt the company. Google “totally slimed” Sun, and even Schwartz was tolerating the action rather than endorsing it.

“He just decided to put on a happy face and tried to turn lemons into lemonade, which annoyed a lot of folks at Sun,” Gosling said of the executive.

Gosling had at one point worked with Google but left the company after just months.

Google’s original phone surfaces in court

CNet

In Wednesday’s episode of the Oracle-Google trial at U.S. District Court here., a November 2006 presentation outlining a vision and plan for a Google phone came into evidence. (CNet)

So, before they copied Apple, they did a half-assed imitation of a Blackberry, but much uglier.

Samsung asserts eight more patents against Apple in California, including two FRAND patents

FOSS Patents [Link]:

There’s further escalation between Apple and Samsung.

In February, Apple brought a new U.S. federal lawsuit against Samsung, the second of its kind in the Northern District of California. Late on Wednesday by local time, Samsung brought its answer to the complaint as well as infringement counterclaims over eight patents.

 Looks like the meeting ordered this week between Apple and Samsung, to resolve this patents issues is going to get a little more stuff to talk about.

Google-Oracle Trial Begins Over Android Copyright Infringement

Huffington Post:

Oracle and Google are set to face each other in court in San Francisco on Monday.

The dispute hinges on Oracle’s allegations that Google’s widely used Android software for mobile devices infringes on copyrights and patents that Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.3 billion in 2010. The technology in question is Java, a programming language that has been around since the 1990s.

The saga begins.

Apple Fires Back at the Feds, Amazon.

All Things D:

The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore. [Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr]

U.S. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, Hachette

Bloomberg:

The U.S. filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple Corp., Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster in New York district court, claiming collusion over eBook pricing.

Apple and Macmillan, which have refused to engage in settlement talks with the Justice Department, deny they colluded to raise prices for digital books, according to people familiar with the matter. They will argue that pricing agreements between Apple and publishers enhanced competition in the e-book industry, which was dominated by Amazon.com Inc.