Patent trial: Jury awards Apple $1bn in damages from Samsung

 

 

 

 

 

  

Apple and Samsung make the bestselling smartphones in the market

A jury has ruled that Samsung should pay Apple $1.05bn (£665m) in damages in an intellectual property lawsuit in the US.

It said that several of Samsung's devices had infringed Apple's software and design patents.
The jury rejected Samsung's claims that several of its patents had been breached and awarded it no damages.
Apple may now seek an import ban of some of its rival's products, blocking them from the US market.
The two firms account for more than half of global smartphone and tablet computer sales.
The nine-person jury at the federal court in San Jose, California had to consider 700 questions about each sides' claim that its rival had infringed its intellectual property.
It rejected the South Korean firm's claim that Apple's intellectual properties were invalid.
It said that Samsung was "wilful in its infringement" in many of the cases.
Not all of Apple's claims were upheld. Based on previous cases, Samsung is likely to appeal.
The iPhone maker had claimed a total of $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in damages. Samsung had sought $519m.
'Think twice' Michael Gartenburg, research director at Gartner, said the verdict could have major ramifications for the wider smart device sector.
"Apple patents being upheld will force the rest of the industry to both innovation and differentiation," he told the BBC.
"That will be a good thing for consumers in the long run. Anyone who was even thinking about borrowing a technology or design from Apple will think twice about it now.
"Apple's point was that it was possible to create an experience that doesn't look like its designs and only Nokia and RIM Blackberry are really doing that right now."
There has been a spate of lawsuits involving mobile-device makers, but this case had been viewed as one of the most significant to date.
This is because of the size of the damages involved, the likelihood it will influence the way future patent licenses are handled, and the insights it has given into both Apple and Samsung's working practices.

Read more »

Widespread flooding in Myanmar affects thousands

A man sits on the roof of his home at a flooded village in the Thar Pound township delta area, in the Irrawaddy Division August 21, 2012. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

BANGKOK (AlertNet) - More than 75,000 people in Myanmar desperately need help after heavy rains flooded hundreds of villages and large swathes of farmland, the ACT Alliance of church organisations said in a statement.

Two weeks of continuous rains have flooded six regions and caused extensive damage to crops, houses, livestock and infrastructure - including roads - hampering aid agencies' access to the affected areas, ACT Alliance said.

The worst affected areas are the Irrawaddy Delta (which also suffered extensive damage from Cyclone Nargis in 2008), Pagu, Kayin, Mon and Taninthayi regions.

The rainy season in Myanmar this year has also brought the worst floods in half a century to Lashio, the largest city in Shan State in eastern Myanmar, killing at least one person and leaving hundreds homeless, reported The Irrawaddy.

Read more »

Myanmar sets up commission to probe clashes between Buddhists, Muslims

By Kocha Olarn, CNN

Sectarian violence testing Myanmar

(CNN) -- Myanmar has formed an internal commission to investigate the recent sectarian violence that killed dozens in the western part of the country, state media reported.

The June clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine killed at least 62 people and displaced thousands.

President Thein Sein's commission is made up of various groups, including activists, officials from minority parties, entrepreneurs, government leaders and religious leaders, The New Light of Myanmar said Saturday.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon applauded the move.

"This commission is comprised of a representative cross-section of national figures in the country," Ban said in a statement. "It could make important contributions to restoring peace and harmony in the state and in creating a conducive environment for a more inclusive way forward to tackle the underlying causes of the violence, including the condition of the Muslim communities in Rakhine."

The international community has welcomed Sein's commitment to introducing political reforms in Myanmar since assuming leadership last year.

Sein has highlighted the need to form an independent commission that does not include foreigners.

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted after police detained three Muslim men in relation to the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman in May. Two of the men were sentenced to death, and a third man committed suicide in detention.

News of the crime may have motivated several hundred people to attack a bus in Rakhine in June, killing 10 Muslims onboard, state media said.

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims spread across the northern part of the state, resulting in the destruction of thousands of homes, according to the government.

The national government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine, bringing in the military to help restore order.

Rakhine is home to the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority group that says it was persecuted by the Myanmar military during decades of authoritarian rule.

At the height of the violence, hundreds of Rohingyas tried to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh to flee the sectarian violence.

But Bangladeshi authorities have turned them back, saying they already have too many Rohingya refugees.

The unrest has tested the efforts of Sein's administration to seek reconciliation with Myanmar's different ethnic groups and move the country toward more democratic governance.

Read more »

Popular Video New

Read more »