Things have been relatively quiet in the Apple-Samsung legal war lately, but that's changing today. Reuters reports that U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender has issued a preliminary ruling that finds that some Samsung Galaxy, Nexus and Transform-branded smartphones and tablets have infringed upon a portion of an Apple patent related to text selection.
FOSS Patents says that the patent in question is U.S. Patent No. RE41,922, which is described as a "method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display." This latest ruling found that Samsung infringed upon two additional claims of the patent. The decision was originally made by Judge Pender on March 26, but the ruling remained sealed until yesterday in order to give both Apple and Samsung time to redact any sensitive information.
It's not all bad news for Samsung today, though, as Judge Pender also said that the South Korean manufacturer did not infringe upon a second patent. This Apple-owned patent relates to the ability of a device to detect if a headset or similar product is plugged into the product's headphone jack.
Now that Judge Pender has handed down his decision, the full six-member commission at the ITC will review this ruling and decide whether it will be upheld or overturned. That commission's decision is expected to be made in August. Neither company has publicly commented on this decision, but I'm guessing that Apple is probably pleased with the result, while Samsung is a mixed bag of emotion since it was found to have infringed upon one patent but was cleared of any violation on a second. If we end up getting any official word on Judge Pender's decision from either firm, I'll be sure to update you.
Via Reuters, FOSS Patents
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