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23 April 2014Patents

Samsung accuses Apple’s FaceTime of patent infringement

Samsung has claimed that Apple’s FaceTime video-calling feature infringes a patent it owns.

The South Korea-based company is demanding $6 million from its Californian rival for the alleged infringement.

Samsung’s claims came during the latest patent battle between the smartphone makers, currently being played out at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The trial, which started on March 31, was initially brought by Apple over five separate patent infringements, including the “slide to unlock” feature that appears on Apple and Samsung devices.

Apple is seeking $2 billion in damages.

Samsung’s counterclaim centres on US patent 5,579,239, called remote video transmission system. It says the patent is infringed every time an iPhone user uses FaceTime or sends a video message.

It is also asserting US patent number 6,226,449 in the trial.

That patent, called apparatus for recording and reproducing digital image and speech, covers a function that shows the difference between photos and videos when they are next to each other.

Before the trial started, WIPR reported that Samsung had removed three standard essential patents (SEPs) that it was also planning to assert as a counterclaim.

SEPs are patents that are essential to industry standards,  and companies are required to license them at fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory rates.

Apple, which said Samsung had abused that requirement, has since removed those claims.

Apple landed the first blow of the company’s patent war in August 2012 after the same court said Samsung infringed its patents through 14 of its products.

Initially, Samsung was ordered to pay $1.05 billion to Apple, but District Judge Lucy Koh vacated $450 million from the figure after ruling that the jury had not adequately calculated a portion of the damages.

After a revision, Samsung was ordered to pay $290 million, taking total damages past $900 million.

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