China Sues Apple, Apple Sues Samsung, and Google Sues Google

When it comes giant tech brands, one thing you can count on, is that they’ll always supply enough legal wackiness to keep you entertained for days on end.

It seems that lately tech brands can’t make a move without being sued for a variety of reasons that range from strange to the down-write dumb. Truth be told, with so much money at stake, is it any wonder that tech brands have spent more of their time and money, defending themselves from patent-trolls?

Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes right now, in the world of tech.

China Sues Apple

The success of Apple’s iPad is unquestionable; however despite its huge success Apple is facing legal challenges over the trademark name in China.

A suit against Apple, specifically over the iPad trademark term, has been instituted by Hong Kong based Proview International Holdings. The company registered the iPad trademark in Taiwan back in 2000, about 10 years prior to the iPad’s launch.  In 2006, Apple purchased the trademark from a Taiwan based subsidiary of Proview, but the company isn’t buying it and are claiming that in the purchase, Apple only obtained the right to use the trademark in Taiwan, and the Chinese trademark was never part of the deal.

Wondering what a Chinese Proview iPad looks like?

Source: wsj.com

According to Dow Jones,

“If we are not compensated properly, then Apple doesn’t use the iPad trademark in mainland China,” said Mr. Yang, who is also the main shareholder of Proview International Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed company that has been suspended from trading.

Mr. Yang also said that authorities in more than 30 Chinese cities have taken action in connection with the dispute. While Apple’s tablet remains widely available in China, both at the company’s official stores and through other retail outlets, government officials have removed the product from some retail stores around the country.

Let’s move on, shall we?

Apple Sues Samsung (and Motorola)

Apple has become notorious for filing patent based law suits, most of which have been smartphone related. In Apple’s defense, the U.S. patent system is just as absurd and vague as Apple’s app developer guidelines.

Apple’s latest swing at Samsung is due to the Galaxy Nexus, in which Apple is asking for “preliminary injunction” to block Samsung from selling the phone.

Source: Theultralinx.com

The main issue’s Apple’s fuming about are:

• “slide-to-unlock”
•  Searching multiple sources of information at once
• Detecting phone numbers in emails so you can simply tap the number to call anyone.
•  Spell-check that suggests alternatives when you misspell something.  (Really Apple? I’m pretty sure that one’s been around for a while.)

And to top off our festival of tech wackiness, I saved the best for last.

Google Sues… Google?

I swear, you can’t make this stuff up – It seems that the legal team that represents a few of Google’s patents, Pepper Hamilton LLP, was also representing a patent licensing business that is responsible for suing the Google Android partners in January. Not the right guys to have on your team, but hey, who am I to know?

Pepper Hamilton is responsible for at least 50 patents in Google’s portfolio; 12 of them are specifically for Android smartphones. With so many patent lawsuits flying around, some overlapping is bound to happen.  But if Google can’t trust themselves with their own information, how can we trust them with ours?

To wrap things up, (because this is just bonkers) here’s an idea, I think I’ll go patent the use of fingers to type out letters on a keyboard. No one’s on to that idea yet.