Apple's second patent infringement trial against Samsung has began.
According to CNET Apple is sticking to the same plan that won the last case, while Samsung is changing its strategy and is claiming that patents are not worth much.
In the first trial Apple successfully argued that three technology patents and four design patents, including one for the rounded rectangle were an expensive, risky, years-long investment, which was stolen by Samsung
By the FRAND
Samsung brought five patents of its own to the first trial but these were technical ideas within Standards Essential Patents previously committed to FRAND ("fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory") licensing.
This opened a can of worms and resulted in Samsung getting hit in anti-trust hearings in the US, EU, and South Korea.
For its second trial, it's using five key patents that are relatively easy to present to a jury. There are no Apple design patents in this case.
This includes the famous slide to unlock; auto word correction and suggestion used in spellcheck; Spotlight universal search of local phone and internet content using heuristics to suggest relevant results; iTunes/iCloud-style background device sync with a PC or the cloud while being used; and Apple Data Detectors.
Patent Troll
But Apple has been a little greedy when it comes to damages -- the company wants $2 billion, which is a little silly as Apple's five patents only make up a tiny percentage of the value of the phone.
Samsung's lawyers have worked out that it is in its best interests to argue that patents aren't really worth that much. If they can convince a jury that Apple is just trying to patent troll a business rival out of the market place with greedy tactics it might just win.
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