By Rita Resende Soares
Federal Circuit Renews Apple’s Hope For Injunction Against Samsung
Last Monday, a unanimous United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated a denial of injunctive relief to Apple against Samsung for the infringement of Apple’s utility patents over rubber-banding, pinch-to-zoom API and tap-to-zoom-and-navigate. Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., No. 13-1129 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 18, 2013), slip op. at 2. The district court abused its discretion in determining whether a “causal nexus” existed between Samsung’s infringement and Apple’s alleged irreparable harm, a nexus that may be satisfied by some connection between the patented features and the demand for Samsung’s products and that may be found by viewing patents in the aggregate. Id. at 19-21. The court also erred in concluding that the “inadequacy of legal remedies” prong weighed in Samsung’s favor because of Apple’s past licensing behavior and Samsung’ ability to pay any monetary judgment. Id. at 29-30. Following the Federal Circuit’s guidance, the district court on remand will likely grant an injunction to Apple with respect to the infringement of its utility patents. The Federal Circuit, however, affirmed the district court’s denial of Apple’s request for a permanent injunction with respect to its design patents and trade dress. Patentlyo and the Wall Street Journal provide a helpful overview of the case.
Google And Microsoft Strengthen Their Commitment Against Child Abuse
Google announced the introduction of new algorithms to prevent online searches for child abuse imagery, with the help of Microsoft picture detection technology. Google had previously avoided censoring its search results directly, developing instead open databases to which abusive imagery could be added by law enforcement agencies. This week, however, in an op-ed in Britain’s Daily Mail, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt revealed that they had “fine tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material,” effectively cleaning up over 100,000 queries possibly related to the sexual abuse of children. To avoid false positives generated by the algorithm, Google employees review the images before blocking them, distinguishing between “innocent pictures of kids at bathtime and genuine abuse.” Google is also developing technology that facilitates the identification of children being abused in YouTube videos, taking into account the growing tendency of pedophiles to film their crimes. The impact of these changes is expected to extend beyond the UK very soon, with implementation in more than 150 languages. Further coverage can be found at Ars Technica and The Verge.
Supreme Court Rejects Petition To Halt NSA Surveillance Of Domestic Telephone Calls
The Supreme Court has refused a petition for a writ of mandamus by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) to review the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) order requiring Verizon to hand over all local telephonic metadata to the National Security Agency (“NSA”). EPIC claimed that the FISC had exceeded its statutory jurisdiction, as the wholesale handover of such data “[could not] plausibly be relevant to an authorized investigation.” Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and Prohibition, or a Writ of Certiorari, In re Electronic Privacy Information Center (filed July 8, 2013), at 3. EPIC further contended that no other court was open to hear a challenge to the FISC order. Scotusblog and Ars Technica offer an additional summary of EPIC’s contentions. Considering the Court’s refusal to consider the challenge without further comment, Wired estimates as highly unlikely the possibility of a judicial resolution to constitutional challenges of the NSA’s metadata collection programs in the near future.