The patent war between Apple and Samsung goes on. This time Apple wins a round as the U.S. Patent and Trademark office validated the company's "rubber banding" or bounce back patent, triggering a re-examination.
The "rubber banding" patent, registered as U.S. patent 7,469,381, pertains to how iOS performs when a user moves to the end of a scrollable element.
The "rubber banding" Apple patent, along with three other patents, was part of the case filed by the iPhone and iPad manufacturer against Samsung that asked for $1.05 billion in damages. All four patent claims were found to be invalid in April but reversed Thursday by the USPTO for further review according to a report on Apple Insider. The "rubber banding" is known as claim #19 while the other patents for review are patents #14, #17 and #18.
Back in March, the California court handling the patent cases was forced to order a new trial as the jury based its decisions on the wrong legal theory. The error made the calculations of damages more difficult for the court.
Foss Patents first reported about the reversed decision and revealed that Apple sent a notice to Judge Lucy Koh, the presiding judge for the Apple-Samsung case, about the reexamination certificate.
"As a result of this new reexamination certificate, claim 19 will enjoy an enhanced presumption of validity against the invalidity theories the patent office evaluated. Instead of invalidation in mid-2017 or later, this patent has now been confirmed in mid-2013," Florian Mueller wrote on Foss Patents.
"Apple would presumably have liked to salvage even more claims than the seven claims the patent office is now going to confirm, but claim 19 is the one that matters in the dispute with Samsung, and it's now stronger than ever," Mueller said.
This development is a huge win for Apple since all the four patent claims have been rejected before by the USPTO and it will put the company in the upper hand when it pursues the claims in the International Trade Commission and in California.
Apple and Samsung will again see each other in court in November to determine how much damages the latter owes. Most likely Samsung cannot delay the process given the re-examination certificate from the USPTO.
