The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has decided that one of Apple's patents for its iPhone, its design patent D61867, which essentially is the front of the iPhone 3G, is invalid. This is the same patent which a jury earlier used to decide that Samsung should pay Apple hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
In November 2008, Apple submitted the patent, but it relied heavily on two of its earlier patents to give D61867 a protection date of January 5th, 2007. This move effectively gave the patent two more years to challenge competing brands having the same designs.
In between the two patent filing dates, many smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, produced phones bearing the same look of the iPhone by Apple. These devices now serve as "prior art," giving the implication that the patent cover design have already been common even before the application for protection was filed. Apple then can no longer sue other smartphone producers.
According to FOSSPatents, this new ruling of the USPTO claims that Apple failed to sufficiently describe patent D61867 to enjoy such protection, such that the protection from infringement could only be extended to the filing date made in November of 2008, and that the patent should have never been issued in the first place.
With such development is the possibility that Apple may likewise lose a big part of its foundation for the $1 billion monetary damages it was originally given in 2012. This amount has already been contested as well. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has cut it by a few hundred million a few months ago.
Samsung is still in a legal battle over the $548 million damages bill it owes Apple, and the Korean company may just use this latest USPTO's ruling to assert that it does not owe Apple anything.
