Patent Infringement, Ipad | featured news

Apple Inc. scored a sweeping legal victory over Samsung on Friday as a U.S. jury found the Korean company had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded the U.S. company $1.051 billion in damages.

Two tech titans will square off in federal court Monday in a closely watched trial over control of the U.S. smartphone and computer tablet markets. Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. last year alleging the world's largest technology company's smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of its popular iPhone and iPad products. The Cupertino-based company is demanding $2.5 billion in damages, an award that would dwarf the largest patent-related verdict to date.

A judge late Tuesday ordered Samsung Electronics Co. to halt sales of its Galaxy 10.1 tablet computer while the court considers Apple's claim the South Korean tech giant illegally copied the design of the popular iPad.

Samsung filed a countersuit against Apple in Australia, alleging iPhone smartphones and the iPad 2 violate multiple wireless-technology patents it holds.

Samsung accuses Apple of violating its patent rights, days after Apple accused it of "slavishly" copying designs of its iPad and iPhone.

The Apple-Nokia patent fight carries on, this time with Nokia extending its complaints to Apple's gadget du jour, the iPad. Nokia filed a lawsuit in a Wisconsin federal court on Friday ...