It's not been a good couple of weeks for Apple as the patent and design sagas continue.

Samsung notice re-write ordered

Apple were ordered last week to re-write a notice which had been posted on their website after losing its UK appeal against Samsung for infringing design rights registered in connection with the iPad. We reported on this case in October.

Samsung complained the statement which had been posted did not comply with the original order and was "inaccurate and misleading" because it added comments about other rulings in Germany and the US which had gone in Apple's favour.

Judges agreed with Samsung and Apple were required to remove the non-compliant notice within 24 hours and arrange for a new compliant version to be posted.

Motorola patent claim dismissed

Earlier this week a US judge dismissed a case brought by Apple that Google's Motorola unit was seeking excessive royalty payments for patents.

Motorola had asked for payments of 2.25% of the price of Apple products that use its patents.  Apple said this was too high and would not pay more than $1 (£0.60) per device.

Firms that own industry-essential patents are expected to offer them under fair licensing terms also known as FRAND terms. Apple and Motorola will now need to go back to the round table and negotiate what both parties consider a fair payment.

VirnetX facetime lawsuit

Also this week Apple were ordered to pay damages of $368.2m (£231m) to VirnetX after it was found that its Facetime video chat tool infringed the company's patents.

VirnetX had alleged that Apple used four of its patents which were registered between 2002 and 2011 to run Facetime and its instant messenger service iMessage and claimed that Apple would have had to pay a licence fee to have legally made use of these technologies.

Apple is expected to appeal the Texas jury's verdict and denies any infringement.

What the future holds

Apple is waiting for a review of a decision in which it was awarded $1.05bn damages against Samsung which is due next month and has also been reported to have filed a further claim against Samsung.

Watch this space...........

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.