A South Korean court has dismissed a lawsuit claiming Apple violated three Samsung short-messaging patents. It found that two of the patents allegedly violated were not unique leading-edge technology exclusive to Samsung, and that nothing in the third patent applied to technologies used by both companies. Samsung's patents cover the display of text messages and the grouping of messages on a phone.

Facial recognition may be added to fingerprint scanning in Apple's device security repertoire. Apple has been using facial recognition for some time to manage images in its iPhoto app, but a patent awarded to the company on Tuesday combines that tech with facial detection to control a computing device. Apple's facial recognition system could be used to identify the authorized user of a device.

Samsung Electronics must pay Apple $290 million in damages for infringing five of its patents, a federal jury in California decided on Thursday. The sum may not make a huge mark -- or even a moderate one -- on Samsung's balance sheet, but the verdict gives Apple one more victory against its rival as the two battle their way through courtrooms around the globe.

Apple and Samsung are in U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh's court again, this time revisiting how much Samsung should pay Apple for violating five of its patents. Apple is seeking $379.8 million; Samsung wants to pay Apple $52.7 million. The proceedings became necessary after Koh set aside a portion of the original $1 billion-plus award because the jury erred in making its calculations.

Apple appears to have been handed a potent weapon it can use as it battles in courtrooms around the world to assert its patent rights. Specifically, in a recent re-examination of a key multitouch patent held by Apple, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last month upheld all 20 claims included in the patent, according to a filing spotted on Thursday.

The federal district court judge who found Apple guilty of violating U.S. antitrust laws has appointed a watchdog to make sure it toes the legal line in its dealings with e-book publishers. Judge Denise Cote has appointed Michael Bromwich -- a high-profile Washington, D.C., attorney who focuses on internal investigations -- to supervise a court-ordered antitrust compliance training program.

Samsung has been ordered to produce more evidence in a case that could end with it being penalized for exposing Apple's trade secrets. Samsung must produce communications and witnesses related to the dissemination of confidential Apple licensing agreements. Samsung executive Seungho Ahn used that information "to gain an unfair advantage in their negotiations with Nokia," said Judge Paul S. Grewal.

Apple must hire an external monitor to ensure it does not engage in fixing the prices of e-books, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote said Tuesday. Cote had found Apple guilty of price-fixing in a trial that concluded last month. Cote's latest decision followed discussions over penalties between Apple and the Department of Justice, which had brought suit over the price-fixing.

Apple's taken plenty of flak for its mapping system, and some of it is well-deserved. After all, the maps have erroneously led drivers into the middle of nowhere and shown buildings that appear as though they're melting. Don't blame Apple if its images of Oslo, Norway, aren't crystal-clear, however. That one's not on Apple. Norway has denied Apple the license required to take aerial photos of Oslo.

What Carl Icahn has been doing with Dell -- and now with Apple -- is kind of like a protection racket. These were popular in the 1920s -- you paid the crime syndicate a fee if you wanted to say in business. I'm wondering if Icahn has found a legal way to extort money from companies in trouble. Icahn not only doesn't provide value for the "help" he gives -- he actually drains the firm's resources.

Almost a week after the Obama administration overturned a ban issued by the ITC against the import of certain Apple items, the ITC made a similar ruling -- this time, against Samsung. The commission on Friday banned the import of two older versions of the Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy tablet, agreeing with Apple's contention that those products infringed two of its patents.

Five major publishers may be collateral damage in the antitrust spat between Apple and the Justice Department. In a court filing opposing the DoJ's proposal for relief in the case it won against Apple, the publishers contend that killing the agency model for selling e-books would punish them. Of course, that model is what got the publishers in hot water with the DoJ in the first place.

Hot air, maybe. But it's Edward Snowden, so it's news. Pavel Durov, the 28-year-old Russian CEO of social network site VKontakte, has offered Snowden a job as a security software developer. VKontakte is akin to Facebook and has 100 million active users, mostly from Eastern Europe. Last week, Russia granted Snowden, who had been holed up in a Moscow airport, temporary asylum.

The Obama administration has overturned a decision by the International Trade Commission to ban the import of certain older Apple products after it found that they infringed on certain Samsung patents. The administration made the announcement on Saturday, one day before the ban was set to take effect. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman supplied several reasons for vetoing the import ban.

The U.S. Justice Department and 33 states' attorneys general have proposed remedies against Apple for its conviction on e-book price-fixing that could dry up a large portion of the company's revenue stream while benefiting Amazon and, possibly, Google. The proposed final judgment seeks to have Apple terminate contracts with the five codefendant publishers in the case.

Pegatron, which is reportedly making a new, less-costly plastic iPhone, has become the latest Apple supplier to be accused of labor violations, in a report published by China Labor Watch on Monday. Pegatron has denied the allegations, and both it and Apple have announced they will investigate the claims. "CLW has uncovered myriad violations," maintained CLW Executive Director Li Qiang.

The Business Software Alliance reportedly is pushing to overturn the U.S. International Trade Commission's ban against older iPhones and iPads, maintaining that it would set a dangerous precedent. When the ITC makes a decision to ban a particular product for import into the U.S., it is fast and usually final. That, after all, is what companies like about the ITC.

A federal court's ruling that Apple violated antitrust laws when it worked with the publishing industry to manipulate the price of e-books probably won't benefit consumers much. "I don't think we're going to see prices come down immediately as a result of this," said Yasha Heidari, managing partner at the Heidari Power Law Group. "What I do think you will see is some bona fide competition."

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Apple had violated antitrust laws by conspiring with several publishers to raise e-book prices. "The result is a victory for millions of consumers who choose to read books electronically," exulted Bill Baer, head of the DoJ's antitrust division. Apple has vowed to appeal, but it's widely expected that 33 states will seek damages in light of this ruling.

Apple has ended its lawsuit against Amazon over the right to use the "app store" name. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton dismissed the case at Apple's request, heading off a trial that was scheduled to begin in August. Apple has been selling apps for its iOS devices via its iTunes App Store since July 2008. Apple alleged that Amazon's use of the "appstore" name violated its trademark.

Apple's attempt to include Samsung's flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, in a patent lawsuit filed in California was rebuffed Wednesday by a federal court judge. Despite admonitions by Apple's attorneys that failure to include the S4 in a patent lawsuit scheduled to reach trial next year would result in more litigation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal rejected the proposal to rope it in.

The e-book price-fixing trial took another turn this week, with Apple claiming that what the Department of Justice called a "smoking gun" was simply a misunderstood email draft. Apple veteran Eddy Cue worked with the late Steve Jobs to engineer a price-fixing plan that would undermine Amazon's dominant position in the e-book market, the DoJ has alleged.

Apple SVP Eddy Cue gave testimony Thursday in the e-book price-fixing trial under way in the New York U.S. District Court. Cue, who was Apple's primary negotiator with most of the publishers during the run-up to the launch of iBookstore in 2010, told the court that it was not surprising that publishers began increasing pricing for e-books after Apple entered the market.

The antitrust trial pitting the DoJ against Apple over fixing e-book prices began this week, and it didn't take long for the company's lawyers to poke a hole in the government's case. On Wednesday, they showed through questioning that a key element of the DoJ's case had less to do with Apple colluding with publishers to hike e-book prices than with standard business practices.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has partially reversed an earlier ruling and found that Apple infringed one of Samsung's patents after all, leading it to ban the import of certain older iPhones and iPads. The ban includes such products as the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, original iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. The iPhone 5 and the fourth-generation iPad remain unaffected.

Apple's trial for alleged e-book price-fixing is under way, and the tech giant has said it is not going down without a fight. The suit, brought by the U.S. Department of Justice about a year ago, claims that Apple and five other major publishers engaged in a conspiracy to fix e-book pricing. The alleged conspiracy began in 2009, when Amazon released its Kindle.

The European Union reportedly is launching an antitrust investigation into Apple's iPhone sales tactics. Company CEO Tim Cook may have made it through last week's congressional hearings on the company's corporate tax policies relatively unscathed, but that doesn't mean the regulatory pressure is off for the tech giant. The EC last week sent several telecom operators a nine-page questionnaire.

The European Commission is taking a closer look at whether Apple is engaging in unfair sales practices. The EC, which is the executive branch of the European Union, sent a questionnaire last week to several European mobile network operators probing Apple's distribution terms -- specifically, whether those terms preclude rivals from offering a better sales deal.

The U.S. Justice Department is painting Apple as the "ringmaster" of an e-book price-fixing conspiracy. The news came out in court filings made public earlier this week as the DoJ prepares to do battle with the only member of the so-called conspiracy unwilling to admit wrongdoing and take a public spanking.

Apple is attempting to add Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone to its list of infringing products in its ongoing California patent lawsuit. The hope is to strike down its rival's latest smartphone before it can penetrate the market. Apple's claims against Samsung are nothing new. However, the patent process can be slow compared to an industry that's moving fast.