A US appeals court on Wednesday revived an Apple smartphone patent complaint against Motorola Mobility. A three-judge panel sided with Apple, telling the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to reconsider part of its ruling last year that Motorola did not infringe on the iPhone maker's patented touchscreen technology. "The ITC succumbed to the bias of hindsight as the record bears significant objective evidence that Apple's patent was innovative," a three-judge appellate panel said in its written decision. The ITC complaint dates back to late 2010, prior to Google's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility. Motorola on Wednesday said that the appeals court ruling leaves the door open for the ITC to re-affirm its decision that Apple's claims were not valid. Apple's bid for the ITC to ban infringing Motorola smartphones from import into the United States was resurrected by the move to have the quasi-judicial federal agency re-examine its decision. California-based Apple has been battling smartphone competitors in courts around the world, accusing rivals of copying features from its popular mobile devices. Legal wrangling has particularly involved smartphones or tablets powered by Google's free Android software. "Today's remand decision gives Apple another opportunity to win a US import ban against the Google subsidiary's Android-based devices, which would have the Android ecosystem at large concerned," Florian Mueller said at his blog specializing in patent news. Nintendo sues console hacking website
San Francisco, California (AFP) Aug 07, 2013 - Nintendo said Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against a US website with a business model built on hacking into the company's videogame hardware.

Nintendo is suing HackYourConsole.com in federal court in the operation's home state of Florida.

"The site blatantly promotes and sells unauthorized Nintendo games along with devices and services that circumvent the security in the Nintendo DS system and the Wii console," the Japanese videogame giant said in a release.

"The operator of HackYourConsole.com has developed a global business focused on selling unauthorized copies of Nintendo games and game-copying devices used to circumvent the technological protection measures contained in the Nintendo DS family of hand-held systems."

Nintendo of America described the lawsuit as part of a fight against videogame piracy.

"Piracy on the Nintendo DS system has a huge impact on games sales," said Jools Watsham, co-founder of Texas-based game studio Renegade Kid.

"It can affect everyone involved, including the many honest players out there."

HackYourConsole.com told AFP that they had no comment regarding the lawsuit.

Android smartphones rise as iPhone slips: IDC
San Francisco, California (AFP) Aug 07, 2013 - Smartphones powered by Google's Android software increased their global market share as iPhones lost ground in the absence of new models being unleashed by Apple, the International Data Corporation reported Wednesday.

Android's share of the smartphone market grew to 79.3 percent in the second quarter while that of iPhone slipped to 13.2 percent from 16.6 percent in the same three-month period last year, according to IDC figures.

"The iOS decline in the second quarter aligns with the cyclicality of iPhone," said IDC mobile phone research team manager Ramon Llamas, referring to the software platform on which the Apple handsets are built.

"Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple's market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition."

Apple is "well positioned" to recapture market share with the release later this year of a new iPhone and the next-generation iOS mobile operating system, according to Llamas.

IDC reported that 187 million Android-powered smartphones were shipped in the second quarter of the year as compared to 31.2 million iPhones.

Smartphones powered by Microsoft Windows software showed the biggest jump, hitting 3.7-percent of the market in a 77.6 percent rise that "re-enforced" the mobile platform's third-place position, according to IDC.

The gain was driven by Nokia, which released hot new Windows smartphones and accounted for just shy of 82 percent of the 8.7 million Windows phones shipped worldwide during the quarter.

"Last quarter we witnessed Windows Phone shipments surpassing BlackBerry and the trend has continued into the second quarter," said IDC mobility tracker program manager Ryan Reith.

"Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform, and we expect that to continue."

Ailing Blackberry saw its share of the global smartphone market shrink to 2.9 percent from 4.9 percent in the second quarter last year, IDC reported.

A total of 236.4 million smartphones were shipped during the quarter in a 51.3 percent rise from the 156.2 million shipped in the same period a year earlier, according to IDC.

Android retained its crown as the top smartphone platform in the United States in the quarter with 59 percent of the market, the same as the prior quarter, a report released Tuesday by comScore indicated.

California-based Apple remained the most popular smartphone maker in the United States and its share of that market was up slightly to 39.9 percent from the first three months of this year, according to comScore. gc/rcw