Apple has won its patent and design lawsuits against Samsung, although it has been awarded less than half the damages it had claimed.

The US jury awarded Apple US$1 billion in damages after deciding that Samsung had infringed several of Apple’s patents. Apple could also now seek a ban on sales of infringing products in the US. However, Apple will be able to openly claim that Samsung copied its designs, which could be the bigger victory for the company.

Samsung has already said that it is planning to appeal.

"We will move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn this decision in this court and if we are not successful, we will appeal this decision to the Court of Appeals," a statement from Samsung said.

The jury deliberated for less than three days after the two sides closed their arguments in court.

In addition to ruling that Samsung had infringed Apple patents, the jury also said that the infringement was "wilful" in some cases.

The jury more controversially also ruled that Samsung had copied some aspects of the design of Apple’s iPhone, including the system used for icons and text, but dismissed the same allegations against Samsung’s tablets.

The jury also rejected all of Samsung’s claims against Apple.

Most of the offending models have now been discontinued anyway; such is the duration of legal cases compared to the speed of turnover in the smartphone market.

Samsung added in a statement that "It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies."

It is widely expected that Apple will use the victory to pursue a case against Android based smartphone vendors as well.

Vodafone Group is said to be close to signing a marketing deal with Kuwait’s Zain Group that would see the Vodafone brand expand across the Middle-East.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the partnership would cover Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain.

Zain has previously been in a partnership arrangement with Vodafone, when it was known as MTC-Vodafone. That deal was signed in September 2002, and ended exactly five years later, in September 2007 when MTC rebranded as Zain, although the company is still listed as a partner on the Vodafone Group website.

Typically Vodafone partnerships see the networks co-branded while the network operator gains access to Vodafone roaming agreements and bulk-purchasing discounts. Speculation suggests that the new talks would see an apparently on-going partnership expanded to include the co-branding as well.

Zain Group has confirmed that it is advanced stages of negotiations with Vodafone over a strategic partnership agreement, stating it would provide more details on its partnership arrangement in early Autumn.

The agreement will be a non-equity deal.

Sony Mobile has announced that it is to cut around 15 per cent of its workforce, equivalent to 1,000 personnel, including consultants by the end of March 2014, with most of the losses taking place in Sweden.

The company, which was formerly a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, is also moving its corporate headquarters and certain other functions from Sweden to Japan. Sony Mobile has also redefined the roles and responsibilities of each major development site to leverage the strengths of each respective site.

"Sony has identified the mobile business as one of its core businesses and the Xperia smartphone portfolio continues to gain momentum with customers and consumers worldwide," said Kunimasa Suzuki, president and CEO of Sony Mobile.

Sony Mobile has filed a redundancy notification ("varsel") with the Swedish authorities to notify them that the company expects around 650 employees across a number of functions at Sony Mobile in Lund to be affected by job closures. The remaining headcount reductions will be primarily consultants in Sweden. Lund will continue to be a strategic site for Sony Mobile, with the main focus on software and application development.

ZTE announced an anticipated fall in profit for the first half of 2012, which it attributed to a number of issues including a reduced investment income, exchange losses, postponement of network contract tenders in its home market, and lower gross profit margin.

The vendor said that during the period it saw “relatively fast growth in overall revenue”, resulting from its efforts to “explore market niches and enhance its market position through initiatives in the perfection and innovation of product technologies”.

For the six months, the company reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of CNY245 million (US$38.6 million), down 68.17 per cent year-on-year, on operating revenue of CNY42.64 billion, up 15.21 per cent.
It noted that the period was “underpinned by slackened global economic growth, continued competition in the telecommunications industry, and volatility in exchange rates”.

Sales of devices stood at CNY14.28 billion, making up 33.4 per cent of total revenue. Revenue from operator network equipment was CNY21.28 billion, or 49.9 per cent of the total.

Growth in the ZTE’s international markets was slower, up 6.2 per cent to CNY21.76 billion, representing 51.02 per cent of the total.

Telenor has settled loans worth Rs 9,809 crore (US$1.77 billion) held by its Indian affiliate, Uninor, the company has announced.

The settlement comes after lenders issued default notices.

Uninor said that it has been operating on short-term loans after its minority shareholder blocked efforts by the majority shareholder to increase funding for the company. Although the shareholders were not named, it is obvious that they are referring to the dispute between Telenor and Unitech.

The short-term loans had been secured by Telenor.

Uninor is currently seeking to sell off its assets before the network faces closure next month after its GSM licences were cancelled. Telenor has said that it would buy the assets if bidders do not emerge, and is expected to use them to set up a fresh company with another Indian investor.