By Adam Satariano, Olga Kharif and Jun Yang

Following last month’s verdict saying Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) infringed Apple Inc. (AAPL) mobile-phone patents, the Korean electronics company faces pressure to copy another attribute of the iPhone maker: its focus on design.

The California jury ruling reinforced Samsung’s image as a follower rather than a trendsetter. The prospect of a ban on eight phones in the U.S. and a damages bill of more than $3 billion ratchets up pressure on Samsung to overhaul how it crafts handsets and give its design team freer rein to take risks. Yet creating the conditions for such a fundamental culture shift won’t be easy and any payoff uncertain in an industry whose creative standard was set by the late Steve Jobs.
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The date is set and expectations are high. What will emerge from next week’s event? Here’s what is likely, and what isn’t, about the new iPhone.

by Scott Stein

The wait is almost over.

Apple has officially announced a September 12 press event in San Francisco, confirming months of rumors. And the invitation (reproduced above) leaves little doubt that the event will be the rollout of the iPhone 5 (or whatever name Apple chooses for its sixth-generation iPhone).

Rarely has a product ever been so analyzed, so rumored, and so leaked as Apple’s next-gen phone. Not a day, or even an hour, goes by without a new picture of the rumored case, screen, connector jack, even headphones. Has all the excitement already been spilled, or is there something completely different yet to come? Here’s a rundown, all rumors aside, of what to expect.

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US software giant Oracle is appealing a $306 million settlement in its marathon copyright infringement lawsuit against German rival SAP, court documents show.

The current settlement amount, set on August 3, is less than a quarter of the $1.3 billion SAP had been originally ordered to pay the Silicon Valley giant by a jury in November 2010.

But US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton slashed the amount last year to $272 million, saying the jury’s award was “grossly excessive”.

Oracle rejected the amount and made its case through the courts.

The case dates back to 2007, when Oracle accused SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow of a massive scheme to download and copy its software.

Last month, the two firms agreed to the $306 million figure — but with the understanding that it was simply a maneuver to end the case in the lower courts and allow an appeal to proceed.

The latest appeal was made to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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