More text, yes, but not much more detail about the actual patents in question: "an Apple patent on technology that synchronizes music and videos between gadgets and servers."

This would mean it isn't the same patents as those that were before the jury in the US ...

I think this is exactly the case.

Interesting URL it says Sept 1 for a story dated 31 aug. I wonder is it a conservative estimate of the date to take all time zones in consideration.

Probably not anything that interesting or considerate.

31 August is the time in Japan right now (as well as Europe and most of the US), so the dateline makes sense.

1 September is the date the story will appear in print, according to the article's footnote. I wouldn't be surprised if the software was focused on the actual newspaper when it was designed, and so the URL will correspond to the actual newspaper (in case of citations, etc.).