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Samsung loses U.S. trial, owes Apple more than $1 billion in damages
After several comings and goings over the past few months, the Apple v. Samsung verdict has come in, widely favoring Apple who claimed in U.S. courts that Samsung's Android smartphones and tablets infringed on its intellectual property, including patents, trademarks and user interface.
The verdict was unanimous, giving Apple the right to $1.045 billion in damages, a handsome figure that nonetheless comes short of the $2.5+ billion the Cupertino-based company was seeking from Samsung. Some of the offending products in this case include the Nexus S, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and several others.
Note that this only spells the begining of the end of the U.S. trial between the two companies. As with most legal matters, appeals from both sides are likely to come.
A number of legal experts were quick to note that the jury's finding willful infringement on Samsung's side opens the door for further damage compensation, beyond the $1+ billion awarded thus far. The verdict also sets a precedent that Apple may take advantage of in other related pending litigations against the likes of HTC or Motorola Mobility. Robert Barr, executive director of the Center for Law and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley had this to share:
The amount of damages is extraordinary. A billion dollars in damages is extra. It’s one of the biggest patent verdicts ever. That’s a huge amount of damages. And the judge has to now decide whether to increase that for the wilfulness. And the judge could increase that as much as triple. The judge has to still decide if there will be an injunction against future sales or a recall of product.
Apple and Samsung released official statements following the verdict. Apple spokeswoman, Katie Cotton, said:
We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
Evidently, Samsung's reaction paints a grimmer picture, claiming the jury's decision could result in industry-wide consequences:
“Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer,” Samsung said in a statement. “It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. 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. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.”
According the Wikipedia, as of July 2012 Apple and Samsung were involved in more than 50 lawsuits around the globe with billions of dollars in damages claimed between them.
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User Comments: 93
Got something to say? Post a comment-
To the guy who came up with all the smart phone pictures of the past. The icons on those things look exactly like the iphone so apple must have copied all off those. Also look up altair and star and see how crude those interfaces were. And watch apples version just years later and see how much they innovated and changed for better and usability and also how they design the icons so common intelligence can guess at the function of an icon without reading a book about it and just pick it up and use. You can hate apple but this is what they brought to the market so du mb a s s es like your self can use computers without reading a os bible for it. Read much lately?
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You guys have to do some reading. It's particularly sad when fanboys don't read about the case, and just be informed by glorified "tech" blogs and think they know what they're talking about.
We are talking about federal jurors here. They did their job, and they did it right. If you had seen the exhibits of the case, plus the e-mails of Samsung executives where they literally discussed on which features to take from the iPhone and put onto their Galaxy devices, then you'd know. I don't agree with the amount of damages, simply because to me it seems like a lot, but Samsung did knowingly infringe on Apple. And I don't care so much for Samsung paying, but for other OEMs to truly innovate. This ruling, which will undoubtedly be appealed, means manufacturers will produce less but better devices; devices that truly look different.
Won't really argue, just putting the information out there.
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ReederOnTheRun said:
You guys have to do some reading. It's particularly sad when fanboys don't read about the case, and just be informed by glorified "tech" blogs and think they know what they're talking about.We are talking about federal jurors here. They did their job, and they did it right. If you had seen the exhibits of the case, plus the e-mails of Samsung executives where they literally discussed on which features to take from the iPhone and put onto their Galaxy devices, then you'd know. I don't agree with the amount of damages, simply because to me it seems like a lot, but Samsung did knowingly infringe on Apple. And I don't care so much for Samsung paying, but for other OEMs to truly innovate. This ruling, which will undoubtedly be appealed, means manufacturers will produce less but better devices; devices that truly look different.
Won't really argue, just putting the information out there.
You're probably right that Samsung knowingly infringed. Given the case as it was, the jury probably made the right decision. But what gets me is how the official procedure completely stomped out common sense. Anyone who reads about them can tell that apple's patents are a joke. Sure, eventually the other OEMs will probably come out with something way better than what apple has, and it'll be their turn to patent everything so that apple can't work on that. The point is though that we would get much more innovation if we could continue on the traditional route. Take something good and refine it, but unfortunately that'd be illegal now.
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danhodge said:
Apple didn't invent shit they simply improved upon pre-existing technology.By 2002 companies like Palm were releasing smartphones, like the TreoSmartphone, which included include wireless web browsing, email access, computer sync, and a third party suite of applications
But they took the pieces of shit and made them good. It achieved the same thing, but in totally different ways.
Your explanation is liking saying cars copy horses, because they transport you from A to B.
Any improvement Samsung have made isn't very big, as the iPhone was a good product to begin with. Had they added some new, market changing features, then maybe they could have avoided this lawsuit by talking about what they have innovated.
Other than a slight change to the design, this is a copy of years of hardwork from Apple, especially their designers, like Jony Ive.
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Thank God, Apple does not assemble cars by taking an engine from here and tyres from there and so on. Otherwise, at least in the US, car companies would be required to use, may be, triangular wheels, irregularly shaped seats and steam engines!
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only way to combat this is just boycott all apple products that's all
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I'll boycott the purchase of a crApple device
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@ Guest
"When you make a false claim that GUI was copied from xerox or stolen you have to have the authors or inventors name? Who was the author of GUI? Don't seem to have that fact ha? For if you have that fact we would all realize that Jobs was on that team? So if I invent something while working at a company for peanuts is it me steeling from them when I quit and take what I invented with me? So you can keep your bs propaganda for your self."
Are you telling me Jobs was on the team that invented the GUI? What are you smoking? First the GUI was invented by a team at Stanford Research Institute, led by Douglas Engelbart. Then a more advanced version that uses graphics was developed at Xerox PARC by Alan Kay. Get your facts correct and don't start saying Jobs invented the GUI. What else does job invent? The telephone?
In terms of inventing something while working at a company and then quitting, that's a bit more complicated. If you invented it at the company but have the patent under your name, then you can do whatever you want with even if you quit. A lot of times however it's not under your name so even if you quit, you don't really have the full freedom of using what you invented.
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@ danhodge
It's true that they made "shit" things better. However they did not INVENT those things. They just improve upon it. Just think about the slide to unlock feature. There are several companies that have made and used that in their products but APPLE is the one that say they invented the slice-to-unlock, patent it successfully, and then used it to sue other companies. Wonderful isn't it?
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Could you imagine what the car industry would be like if they openly sued each other as often as tech companies do? There would be 10 new lawsuits every year.
And you know what? Both of these companies have dirt on their hands but without going into detail, this lawsuit and the settlement were ridiculous and I think this will only make the tech world that much more complicated.
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So if I invent something while working at a company for peanuts is it me steeling from them when I quit and take what I invented with me?
Yes, it is (not necessarily fair, but true!).
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ReederOnTheRun said:But they took the pieces of **** and made them good. It achieved the same thing, but in totally different ways.
Your explanation is liking saying cars copy horses, because they transport you from A to B.
Any improvement Samsung have made isn't very big, as the iPhone was a good product to begin with. Had they added some new, market changing features, then maybe they could have avoided this lawsuit by talking about what they have innovated.
Other than a slight change to the design, this is a copy of years of hardwork from Apple, especially their designers, like Jony Ive.
What, do you think Apple just one day released the iphone? no, they started out copying others with minor improvements and built on that. Innovation usually is only recognized after a big release, but its actually a much longer, less glorious process.
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Let's face it, Samsung did copy the Apple iPhone. Though it is also obvious that U.S. patent law needs to be overhauled. We need to restore the proper balance to give all involved a fair way to interact.
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Let's face it, Samsung didn't copy the Apple iPhone. That's my, equally valid, opinion, although it'll probably get taken down again by the pro-Apple police.
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dennis777 said:
"It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners"
US freedom.... someone should have patent "copy & paste" before
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Apple sucks.that's for sure.
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"It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners"
US freedom.... someone should have patent "copy & paste" before
I think Apple has a patent for copy and paste on mobile devices actually (totally serious).
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The real apple is the Beatles recording company.
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