Anyone who’s alive probably knows that Apple and Samsung have been doing battle in a number of forums for a couple of years now. There’s a lot to these issues, and we don’t propose to cover the background here. Probably the best place to read up on things from the get go is over here at Wikipedia’s entry on the Apple vs Samsung saga, Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
However, today, this matter reached a pretty significant step.
Today in California, Apple’s home state, Apple has secured a jury verdict that found Samsung infringed on six of eleven patents for mobile devices, and awarded Apple more than $US1 billion in damages. This is the first lawsuit involving Apple and Samsung that has gone before a US jury, and it hasn’t ended at all well for Samsung.
The jury considering the matter — overseen by federal judge Lucy Koh — rejected patent claims by Samsung and its request for damages, and found that many of Apple’s claims were valid.
I don’t envy the jury’s task – they were faced with over 600 questions to determine, covering a range of patents, determinations of Samsung and Apple’s respective behaviour, and trying to sort out what should be done as a result of those findings.
Apple didn’t get everything that it asked for however – it had sought as much as $US2.75 billion in damages, alleging that Samsung had copied patents relating to the iPhone and the iPad in the formulation of many of its popular devices.
The matter isn’t finished yet either – the matter returns to court on 20 September where Apple is widely expected to seek injunctions against the sale of a number of Samsung devices.
What this means for Samsung and Apple in Australia is yet to be seen. Samsung devices (and indeed Apple devices) have been banned from sale in some countries as a result of ongoing litigation between these two, but whether the US decision will impact on things here… well… it’s too early to say.
[Ed: There really is too much news, and too little time for us to digest it here, for us to give you a real in depth look at what’s going on. I thoroughly recommend reading up on The Verge’s coverage, which goes to a fantastic depth in analysis of this issue. The best place to start reading is Apple vs. Samsung: the verdict – really, if you’re interested in this, you can’t go past their coverage. Keep an eye out on our podcast for further discussion of the issue in the next week or so.]
Some people say the patents are too generic and Samsung has no choice but to design a smartphone this way. Well look at Microsoft …. they created Windows Mobile and handsets without the same look, they created their own unique UI/style etc.
What do you expect from a jury picked from people trying to save Silicon Valley. Lets hope they go appeal and have judges look at it.
It’s a dark day for consumers, however not this is far from over. Regardless of what happens on the 20th, this is going to the appeals court. I would highly recommend reading Groklaw’s review of this as it adds many more facts that may have a substantial bearing on this decision.
Apple might have won this time around ,but the iphone has some other technical issues which should be looked at .Did they steal any software form any one?The home key is like a crater from the moon .
One of the points they lost on was copying apple’s screens, which are made by Samsung…
We can only hope that Samsung respond to this by throwing away Touchwiz and leaving the interface patent battles to Google. They’ve already redesigned the physical parts.
The question should be “What can Australia do to destroy this kind of patent trolling?”
Many software patents, as well as MANY medical patents are being held by troll companies that had nothing to do with their creation or have never produced a product for the market.
We need a debate started about the basis and future of copyright and the patent system in Australia. Significantly reduced patent and copyright life should be the first step, followed by a higher threshold for burden of proof.
I was hoping that the patents would be overthrown. On the basis of the law, unless the patents themselves were thrown out, Apple was going to win. I wasn’t expecting them to win THIS much, but they were going to win. Congratulations to Apple I guess. Bummer for us. Hoping they don’t get the injunction, but I bet they do. Samsung makes a huge amount of money out of their Android phones. If they don’t get the injunction it won’t set them back more than a quarter. A major loss, sure, but not a killer. At the end of the… Read more »
The bottom line, with all this litigation started by Apple, is consumers will suffer with more overpriced, sub-standard products from Apple & less choice for consumers who want a truly functional, productive device that is reasonably priced. I’m not particularly a fan of Samsung products but what Apple is doing here strikes against the fundamentals of common sense and with so much in damages hinging on the decision, it does raise questions as to how much the jury was bribed, to reach the ‘decision’ … it’s happened before, so why would it surprise anyone that the world’s “most valuable company”… Read more »
The Verge link is 404
Fixed, thanks for the feedback.
So it’s not enough for Apple to get 1 billion $ in damages but they also want an injunction against Samsung products too?? Come on, that is just the sh*ts…..
This is going to heat up again at the September 20th Injunction hearings