You Copied Our Designs! Bitter Rivalry Rages On As Court Orders Samsung To Pay Apple $290 Million For Copying iPhone And iPad Features
Apple vs Samsung: A U.S. jury awarded
Apple $290.45 million in a damages retrial against Samsung Electronics
on Thursday, it is the latest battle in global patent litigation between
the two mobile giants
The
patent war between the worlds two biggest smartphone makers/ rivals has
taken a new turn, and this time in favour of Apple, it has emerged. A
Silicon Valley jury on Thursday ordered Samsung Electronics to pay
Apple $290 million for copying vital iPhone and iPad features.
The verdict
covers 13 older Samsung devices that a previous jury found were among 26
Samsung products that infringed Apple patents. The previous jury
awarded Apple $1.05 billion. But U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered
the new trial and tossed out $450 million of the damages after
concluding the previous jury miscalculated the amount Samsung owed.
Apple and Samsung are the world's two
biggest smartphone makers and the bitter rivals have been waging a
global battle for supremacy of the $300 billion worldwide market
Samsung appealed that verdict and is expected to appeal the latest verdict. A
third trial is scheduled for March to consider Apple's claims that
Samsung's newest devices on the market also copied Apple's technology. Apple
and Samsung are the world's two biggest smartphone makers. The bitter
rivals have been waging a global battle for supremacy of the $300
billion worldwide market.
Apple has argued in courts, government tribunals and regulatory agencies around the world that Samsung's Android-based phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints that some key Apple patents are invalid and Apple has copied Samsung's technology.
Samsung lawyer William Price argued Apple is misconstruing the breadth
of its patents to include such things as the basic rectangle shape of
most smartphones today. 'Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy,' Price told the San Jose jury.
Apple attorney William Lee told the jury that Samsung used Apple's
technology to lift it from an also-ran in the smartphone market three
years ago to the biggest seller of them in the world today. 'Apple can
never get back to where it should have been in 2010,' Lee told the jury
on Tuesday at the conclusion of the week-long trial.
While this is certainly another win for Apple in the U.S., the
Cupertino, California-based company was hoping for more than $290
million. In fact, it wanted $379.8 million to make up for the profits it
lost after Samsung’s smartphones entered the market.
Samsung, on the other hand, wanted to only give Apple $52 million. It
suggested giving Apple royalties for every Samsung device sold that
contains the infringed patents. Samsung's lawyer added that Apple
shouldn't be entitled to lost profits because customers could have
bought Samsung's phones for reasons unrelated to the infringed patents,
such as larger screen sizes and lower prices.
