Five days of deliberations, it is what it took the US jury yesterday, to announce that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd were guilty of copying patented smartphone features by Apple Inc. Therefore, the South Korean giant will have to pay $539 million to the US headquartered company, therefore bringing a closure to the dispute between the archrivals.
The world’s two leading smartphone manufacturers have been disputing in court for patents since 2011, when Apple first filed a lawsuit accusing Samsung smartphones and tablets of “slavishly” copying their products. Samsung were found guilty in 2012 but disagreements sprouted over the amount to be paid, therefore leading to the current retrial.
However, Samsung did previously pay Apple $399 million as compensation for copyright infringement of patents. Due to that, if the verdict is supported on appeal, Samsung will only have to disburse about $140 million to the iPhone manufacturers.
A statement released by Apple expressed the company’s satisfaction over the decision since the jury “agree that Samsung should pay for copying our products.”
We believe deeply in the value of design. This case has always been about more than money,
said Apple in a statement.
As for Samsung, the South Korean major did not reveal whether it planned to appeal the decision but did reveal that it was retaining “all options” to contest it.
Today’s decision flies in the face of an unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages. We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers,
Samsung said in a statement.
Samsung was accused of infringing Apple patents for aspects such as the iPhone’s design. The trial which happened in San Jose, California, before Judge Lucy Koh awarded Apple $533.3 million for Samsung’s infringement of design patents and $5.3 million for violating utility patents.
However, Apple claimed that it would be right for the company to receive $1 billion, amounting to the profits Samsung made from selling non-compliant phones, arguing that the design of the iPhone was fundamental to the Samsung phone popularity. On the other hand, Samsung tried to reduce damages to about $28 million instead, insisting that it was viable only for profits generated from the components of its phones that infringed Apple patents.